Syracuse cans Jim Boeheim

[ctchamps]

I think most people are sympathetic to how difficult a divorce can be. It still doesn’t give you a blank check to be unprofessional and not try at your job for years.

There may have been a capable basketball coach in there somewhere, but we really only saw that for the first two years. Recruiting was never great, player development was nonexistent, and in-game coaching was laughable.

Blaming all of that on the divorce is just an excuse.

This is close to my sentiment but I have a slightly different way of rephrasing the last statement. When we understand something such as the impact a traumatic event, divorce in this case, has in changing someone's personality it shouldn't excuse someone's negative behavior that results. We might, depending on the situation, handle a person going through such an experience differently than otherwise but ultimately for the sake of outcomes we have to make that person accountable for that negative behavior.

I never had an issue with KO's termination. I thought the AD handled it as well as he could. He obviously had a meeting with Kevin and identified what he had to do to keep his job. KO couldn't and was terminated.

I've run into a handful of people over the past few years who knew KO before and after his promotion to HC (followed by the title, followed by the divorce, followed by the lack of any real effort in doing his job).

The common element was always that he went from a very humble, genuine person (the type of guy who would build a decade long NBA career from a series of ten day contracts through a succession of one year contracts) to a distant personality who behaved like a lot of things were beneath him. Whatever (possibly the title) it was that went to his head changed him. If he could have remained the person he was when he took over the program everything would have worked out for all involved.

As far as the 2014 title, I can't remember a coach having his finger on his team's pulse as well as Ollie had that tournament nor can I remember interaction with all team members at that positive a level. He deserves a ton of credit for that tournament run (anyone who has watched even a reasonable amount of college hoops should be able to realize that no title is ever a given, look at 1992 UNLV). Anyone who believes that the 2014 run wasn't worth having to face what we did the following five years has been far too entitled. I imagine that you can count on one hand the schools that wouldn't trade fifteen years of misery for one title.

This forum handled events in a poor way imo. Most of us were justifiably angry at how things went downhill. It hurt us. But that's no excuse to want to hurt him. We wanted to punish him not only in hoping to deprive him of any contractual moneys he might have been owed and to insist that he receive no credit for any of the things he did positively before he changed. In essence we lacked the controls in our reactions to these events that KO lacked after his divorce. Understandable but we don't hold ourselves to the same accountability we insist should be held to him or others.

I was part of a small group that pointed this out as events unfolded. The inertia of group anger was, and surprisingly still is, too strong to convince people that there might have been an over reaction on our part. That saddens me. Additionally I have observed that individuals within that small group hold some bitterness towards the majorities behavior and in that resentment are acting in a manner of being overly critical towards Hurley. It's a displacement of anger towards us onto Hurley. It's a desire to do payback to us for the slight felt during those events. It's a perpetuation of negativity. That saddens me even more.

 

[Waquoit]

It's a perpetuation of negativity.

Nah. In my case I don't think about KO anymore. Until someone tries to makes excuses for his cashing the checks and quitting on the program.

 

[ctchamps]

Nah. In my case I don't think about KO anymore. Until someone tries to makes excuses for his cashing the checks and quitting on the program.

Don't have you in mind on this.

 

[temery]

This thread isn't about Ollie. Time to get over it.