Time for the Devil to Collect

Back in March I wrote about driving back to Binghamton University, my alma mater, and watching the men’s basketball team clinch its first ever NCAA tournament berth by winning the America East championship game.  I stood on the court as the players, coaches, and staff cut down the nets at the Events Center.  I said I was proud of the increase in school spirit and the great national exposure this would give Binghamton.  I said I have hung my diploma with great pride in the name Binghamton.

That was March.  This is October.  Here we are, several months later, and the school is embroiled in controversy surrounding the athletic department – and mainly the men’s basketball team.  Shortly before tipping off against Duke,  a fund-raiser for the athletic department filed a federal sexual harassment complaint against two athletics staff members.  In September, a member of the team, Tiki Mayben was dismissed from the team after he was arrested and charged with the possession and sale of crack cocaine.  Just a few days later, five of Mayben’s teammates were also dismissed from the team for not living up to the school’s academic and social standards.  Just this week the Director of Athletics resigned amid this controversy and the President of the school said that an external review of all athletics programs would take place to ensure compliance with the school’s standards.

The only person left standing is likely the one to blame.  Coach Kevin Broadus was hired as Head Coach after spending time as an assistant at Georgetown.  A few days after his hiring  a NY Times report indicated that Broadus had recruited kids for Georgetown from a diploma mill in Philadelphia.  Binghamton’s AD (you know… the one that just resigned) promised that Binghamton would maintain its standards and not accept any basketball player that did not meet the admissions criteria.  It didn’t.

The easy way to build a program is to take on some transfers, some good basketball players with questionable backgrounds and help the team win.  When the team starts winning, more  people will want to go to the school.  The quality of recruits (both athletically and academically) would then return to a high standard and everyone is happy.  Before that happened, though, Binghamton was caught.

Binghamton sold its soul to the devil in exchange for one NCAA tournament experience.  Now, it’s time for the devil to collect.  The program is tarnished and will likely falter while facing intense scrutiny the next few years.  Broadus is no longer a hot commodity in the coaching world and what kid wants to enter this situation?

A couple co-workers were talking to me about the whole situation today and I couldn’t help but be embarrassed by the whole ordeal.  I’m fairly certain this was the first time I’ve ever been embarrassed by Binghamton.  When I make it back up to school for homecoming this weekend, I wonder if the school will still be standing.

Binghamton Goes Dancing!

As a proud graduate of Binghamton University, I did what every other graduate of a school that has never been to the big dance does: I went back to school for the conference championship game.

I went up on Friday night for the 11:00 am Saturday game and was surprised to see the enthusiasm of the students in preparation for the game.  At about midnight, me and a couple friends journeyed to campus and saw a line of tents from the door of the Events Center stretching back a good distance.  Binghamton has never been a place where school spirit is in full swing, so to see the excitement was awesome.

For a little background, Binghamton has never been to the NCAA tournament in basketball.  When the school hosted the conference tournament my junior year, a bunch of friends and I tailgated in an empty parking lot in front of the Events Center at about 9am for our noon or 1pm game.  Empty.  When the coach came in, he even came over to tell us he was impressed by our little shindig.  To go from there to a line of tents was a great thing for the school.

Students would brave the below freezing temperatures that night to get on line to be in front row of the student section, the “BU Zoo” with a chance to be on TV (the game was broadcast on ESPN2 for probably the first nationally televised game in school history).

The game itself was awesome and as time ran down my friends and I stormed the court with hundreds of other people.  I watched the team cut the nets down at the Events Center (along with the President of the school and the mayor of Binghamton, who was outside his jurisdiction since the school is actually in Vestal).  That was one of the coolest sporting events I have ever seen in person.

What I will take away from this weekend, aside from the big win and the school’s first ever NCAA tournament appearance, is the dramatic rise in school spirit.  Binghamton is now a national name (the game was available in 110 million homes) and the students couldn’t be more proud to call Binghamton their home.  I have always hung my diploma with pride and I hope this causes more students, past, present, and future, to appreciate their school.

Sunday night, the Binghamton Bearcats drew a #15 seed and will face Duke in North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Three More Years for JoePa?

Hey listen, I’m all about old people working, but 82 year old Joe Paterno just signed a 3-year contract extension to remain the Head Coach of Penn State.  You have to be kidding me.  I mean the guy became the Head Coach at PSU in 1966.  For reference, I will tell you that President-Elect Barack Obama was five years old that year.  Wow.

I’m happy for Joe Paterno, kind of.  In sports, how many times have we seen individuals stay longer than they should have?  How many times should someone have retired, only to come back and have a miserable season or two.  Although, “he” did lead the Nittany Lions to quite a year this year (Yes, I did put he in quotes…).  I understand that Joe Paterno IS Pennsylvania sports, specifically Pennsylvania football.  I get that.  These kids that he recruits must realize, though, that there is always the possibility that he won’t be their coach for all four years.  Does he even coach them at all?  Doe she know the players?  Realistically, how much does Paterno coach at all?  I would like to know the answer to that one.  He stands  – sits, more recently – there and is a grandfather figure.  Does he draw up plays?  Help teach the players?  He can’t spend much time visiting recruits or spending time in the office.  Maybe I’m wrong, however, maybe Joe Paterno has more passion for his job than any of us.  If so, good for him.

I know Penn State is in a rough spot with him since you really can’t force out the man that singlehandedly represents your program, but is it really good for the program to have an 82 year old coach?  I don’t know the answer to that.  I think that if they let him, Paterno will be there until he is physically unable to be there.  If he even has one tiny doubt that he can’t do it, he shouldn’t.  It’s not fair to the players or the school.  Sure, he gave the school so much, but he has to remember, they gave him so much, too.