AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > June > 08
Friday, June 8, 2007
Cremins feels Donovan’s discomfort
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
For nearly four months in 1993, with Bobby Cremins’ head throbbing “during the worst time of my life,” the hate mail kept coming from South Carolina basketball fans to his office at Georgia Tech.
Then came a three-week trip to Florida, and not to see Mickey Mouse.
Since Cremins couldn’t shake the embarrassment of leaving Tech for South Carolina before returning to the Yellow Jackets just two days after changing his mind, former Tech athletics director Homer Rice gently urged his suffering coach to see a psychiatrist.
“The shrink there put me on drugs to knock me out, and then I came back, and I was still on some antidepressant stuff and some sleeping pills,” said Cremins, sharing the extraordinary depth of his flip-flopping pain for the first time. He spoke from another part of South Carolina, where he now coaches the College of Charleston. Added Cremins, sighing while reflecting, “One Saturday morning after I went to Florida, I woke up, down where I used to live on Columns Drive [in Marietta], and I went out and ran five miles. When I came back to the house, I took all of the prescription drugs, and I threw them in the garbage.”
He was cured. Well, he still quivered at the sight of garnet and black, the colors of South Carolina, his alma mater. He was cured, but he was scarred by his dramatic about-face forever. He wished to share those stories and others with the latest poor soul to pull a Bobby Cremins. In fact, soon after Billy Donovan spent the end of last week going from coaching the University of Florida to signing with the Orlando Magic to rejoining the Gators inside of a fastbreak, Cremins phoned his good friend.
No answer.
Not only that, Cremins’ messages were ignored.
To which Cremins shrugged. Been there and done all of that. Whether you’re talking about Donovan, Glen Mason, Bill Belichick, Greg Marshall, Dana Altman or others, Cremins is the undisputed president of the flip-flop club in the coaching ranks over the past 14 years. He has accepted his dubious place in history. As a result, he doesn’t mind hearing that somebody just pulled, is pulling or will pull a Bobby Cremins.
“Oh, not at all,” said Crem- ins, who coached Tech to impressive seasons during much of his tenure from 1981 to 2000, with stars such as Mark Price, Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury. “But when I see somebody do what I did [in flip-flopping], it always brings back bad memories. It’s happening right now. I can image Billy and his wife, and all of the embarrassment they’re going through. He probably feels like a fool, just like I did. But he’s a tough guy. A young guy.”
Donovan is 42. Cremins was in that vicinity (45) when he accepted the South Carolina job, and Cremins also was a tough guy. Still, neither Cremins’ youth nor his grit could keep his internal horror away when he determined hours after his South Carolina news conference that he officially was a Ramblin’ Wreck. You know, in more ways than one.
“Your body tells you what you just did,” said Cremins, referring to a coach discovering in a hurry that he left a job that he really wanted to keep. “My body shut down. And I’m sure Billy went through the same thing. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I’m sure that once he did it, he realized this isn’t what I want. Then you only have two choices. You go forward and hope things get better, or you go backwards. It takes courage to go backwards.”
Yes, it does. The easy thing would have been for Donovan to have joined the Magic and for Cremins to have joined the Gamecocks and for both coaches to have lived in misery ever after. They both came to their senses, though.
Now Donovan will join Cremins in misery only when recalling it all.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
