Michigan's actions fall short of its principles

Sporting News, The, Oct 27, 1997 by Mike DeCourcy

When he fired Steve Fisher, Michigan rookie athletic director Tom Goss spoke of the importance of leading the program in a new direction. He delivered on that promise--immediately.

Before, there mostly was suspicion that Michigan had little concern for ethics and integrity. Goss' pursuit of a new coach for the Wolverines turned that suspicion into hard evidence.

How could a school looking for a coach to bring stability and honor to its basketball program attempt to swipe someone away from his players--right on the eve of Midnight Madness? Would Michigan really want a coach callous enough to make such a move?

Remember, this is the same school that reacted with such indignation when former coach Bill Frieder accepted the job et Arizona State, just before the Wolverines were to enter the 1989 NCAA Tournament. Pursuing a coach at this point is much the same.

Indeed, Michigan was caught in a difficult circumstance while considering whether to put an interim coach in place. The last time it did that, when Steve Fisher replaced Frieder, the Wolverines wound up with an NCAA championship but also with a coach they really didn't want.

It's easy enough to say this is business and justify the Michigan search on that basis. But then the Wolverines are right back where they started: doing whatever they think they can get away with, no matter who it hurts.

To their everlasting credit, California's Ben Braun, Washington's Bob Bender and George Washington's Mike Jarvis spurned the Wolverines, even though it would have resulted in a substantial raise and dramatically enhanced potential to win a national championship. "Timing is a big issue," Braun says, "and I just didn't feel that it was appropriate at this time to make that move."

We'll never know if Pete Gillen would have made the same choice to stay at Providence, because its athletic director, John Marinatto, would not allow Michigan permission to speak with his coach. He said it would be unfair to the Friars to have their coach dash out as the season began. On similar grounds a month earlier, Rick Majerus said no to Arizona State.

"The Michigan job is one of the premier jobs in the United States, maybe one of the top five in all of college basketball," Jarvis says. But he adds, "I would not take the Michigan job or any other college job once the school year has started."

For someone like Cazzie Russell, this is an opportunity that could not be dismissed. After starring for the Wolverines from 1964 to '66, Russell has been underemployed far too long, first in the Continental Basketball Association and now at Division III Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design.

I remember interviewing Russell in the lobby of a Holiday Inn in March 1985, after a CBA play-off game he coached for the Lancaster (Pa.) Lightning. I listened to his theories about basketball and his story about nearly wrecking the team van while driving the players through an ice storm and left relatively certain he'd get an NBA team at some point. Never happened.

For a coach who already has a Division I job, however, one where the circumstances are comfortable enough that the team could reach the NCAA Sweet 16 (California) or Elite Eight (Providence), to accept another job this close to the season would be unseemly

This, however, did not prevent Goss from pursuing Illinois State's Kevin Stallings, who has shown interest, after the first names on his wish list did not take the bait.

Goss' handling of the coaching search demonstrated the folly of hiring people with no college sports experience to serve as athletic directors at big-time institutions.

At a time when there were two choices--find a great coach willing to take the job and quickly hire him, or install an interim coach to get through the season--Goss was thumbing through 10 or more candidates and talking about how to trim the list.

Parting shots

When Lou Henson was asked to retire following the 1995-96 season after 21 years at Illinois, he was 37 wins short of 700, a figure only seven Division I coaches have reached. Even a great season in his one year as interim coach at New Mexico State--where he's replacing Neil McCarthy--will leave Henson short of that mark. But he can take comfort in the fact that his first two wins will push him past No. 11 John Wooden, who has 664, on the career victories list. Henson has agreed to coach this season without salary.... Recruit Maurice McCree has left Arizona State in the aftermath of coach Bill Frieder's departure. The 6-7 McCree was rated a top 50 junior college player by analyst Phil Henzel. He averaged 20.2 points and 8.8 rebounds at Northland Pioneer JC in Arizona.

Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail him at decourcy@sportingnews.com. and see his responses at www.sportingnews.com and on our AOL site (keyword: TSN).