Saturday, February 28, 2004
DeVoe Declines Classier Route Out, Says Stupid Stuff
Let's start this right: Don DeVoe has an excellent coaching legacy, fixed a Navy program in disarry when he came there, and is a shoo in for whatever honors Navy can give him.
But he said so many lousy things lately
(an example) about the program he is still employed by that if I was in charge at the USNA I'd give him some demerits.
Let's start with this gem from the above article: "I look at the Sagarin Ratings, which I use because they're the only ones I know how to find, and in the bottom 10 there are four military schools," DeVoe said. "I don't think military schools are attractive to student-athletes in basketball."
There's a few problems here. First, he only knows how to look at the Saragin ratings, probably because they're printed in the newspaper right under the box scores. This is the coach of a DIVISION ONE COLLEGE BASKETBALL PROGRAM and he's giving me the impression I'm looking at more stats than he is. Which is scary.
It's true, VMI, The Citadel, Army and Navy are all lousy, lousy programs right now. But VMI and the Citadel (as far as I know) aren't military schools in the sense Army and Navy are-- There's no compulsory service afterwards, and they're not official branches of the Armed Services. VMI and the Citadel are also lousy, terrible, no good programs with about one tenth of the history and prominence of the Army and Navy programs. Selling a kid on playing where David Robinson played is different than selling him on moving to Lexington and getting beaten by UNC-Wilmington twice every year.
The real problem is this -- the idea that basketball players are some weird beast which are much different than football players, baseball players or any other kind of high school kids is just plain dumb. Navy had great success last year in football. They have a baseball program that made it to the tournament last year. Army's girls basketball team is consistently solid. DeVoe is basically saying that kids have changed and it's not his fault his team sucks, it's just that no one wants to go to one of the nation's most respected and hallowed institutions. Somehow, 18 year olds are supposed to be different than they were 7 or 8 years ago. I'm not buying it.
Navy was the dominant program in this league not so long ago. They fell off track, and that doesn't make Don DeVoe a bad coach, because the talent obiviously hasn't been there. But it does make one question his recruiting ability. Maybe kids didn't change--maybe Don DeVoe did.
Oh, and there was also this snarky bit:
About the only good news was the postgame ceremony honoring the three seniors. DeVoe told the crowd the class had started with nine recruits.
"I'll forget their names, but I'll never forget yours," he said.
"They're dead to me," said DeVoe. "It's not my fault they left, it's just kids today are assholes."
I guess the part that bothers me most is that he STILL WORKS FOR NAVY. He's saying shitty things about the place that pays his bills. If I was telling reporters that clients just aren't interested in hiring a consulting firm like the one that pays my bills, I'd get more than demerits. Talk all you want after you leave, that's your perogative. But while you are still at Navy, and the season isn't over, there's no need to talk trash about the program. Can you imagine what that does if a potential recruit sees it? "Well, the coach says no one wants to play there, so it must be a lousy place to play." Ugh.
@ 1:27 PM
Let's start this right: Don DeVoe has an excellent coaching legacy, fixed a Navy program in disarry when he came there, and is a shoo in for whatever honors Navy can give him.
But he said so many lousy things lately
(an example) about the program he is still employed by that if I was in charge at the USNA I'd give him some demerits.
Let's start with this gem from the above article: "I look at the Sagarin Ratings, which I use because they're the only ones I know how to find, and in the bottom 10 there are four military schools," DeVoe said. "I don't think military schools are attractive to student-athletes in basketball."
There's a few problems here. First, he only knows how to look at the Saragin ratings, probably because they're printed in the newspaper right under the box scores. This is the coach of a DIVISION ONE COLLEGE BASKETBALL PROGRAM and he's giving me the impression I'm looking at more stats than he is. Which is scary.
It's true, VMI, The Citadel, Army and Navy are all lousy, lousy programs right now. But VMI and the Citadel (as far as I know) aren't military schools in the sense Army and Navy are-- There's no compulsory service afterwards, and they're not official branches of the Armed Services. VMI and the Citadel are also lousy, terrible, no good programs with about one tenth of the history and prominence of the Army and Navy programs. Selling a kid on playing where David Robinson played is different than selling him on moving to Lexington and getting beaten by UNC-Wilmington twice every year.
The real problem is this -- the idea that basketball players are some weird beast which are much different than football players, baseball players or any other kind of high school kids is just plain dumb. Navy had great success last year in football. They have a baseball program that made it to the tournament last year. Army's girls basketball team is consistently solid. DeVoe is basically saying that kids have changed and it's not his fault his team sucks, it's just that no one wants to go to one of the nation's most respected and hallowed institutions. Somehow, 18 year olds are supposed to be different than they were 7 or 8 years ago. I'm not buying it.
Navy was the dominant program in this league not so long ago. They fell off track, and that doesn't make Don DeVoe a bad coach, because the talent obiviously hasn't been there. But it does make one question his recruiting ability. Maybe kids didn't change--maybe Don DeVoe did.
Oh, and there was also this snarky bit:
About the only good news was the postgame ceremony honoring the three seniors. DeVoe told the crowd the class had started with nine recruits.
"I'll forget their names, but I'll never forget yours," he said.
"They're dead to me," said DeVoe. "It's not my fault they left, it's just kids today are assholes."
I guess the part that bothers me most is that he STILL WORKS FOR NAVY. He's saying shitty things about the place that pays his bills. If I was telling reporters that clients just aren't interested in hiring a consulting firm like the one that pays my bills, I'd get more than demerits. Talk all you want after you leave, that's your perogative. But while you are still at Navy, and the season isn't over, there's no need to talk trash about the program. Can you imagine what that does if a potential recruit sees it? "Well, the coach says no one wants to play there, so it must be a lousy place to play." Ugh.
@ 1:27 PM
