Thinking out loud…while wondering if money isn’t the key to happiness, couldn’t you just have the key made?
It’s impossible to comprehend, really, everything that has transpired around here over the past week-to-10 days. Whirlwind of activity? Of emotions?
Try a tsunami.
How did we get from a Providence team preparing for another run in the NCAA tournament to a Providence program looking for a new coach? In a week?
There is SO much out there on social media – and not all of it complimentary – concerning the way Ed Cooley left his ‘dream job.’ And “why” he left it doesn’t matter. It only matters that it happened in the first place.
And whatever that is, it falls squarely on his shoulders.
Is it on the program, and the fans of the program, to pick up where he might have left off? Absolutely. Otherwise, all that has been accomplished over the previous 12 years will have been in vain.
But I will certainly say this – it was a little less messy on the way out. And Ed could have used a little PR assistance along the way. Just sayin’.
Kim English is the new coach and program leader, following in some pretty big shoes for a young guy, all of 34 years old. Yes, Friartown turns the page. The official introduction will take place next Wednesday at Alumni Hall on campus, and it will be open to the public.
But the swiftness, and decisiveness, with which Steve Napolillo moved here should be seen as a positive. The Providence program has a number of positives, as many of us certainly know. Tradition is key, support is key.
Having their backs is key…with several connections to PC assisting in the decision to hire Coach English.
He’s only been coaching since 2015 and spent two seasons at Tennessee with Rick Barnes before become head coach at George Mason. Ironic, isn’t it, that this is the school the Friars once plucked Barnes from.
English has some ties to the Big East, having played for former St. John’s coach Mike Anderson at Missouri. He’s a onetime Most Outstanding Player in the Big 12 at Mizzou. He was a second-round draft pick (#44) of the Detroit Pistons in 2012 and played a couple of seasons in the NBA.
On the fast track? Yup, just like Providence in searching for a new coach. Both are on a fast track. And the two trains have now pulled into the station, side by each.
All that’s left, besides a little more pomp and circumstance next week, is to play ball. And we’ve got six months to work on that before games are actually won and lost again.
Georgetown is not to be absolved in this matter. Even several in the national media have jumped all over this story, and on the Hoyas program. You can’t just throw together a $6 million-per-year deal in 24 hours. C’mon.
Groundwork between ‘intermediaries’ took place. When that began, likely in February, is part of this issue and why so many fans and alumni are angry.
Those were low blows. It was tampering at worst, classless and distasteful at best. Maybe that’s rampant in sports as some have suggested? Through 45 years of personal experiences, working inside the college game and the pros, I’d say no – it isn’t, and it doesn’t have to be that way.
That’s up to individuals making decisions for themselves. And that doesn’t keep unethical behavior from taking place.
Ed Cooley should also have known better, how friends and fans would react…and that, perhaps, was the unkindest cut of all.
The Big East was built differently by his predecessors. And if this is the way business is to be conducted from this point forward, no one at any school, in any sport, is safe.
Wait until it happens to your team. The legendary “Ice Man” George Gervin once told me, “Rookie, what comes around, goes around.”
Spare the ‘better job’ reasoning, too. It isn’t, unless you’re deaf, dumb and blind to the past 30+ years of history. What does Georgetown mean to current recruits? The brand means zero, even if it once struck fear in you and your buddies 30-40 years ago.
They had cool Starter jackets, though.
Better recruiting area? Well, the DMV is bigger than RI for certain. But coaches recruit nationally today if they’re really worth anything. The portal has helped change that philosophy. I don’t see the DC area as having helped the Hoyas much in recent years, you?
And save your “stop whining” comments, or “all schools do this” complaint. That’s just the point. They don’t. Because if everyone does it, does it make it right?
Not for nuthin’, Georgetown has a LONG way to go to get to the top.
Man, should be some interesting Big East league meetings this summer in Florida, don’cha think?
And…will Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman have anything to say or do about these alleged shenanigans? The league wants Georgetown’s “brand” back at the top. But what about Providence?
Don’t ask me for tickets to the Georgetown game next winter. Already gone.
