The View from OKC: Donovan "Hardly Has Any" Job Security
If you're curious about what they're thinking in OKC, this was written by a sport radio host in Oklahoma City - speculating on what it means that Billy Donovan is at the top of the Michigan rumor mill.
LINK.
This guy admits he has no intel that Donovan has been contacted about the job. It's just his speculation as an OKC beat guy.
I thought this was the most telling paragraph:
"So if Michigan, who has been to two Final Fours in the past six years and five Sweet Sixteen’s over that same period, offered Donovan a multi-year deal that a two-time National Champion coach would command, it would be hard for me to believe that Billy wouldn’t seriously consider taking the job."
Donovan will probably be fired after next season after we wrap up a season of missing the NIT with Porter Moser.
Conveniently Izzo will be fired for rape cover ups and Donovan will immediately sign with MSU. It will be OSU falling into Meyer all over again.
Bpone
Don't be silly, Izzo would never be fired. He would retire because he is tired of being treated "unfairly" by the media asking him questions about more players raping, and the MSU mob would be out with their pitchforks to protest the #BLUEWALL! They will then bring up Brendan Gibbons, and change their name to Izzo State University.
And then hire Donovan.
Or Brad Stevens, who probably has one more year in Boston.
MSU will NEVER hire a big name coach in any sport. Their Athletic Dept. is one of the cheapest in the big ten.
They'd promote Dane Fife, he'd cheat his ass off, Ingham county Law enforcement apparatus would bury the bodies just as long as he beats Michigan.
Pitbull performs.
And he would get a lifetime suite at both Basketball and Football games.
And they would probably name the Women's Studies building after him.
They would have to cement the deal by having him give $25 Gs to the program, with a wink that meant he would never really have to pay it (a la Perles), but. . . wouldn't put it past 'em. In America we don't need to make our reputations; we can purchase them.
This is exactly what will happen.
Lol. Spot on ...
Comment of the year. This is what will happen. We don’t need anymore coaching candidate threads.
Hello darkness my old friend
Tell us more about the space your MSU co-worker is renting free in your head, Chalky.
FTR I wasn't even the one who negged you.
With your obession with Michigan, I always knew your Sparty trollin ass had an account on this board.
If this sparty co-worker runs his mouth constantly, as SpartanSwill do, then that isn't rent free.
I think he would definitely consider it. Is Michigan considering him? I'm worried that the AD won't because they don't think he fits the MIchigan culture to a T. I'm not saying he'd take it if offered, he very well might want to take his chances and get fired at OKC. But if he's not a serious candidate, I'm very nervous about the process.
While I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm officially done with "culture" when it comes to Athletics. There is no "right way" anymore, and that is the reason Beilein left. Someone else made the point that when everyone is cheating, it is no longer cheating. If M continues to fight against the current on this, we are destined for mediocrity at best
That was me on the no longer cheating thing. Well, it could also be a number of others - I can't imagine I'm the only enlightened one, but I did write that the other day and have multiple times before.
I'm getting more and more convinced that this will be the biggest ho-hum hire since Hoke. I would include Yak or Saddi on the ho-hum list.
It's a shame really, and I hung on for a long time to the pipe dream of amateurism, and the way things used to be. It's just time to face the facts. Any sense of integrity with college athletics is dead and gone.
The only thing wrong with your post is the idea that integrity and amateurism every truly existed in college sports and we are somehow leaving the golden age behind.
Not trying to be flippant, but did "the way things used to be" ever exist?! Whether in football or basketball, cheating has been rampant across the country since at least the 60s (if not before). In fact, in many cases, I think cheating was even more open and public back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s than it is today. Prior to the 24-hour news cycle and the proliferation of social information in a millisecond, schools could easily cheat without it becoming national news on ESPN.
The stories from the UCLA basketball reign in the 70s are insane. The recruitment of Brian the Boz, Bo Jackson, Jermaine Dupree, etc. etc. etc. Boston College basketball, SMU Football, The U, etc. etc. etc...(again). The list is loooong.
Cheating has been ubiquitous to college athletics ever since college athletics starting making genuine $$$...and - I'm not going to say I have some evidence to prove Michigan wasn't doing these things - but I think it's kinda naive to assume they have not or were not.
We’ve likely been clean for a while...but like it or not, our storied Ed Nartin past folllows, to a less degree (thank god) and I for one prefer todays team (w/JB of course...but that ship sailed). So let’s do it the right way and find a good coach that runs a premium program within the rules.
All the talk about JB leaving... The way I see it there are three ways that it could have ended up happening 1) he retires 2) he leaves and goes the NBA 3) he’s fired. None of them are great but let’s be happy for him leaving on a high note!
