All You Need To Know About Cuse Coach in Waiting

[Hoya50]

balla said:

hoya50 said:

reading crap like this makes my blood boil. students are responsible for graduating, not coaches (unless a student plays for a clem haskins type). a coach can look the other way when it comes to grades and playing ball, but it is still the student's job to graduate.

like many of you, i worked my entire college career and footed my own bill. if someone told me that i could get a free ride to a great university and play basketball in front of thousands of people in a top conference, i would have signed that contract in blood and busted my arse to get the best education possible.

i think graduation rates are the biggest farce going. coaches don't take exams and write papers, students do. if students don't want to take advantage of a great situation, that is their responsibility and prerogative.

Wrong. It is a coaches responsiblity to make sure that a STUDENT-ATHLETE is working towards their degree. That is why the NCAA is finally linking graduation with scholarships. Boehiem has failed African American STUDENT ATHLETES.

i've read all the comments above including this one which makes me laugh. sooooooo, a student who is getting a FREE RIDE (save walkons and leagues that don't allow schollies) needs a coach/advisor to further motivate a student to go to class. wow.
funny, i never had a college advisor on my arse if i missed a class and i paid every dollar of my education.

personally, i could care less if a student athlete graduates. if a kid is there to use a school to further his game, good for him/her. if a kid is there to further his game and graduate, that's even a better story and how the process should work.

i'm not against motivating students to go to class. i am against holding coaches responsible for graduation rates. coaches are there to coach. if not, then why did craig get fired?

[hoya4ever]

Don't students have to get a certain GPA to play? They also have to have a certain credit load. The coach ensures all this and he is golden. At that point on, it is the student's responsibility. However, if the coach pushes students of one color to get a degree then that is the coach's bad decision making.

[Elvado]

For the love of God, can we please stop the use of the phrase "I could care less"?

The proper phrase is "I couldn't care less", implying one does not care at all.

"I could care less" means one has some level of care.

I know this a nitpicking point, but that phrase makes me cringe.

[Deleted]

I could care less about Elvado's grammatical nitpicking.

I COULDN'T care less about Syracuse.

[chep3]

rdf said:

Hopkins is also known for speaking before he thinks or has entire story--see his comments about Jeff Green being an Orangemen prior to Jeff passing SAT's and ending up at GU.

Can someone fill me in on what he said?

[Elvado]

Thank you Cam.

[RDF]

In the Summer when Jeff was still awaiting his scores and to hear if he was cleared for entrance to GU, a Hoya fan was at a golf outing where Mike Hopkins was--and overheard Hopkins telling people, "we'll have Jeff Green coming in next year as well"---as Cuse was "encouraging" Green to fail his test--go to Prep and then sign with them. Hopkins was acting as if it was a done deal and being the modest person he seems to be.

[ExcitableBoy]

hoya50 said:

i've read all the comments above including this one which makes me laugh. sooooooo, a student who is getting a FREE RIDE (save walkons and leagues that don't allow schollies) needs a coach/advisor to further motivate a student to go to class. wow.
funny, i never had a college advisor on my arse if i missed a class and i paid every dollar of my education.

personally, i could care less if a student athlete graduates. if a kid is there to use a school to further his game, good for him/her. if a kid is there to further his game and graduate, that's even a better story and how the process should work.

i'm not against motivating students to go to class. i am against holding coaches responsible for graduation rates. coaches are there to coach. if not, then why did craig get fired?

So you don't think a coach's role extends beyond the court/field/arena of competition? Then why should a college even have an athletics program at all?

[hoyalove4ever]

I forgot that Hopkins was the SU assistant who was talking that garbage about Jeff. Thank goodness Jeff is way too good a guy to fall for that type of crud. Encouraging a HS senior to fail his SATs to get out of a LOI is beyond sleazy.

[Filo]

hoyaholic said:

RDF - I have read a lot of irrational interpretations of quotes on this board (and probably posted a few myself), but yours takes the cake. So let me try to follow your logic:

1) Fan throws orange 20 years ago
2) Syracuse coach (rightfully) tell fans to knock it off
3) 13-year-old Mike Hopkins, at his first basketball game, thinks the coach handles the situation well, and becomes a fan.
4) Other fans, at different times, held up bananas to taunt Pat Ewing. (Note: This is not at all mentioned in young Mr. Hopkins' reasons for becoming a SU fan)
5) Therefore, you imply that Mike Hopkins is a member of (or at least sympathetic to) the Ku Klux Klan.

Did I get that right?

While we're desconstructing...
3) 13-year-old Mike Hopkins, at his first basketball game, thinks the coach handles the situation well, and becomes a fan.
Yes, of course, that is the reason why the 13-year old became a fan...because the coach did what any other coach would have and should have done in the situation. It had nothing to do with his admiration for the fervor of the fans, regardless of whether that fervor was expressed trhough overt racist acts.

Then, throw in the fact that in Hopkins' point of view, Boeheim had to go over and tell the fans to stop so he did not get a T ("I remember he had to go over and tell the fans, 'We don't want this. I don't want this. They're going to tech' me up.' ).

Sorry, the way Hopkins descriibes the story, he became a fan because he admired the fans' behavior, not because Boeheim was some sort of hero. Maybe he's just a bad story-teller; then again, maybe he has some pretty horrid character traits.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Hopkins perplexes me - he breathes, yet he doesn't hate Syracuse. I always thought the two went hand-in-hand.

[chep3]

Wow I had no idea about that Jeff stuff. That's terrible, I'll forever cringe when that guy uses the phrase student-athlete. I can't wait for Hopkins to be the Escherick of Syracuse.

[hoyalove4ever]

Don't smear a classy guy like Craig, who is a good person, by comparing him to sleaze like Hopkins. There is no comparison.

[chep3]

I didn't mean it in that way, Esh was always a great guy. I meant it in the following a legendary coach and taking the luster off of a national program way.

[The Stig]

I think a coach has an indirect effect on graduation rates by the sort of tone he sets around the program. In some programs winning and getting to the NBA seem to be the most important themes. In others, developing as a person is stressed.

Is it a coach's fault if one player drops out of school or leaves early? No, in the end it's down to the individual player. But in terms of long term trends, I think a coach has an impact.

Look at Jeff and Roy this year. JTIII obviously sets the right sort of tone for his team - he wants to develop a good team, but he also wants to develop good people. One of the results of that was the way Jeff and Roy approached the draft this year - both did so in a very thoughtful and mature manner that made us proud of them not only as players, but as people. Obviously part of that is down to Jeff and Roy being good guys, but it would be stupid to ignore JTIII's role in their maturity and farsightedness. Those attributes don't prevent every player from leaving early (see Jeff), but I think they do help graduation rates in the long run.