Blame Trent Johnson

OMAHA, Neb. - LSU basketball coach Trent Johnson has only himself to blame for his resume snafu that recently surfaced concerning his time at Boise High School in Boise, Idaho, from 1980-85.

A bio of Johnson in a Stanford media guide had Johnson as the head coach of that team, which wasn't the case. He was an assistant. Someone in a sports information department somewhere among Johnson's coaching stops could have easily made that mistake and it just kept being made. That's happened before in the sports information business. Today's sports information department people tend to no longer have much of a journalism background, lack respect for journalism and make even more mistakes than newspaper people.

But this was Johnson's responsibility. He should read anything about him that is put out by the university that employs him.

Johnson, who left Stanford to come to LSU in April, used the term "comical" to describe the issue, which was brought up recently by a newspaper in Idaho. He said he doesn't like to read about himself, which made him sound modest, if you buy that.

Sounds careless and sloppy to me.

"I don't read my bios," Johnson said. "I don't pay attention to that. It's a joke."

Well, Trent, recruits read your bio. Recruits' parents read your bio. Journalists writing stories about you that recruits and recruits' parents will read also read your bio. You should have read everything written about you by a university for which you worked.

I find Johnson's explanations of this issue "comical" for that matter. Most coaches on the collegiate level are very controlling, somewhat paranoid and somewhat anal.

The good ones, like Johnson, usually know about everything going on in and around their program. I find it hard to believe Johnson didn't read his own bio in a Stanford media guide.