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Friday, June 1, 2007
Golf Hall gets short shrift
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The battle of the halls of fame is on in Georgia. Everybody has a favorite. Governor Perdue favors the Sports Hall of Fame at Macon. Others favor the Golf Hall of Fame at Augusta. As a member of both, I suggest that the golf project is getting the back of the governor’s hand.
The Sports Hall was built at a cost of $8 million to $10 million, and costs the state anywhere from $600,000 to $800,000 annually to keep operating. The logical location was the Georgia Dome, which was being built about the same time and would have tied it in with a guaranteed flow of sports fans.
But, “Middle Georgia gets nothing. It needs an attraction like this. Atlanta gets everything.” That was the major plank in the mid-state politicos’ platform.
Located in Macon, off the speedway that is I-75, it has no way of attracting casual visitors and assuring its upkeep. And the demand will worsen, for structural repairs and maintenance will become a constant strain. Its appeal is regional.
The Golf Hall is located in Georgia’s golf central. Augusta is home to the Masters, whose prestige is international. It generates more publicity for the state, due to its proximity to the Masters, and the statuesque presence of such great Masters champions as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Raymond Floyd, plus the abiding presence of Bobby Jones, this state’s most widely renowned athlete. More than $7 million has been spent on the project, so it is written, but there is still no housing structure. Now it has become a sparring issue between Governor Perdue and Rep. Ben Harbin of Evans, two Republicans of differing ilk.
This is unfair to the sport that has brought more publicity to Georgia than can be measured. Governor Perdue has vetoed any appropriations for the Golf Hall, whether in the interest of budget-balancing or par for the course in a match between political rivals. Ah, the governor does enjoy his vetoes.
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Once again, players left on hook by coach
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
On Tuesday, Billy Donovan said he was close to a new contract at Florida.
On Wednesday, Billy Donovan said he was still close to a new contract at Florida and, no, he hadn’t spoken to the Orlando Magic.
On Thursday, Billy Donovan finally agreed to a new contract. With the Orlando Magic. Negotiations presumably took only 18 seconds, or were conducted via Ouija board through Donovan’s spiritual adviser, Pinocchio.
So coaches lie. That’s no revelation. Let’s move on.
The issue here is not that a basketball coach would leave one job for another. The issue is what little recourse is afforded his former players.
When a coach leaves a school, the NCAA doesn’t allow players to transfer, at least not without sitting out a season. That’s almost no option at all. And it’s wrong.
Coaches can be as adept at schmoozing as drawing plays. They slither under the front doors of recruits’ homes. They convince them to sign letters of intent. They make promises they don’t intend to keep.
They are well practiced at looking a mother in the eyes and saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of your son.”
Then, two weeks later, the coach is in Boston, or New York, or Orlando. Weasels aren’t particular.
Florida probably would allow Donovan’s incoming recruits out of their commitments, if requested. But the school is not required to do so by NCAA bylaws. Even worse, returning players have no choice but to stay or sit out a season.
It seems loyalty only flows in one direction.
“I agree — it’s wrong,” Georgia coach Dennis Felton said Friday. “I think that whenever there’s a coaching change, all players involved should be free to move to another school, with no restriction or penalty. Signed players should have the freedom to do what they like to do. Sitting players should be free to transfer without sitting out a year.”
Well, that’s one vote. But don’t expect this to be the start of a movement. Too many agendas at work.
Felton can’t remember a rules change ever coming up in debate. He figures the NCAA would never yield such freedom to student-athletes because, “It wants to protect its institutions.”
Schools would never want such a rule because, as Felton said, “It may not be as easy for schools to jump up and fire a coach if it also means that it’s going to be easy to lose their players.”
But the current situation simply isn’t fair.
The counter-argument — that a student-athlete is committing to a university, its academics and its program — is naive. Yes, maybe there are things that Duke or North Carolina or Florida offer that could be considered unique. But when a basketball player signs a letter of intent, the coach — Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan — is the primary motivating factor.
Four years ago, when Felton replaced the deposed Jim Harrick in Athens, he agreed to let four recruits (two high school seniors, two junior college transfers) out of their commitments.
“I told them we’d like to have them here at Georgia, but I would not restrict them if they wanted to go elsewhere,” Felton said.
“It’s not only naive, it’s wrong to think that student-athletes, when they choose a school, that it’s not based on the people in that program. It’s not the buildings. It’s the same for all students who are recruited for other things on campus. You connect with the people, the professors. You connect with the culture created by the people in that program. That’s why students come to a school.”
Donovan knows that. But if he feels any guilt, $27.5 million will buy a lot of therapy.
He wasn’t wrong for taking the job. If he pulls the same crash-and-burn as other college coaches in the NBA, he can always return to campus life.
Somebody will pay him. Then, Donovan can tell recruits, “This is the place to be. I’m not going anywhere.”
And kids and moms will believe him, and sign the letters. They had just better realize that their futures are being tied to concrete, not a human.
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