Tweet of the Week, from @CoachTatBrownU: “…that being said, we have one spot left on our schedule to fill! Willing to go on the road, but preferably no further than .8 miles down the hill!”
Got an email this week from Zillow. They want me to look at a house in East Greenwich for $1.9 million. Hmmm, think I’ve seen it before.
Interleague ‘lateral’ moves have happened before, you know. Chris Beard left Texas Tech for Texas this past year in the Big 12…before Beard’s other ‘problems’ ultimately cost him that job. And who remembers former Brown coach Glen Miller leaving for Ivy rival Penn in 2006?
Or URI hiring Jim Baron away from St. Bonaventure in the A-10? How did those moves ultimately turn out?
PC senior hockey forward Max Crozier this week signed a two-year, entry-level deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. East Greenwich, RI’s Brett Berard signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NY Rangers.
See? Some are moving on and it’s a good thing, too.
The women’s hockey team finished the season ranked 13th nationally. And the women’s basketball team hired Erin Batth as the 11th coach in the 49-year history of the program. Coach Batth comes to PC from a job as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan.
Batth also was a decorated player at Clemson (an all-American) and successful at previous assistant stops with NC State, Liberty, Georgia State, Tennessee Tech and Towson. Sounds like someone who is more than ready to run her own ship.
URI’s women ended their most successful season ever – finishing 26-7 – with a loss at Harvard in the WNIT.
Rick Pitino. Here’s a guy who certainly has made his share of mistakes in life but bounces up from adversity like a rubber ball flying out of a 25-cent gum ball machine. Maybe the timing didn’t quite work out right for a return to his beginnings around here – but he does get to return to the place he left for when he left from here…New York. Does being close count?
The Johnnies are automatically a postseason contender for next season. Provided Coach Pitino doesn’t run everyone off, first. The transfer portal in Queens should be whirring soon. Especially with the school president (Fr. Brian Shanley) and new/old head coach in sync.
And the Big East, suddenly, got a lot tougher and deeper in the coaching department. Mindful of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s hey days, no? McDermott, Hurley, Pitino, Cooley, Matta, Miller, Smart…whoa.
March Sadness? It is at St. Francis Brooklyn, whose teams competed in the NEC and were a one-time league opponent for Bryant. I say competed, because this week the college announced they were dropping ALL sports because the campus is moving to a new location that cannot accommodate athletics.
That…sounds like the old adage “throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
How did your brackets fare through the first week of carnage? How about this, from The Sporting News – this is the second time since 1980 that one of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky did not reach the Sweet 16. Amazing.
Loved the story on Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Director of Media Relations, Jordan Sarnoff, who happens to be a junior student at the University. Can you imagine HIS ride the past two weeks? That young man is and will be soon…going places.
Greatest upset of all time in tourney history with their win over Purdue? You bet. FDU shouldn’t have even been in the tournament, with Merrimack claiming the NEC tourney title but ineligible to advance. A 16 beating a 1? Just the second time that’s ever happened.
Never mind the fact that FDU was the shortest team in America, played the weakest schedule out of 363 teams in Division I, and played in the lowest rated conference in the country (32nd out of 32). I’ll wager young Mr. Sarnoff knew all of this stuff and fed it to the hungry media, flattering or not.
Four schools have placed both men’s and women’s teams in the Sweet 16: UConn, Tennessee, Miami, and UCLA. Front Office Sports reported this week all four schools spent at least $16 million on both programs during the past year, not including coaching salaries, and a minimum of $5.5 million on women’s hoops.
You still have to spend it, to make it.
And how about this? Both Miami teams…beat Indiana to make it to the regional round.
Congrats to the Rhode Island College Anchorwomen, who ultimately fell in the NCAA Division III semis to Christopher Newport 56-51. Still quite the accomplishment for the season, amiright?
Oh yeah, actual basketball. The Big East has three in the Sweet 16 for the first time since the league reconfigured. More than the Big 10, Big 12, and ACC. The SEC also has three. UConn and Creighton face lower seeds.
We might not have a redux of 1985, but there will be some cringing on Tobacco Road this weekend.
