Class until the end
In today's world of money grabbing professional and college coaches, LSU women's basketball interim coach Bob Starkey stands alone. He was old school before there was old school.
LSU athletic director Skip Bertman would like to hire Starkey for the permanent job, which would raise Starkey's salary from $113,000 to about $400,000. Starkey said no.
Bertman is considering giving Starkey a bonus in addition to the one in Starkey's assistant coach contract because he guided LSU to the Final Four amid the most controversial of times after Pokey Chatman's resignation. Starkey said no.
Starkey likes being an assistant coach, and he wants to remain at LSU doing just that. Bertman knows this and will try to nudge the new coach into keeping Starkey on. Any coach that would not want to keep Starkey should have his or her head examined.
Starkey's magic ran out Sunday night in the Lady Tigers' embarrassing 59-35 loss to Rutgers. After the game, Starkey again did something professional and college coaches rarely if ever do. He admitted he messed up.
"I think that one of the things that got us off to the bad start was our game plan, and I'm responsible for that," Starkey said.
I have NEVER heard a coach say that.
"One of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to play inside out on screens and take the dribble penetration - the paint - away," he said. "So in playing that way we allowed them to get some open looks early that I didn't think were contested and they weren't contested because we weren't trying to contest them."
Most coaches realize that fans and media often do not realize why a team loses. So they just say things like it wasn't our night or they just played great and stay away from the specific.
They're quick to go specific when they win, but not when they lose. Not Starkey.
It's too bad Starkey does not want the LSU head coaching job or another head coaching job. That profession needs someone like Starkey.
LSU athletic director Skip Bertman would like to hire Starkey for the permanent job, which would raise Starkey's salary from $113,000 to about $400,000. Starkey said no.
Bertman is considering giving Starkey a bonus in addition to the one in Starkey's assistant coach contract because he guided LSU to the Final Four amid the most controversial of times after Pokey Chatman's resignation. Starkey said no.
Starkey likes being an assistant coach, and he wants to remain at LSU doing just that. Bertman knows this and will try to nudge the new coach into keeping Starkey on. Any coach that would not want to keep Starkey should have his or her head examined.
Starkey's magic ran out Sunday night in the Lady Tigers' embarrassing 59-35 loss to Rutgers. After the game, Starkey again did something professional and college coaches rarely if ever do. He admitted he messed up.
"I think that one of the things that got us off to the bad start was our game plan, and I'm responsible for that," Starkey said.
I have NEVER heard a coach say that.
"One of the things we wanted to do is we wanted to play inside out on screens and take the dribble penetration - the paint - away," he said. "So in playing that way we allowed them to get some open looks early that I didn't think were contested and they weren't contested because we weren't trying to contest them."
Most coaches realize that fans and media often do not realize why a team loses. So they just say things like it wasn't our night or they just played great and stay away from the specific.
They're quick to go specific when they win, but not when they lose. Not Starkey.
It's too bad Starkey does not want the LSU head coaching job or another head coaching job. That profession needs someone like Starkey.
posted by Glenn Guilbeau at 10:12 AM
1 Comments:
GREAT article - thanks!
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