Four-star Duncanville SG Matt McQuaid decommits from SMU

[Mean Green 93-98]

Those are two spot-on posts. As in, it doesn't get any spot-on-er.

[forevereagle]

So depressing...

[Travis]

I didn't make the statement, but expanding from my own perspective... If we want to win "the right way", keeping Benford is laughably tragic.

And if we want a guy who makes a priority of athletes graduating, then we probably don't want the coach who turned off, scared off, or ran off: (big inhale) Norris, Overlander, Hardwick, Coleman, Jones, Gaines... And if you want to throw Forrest Robinson (I don't put that on Benford) and potentially a Mystery Player X still to come (that I also wouldn't blame on Benford)... The track record ain't great, especially after just two years. Pile on the recruitment scholarship musical chairs, and I don't think it's accurate to say that Benford's main priority is player retention and graduation.

Anything you can say about Brown at SMU (Samarrippas, whoever else), you can say louder and more frequently about Benford here. So, not speaking for Jim here, but... To say anything negative of the sort about Larry Brown as a way of trying to prop up our own coach on a morality pedestal, when Benford seems to treat players and their scholarships like Solo cups at a picnic or wet-naps after a barbecue dinner... It's pretty dumb.

I agree with what you are saying. I don't think we have to settle for a coach who loses and doesn't break the rules. It isn't the only option. I just know I have more respect for a coach who is trying to win the right way and doesn't. vs. a coach who is winning but does so unethically and without the best in mind for a person. That is what I gathered most from the statement. And from that perspective, I can agree. I certainly wouldn't call it dumb.

But, with that said, I also believe there is a way you can get a coach that functions ethically and 'rightly' and still produce a winning team ala John Wooden. At least, I think John Wooden a stand-up guy. I wasn't so much putting the focus on choosing Benford or Brown. I don't know if Benford has done things the 'right' way. I do see players come in and out with little honoring of the mutual commitment to each other. Then again, I don't know what is happening on the inside with them. But, I was referring more so to the dilemma of my previous paragraph. Good people and good coaches can coexist in the same person. Let's find that one.

[GreenBat]

One more way of illustrating... Most people would probably rank how they want our basketball program to function like this:

1) Win the "right" way

2) Lose the "right" way

3) Win the "wrong" way

4) Lose the "wrong" way

If your moral compass is a bit smudged or you have a very flexible definition of "right" and "wrong" in an athletics context, you can probably deal with this:

1) Win the "right" way

2) Win the "wrong" way

3) Lose the "right" way

4) Lose the "wrong" way

Whichever way you swing on the matter, we're in the worst situation on either chart now. We torture or break NCAA regulations, we kick (or VERY STRONGLY PUSH) kids out of their education, and we still lose. Badly and frequently.

The problem with the Benford era is the team is all it knows is:

1) Lose the "right" way

2) Lose the "wrong" way

3) Win the "wrong" way

Still waiting to:

4) Win the "right" way

Maybe this year

Edited July 23, 2014 by GreenBat