CBS Sports reported last weekend’s first round was the most-watched first round in tournament history. Also the most-watched Friday in tournament history, across all platforms, at better than 9.3 million viewers. So…a lot of people saw what we saw in Greensboro, didn’t they?
If we can relax a little on the whole Ed Cooley story, can we also relax and move on from Jaylen Brown’s future with the Celtics? Must we know the end result for everything before the process plays out?
He’s a free agent after this year, great. Let’s finish this year first. Why can’t we just enjoy what we have, while we have it?
Except for those losing streaks, fellas.
Sad to hear the news about Hall of Famer Willis Reed passing away this week at 80 years old. If you’re of an age yourself, how could you possibly forget Reed’s performance in Game 7 of the NBA finals in 1970, coming out of the NY Knicks locker room injured but determined to play through the pain for his team?
It was a torn muscle originally happening in Game 5 of the Knicks’ series with the Lakers. He didn’t score much, only four points in that Game 7, but his presence alone was inspiring enough to lead the Knicks to their first championship.
Left a helluva impression on an 11-year-old kid, I’ll tell ya’.
My buddy “Big E” sez by the time he learns the rules of life, he’s afraid he’ll be too old to play the game.
Of the Patriots’ moves this week, yes to Juju Smith-Shuster. Yes to Mike Gesicki. Yes (gulp!) to Jalen Mills, provided he comes back at SAFETY, not corner. He can compete for the role vacated by Devin McCourty’s retirement.
Smith-Shuster and Gesicki are (slight) upgrades at their positions. Juju can get YAC that Jakobi Meyers could not. Gesicki, at 6-6, is tough to cover over the middle. The Patriots couldn’t cover him trying to defend him.
Do they need a further upgrade or addition at wide receiver, aka De’Andre Hopkins or some other option? Sure, that would help. But if they only add a rookie in the draft to the WR corps, I’m good with it.
Speaking of McCourty, thanks Devin. You epitomized class, dignity, and the Patriot Way. I never held your Rutgers pedigree against you. You overcame it.
Seriously, when we think of the playmaking defenders from Super Bowl-caliber teams, you’re one of them. A dynastic defense doesn’t happen without you in it. Go kill it in TV. Patriot Hall of Famer? You’ve got my vote.
And all the best to Dont’a Hightower, who also officially called it quits this week. Hightower was the epitome of the term ‘thumper’ in the middle at linebacker. At his peak, he was one of the best in the game at thumping.
Here’s something that shouldn’t surprise you: Best Sports Betting Canada just finished conducting research that shows Bruins’ fans drink more than any other fan base in the NHL. Up to 17 pints per fan on game days.
Seventeen pints?!? Sound like the restrooms on the TD Garden concourses will be due for makeovers soon.
Congrats to Cranston’s David Quinn, currently coaching the San Jose Sharks in the NHL but also just named as the head coach for Team USA in the upcoming IIHF World Championships.
The IIHF, by the way, has kicked out Russia and Belarus from their international competitions in 2023-24…because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The public funding for the Tidewater Landing soccer stadium to be built is on hold. Rising interest rates, current market conditions, a possible banking crisis…it’s like there’s a rain cloud perpetually spitting on Pawtucket.
And right now, there’s no alternative for Rhode Island FC, scheduled to begin playing in 2024.
Gonna be another round of cutbacks coming at ESPN – perhaps up to as many as 7000 job layoffs and $5.5 billion in cuts worldwide. ESPN, as you may know, is owned by Disney. And the Mouse likes making his $$$.
ESPN’s television footprint has shrunk from more than 100 million subscribers to 75 million over the past 12 years, thanks to cord cutting.
The Red Sox, if you haven’t heard, are trying to trademark the word ‘Boston.’ That’s like McDonald’s trying to trademark the word ‘hamburger.’ Good luck with that.
Glad to see the reaction to the WBC’s finish in Japan, even if the entire tournament meant squat to most American baseball fans. Good for them. 4.5 million viewers on Fox, too…which is an astounding 69% increase from 2017…and more than any Wild Card game in MLB this past year.
But here’s an interesting nugget for ya’ – the entire USA starting lineup in that championship loss to Japan?
Worth $1.7 billion. This is a simple game. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball. You got it?
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