I’m just surprised you got that whole list and didn’t even mention USC or basically any Kentucky basketball team in the history of college basketball.
Integrity =/= kids earning money while in school
It’s only cheating if the NCAA does anything about it. So it looks like the Wild West out there
Exactly. We are the guy showing up to work 5 minutes late because we went the speed limit the whole way, meanwhile our coworkers are getting raises for showing up early. And there are no cops on the road.
+1 for the great analogy
this is obviously bullshit. winning is possible, it's just more difficult w/o selling your soul. virginia, villanova and michigan are just a few examples. 3 elite programs right there who, by all accounts, do it right.
I don't get the presumption that Donovan is some sleazy hire anyway. Is it because he kind of resembles Rick Pitino with the slicked back hair and east coast accent? SEC connections? Lord, we just learned that you can literally pay a kid ten grand a month to play for your school and still keep your head coach position. If Donovan's the best possible coach, bring him on.
I have no interest in sacrificing my integrity on the altar of winning. If that's how Donovan got his titles, I don't want him at Michigan. It's better to lose with honor than to win without it.
If winning-at-all-costs is your thing, there's a school in East Lansing that needs all of the fans it can get.
What exactly did Donovan do? The only time I know of the NCAA looking into his program, there was nothing there.
I don't know what he did or didn't do; that's why I said "if."
Winning multiple national championships at a school with no basketball pedigree -- in a league where cheating would be tolerated -- is a red flag. It doesn't mean he's guilty of something, but it does give one pause; it's at least worth looking into before you hire the guy.
I'm mostly responding to the general tenor of comments: "everybody's cheating, so stop trying to find somebody who won't."
This fan base fucking sucks sometimes. Good lord this is a horrible take.
I'm shocked -- shocked -- that you disagree with me.
Good seats are still available at the Breslin. Do us all a favor and put your deposit down today!
Michigan must pay players if we plan to continue being a national title contender. Hell, if we hire someone close to Beilein as a coach, but a much better recruiter, we could even improve. Donovan is that guy.
Who says that’s how Donovan got his titles? From everything I have been reading, no one is saying that.
Sam Webb suggested that there was some shenanigans with the recruits he covered.
WHAT!!! Recruiting and player violations / improprieties at Florida??? Not possible, right urbz?
While I don't have any illusions that he's JB levels of clean, I don't think he's Sean Miller/Will Wade levels or dirty. At least we don't have any real evidence of that. His biggest knock is that he's from the Pitino coaching tree IMO.
If that's how Donovan got his titles, I don't want him at Michigan.
I'm grasping to understand why this is a condition. Where is there evidence he's not been clean?
Roy Williams complained about him once...
Oh, wait.
There have been other accusations of impropriety.
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=1645672
I take that information with a huge grain of salt as some of this stuff is almost two decades old and I don't believe he was ever convicted of any serious wrongdoing. But just saying, that there was talk beyond Roy Williams
You need to get yourself on tranquilizers, and quickly.
When you write, "I have no interest in sacrificing my integrity on the altar of winning" - I have a news flash for you - YOUR INTEGRITY is in no way, shape or form tied up with the integrity of the University, or especially, its athletic teams.
Mindsets like yours are highly destructive. For the University, the alumni, and sadly, yourself.
If I knowingly cheer for a corrupt institution, then it's my own integrity on the line.
Perhaps the university won't miss me. That's fine. But I'm not going to sit here and pine openly for what amounts to stolen valor. It was a punch in the gut when I realized that the Fab Five had been cheating. I'd rather not take another.
What is the purpose of college athletics? Why should a university sponsor athletic programs? Is it about physical fitness? Or is it because there are life lessons to be gained from honest competition? At one point, it was the latter. Now, I fear it's quickly becoming "because it's profitable."
I enjoy minor league baseball, but I wouldn't pay Michigan gameday prices to attend.
I don’t think stolen valor means what you think it means.
In this case, stolen valor would actually be committed by you and others who share your worldview that the accomplishments of athletic teams somehow convey valor and glory to the members of the fanbase.
News flash. If you are looking to the sports teams you follow to bolster your character or reputation, you have issues.
Doubly-stolen valor, then. :)
Your idea of corruption is paying college athletes for what is otherwise unpaid labor. The NCAA rules on amateurism are a joke that are no longer even enforced by the governing body, so why should Michigan be forced to play by those rules? There are some real slimeballs in college athletics, but a guy like Donovan, who at worst may have paid some college kids to play for him, is not one of them.
why should Michigan be forced to play by those rules?
Because they're the rules. That's integrity. Why bother to play sports at all if you're not going to play by the rules? That's a central tenet of sportsmanship.
I'm in favor of changing the rules; I'm not in favor of breaking them. I'm certainly not in favor of breaking them because "everybody else is."