On April 4, the
Indianapolis Star ran an article by Michael Pointer (http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/135136-7128-036.html)
giving the reasons Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady turned down a job at the
University of San Francisco last week: Coach Keady cited loyalty and commitment
to the program he has built over the past 24 years and that he would like to
have a say in who his successor will be at Purdue.
I believe this is the
case. Coach Keady is an outstanding coach and person who runs a clean program
and is loyal to his coaches, players, and the university, and has had a lot of
success over the years. It is too bad that in this day of college sports being
big business that Purdue is unwilling to make a commitment to Keady beyond this
year.
Officially, Purdue said the
school had no comment on the matter of Keady’s future status with the basketball
program—which in layman’s terms means Keady’s goose is cooked after his 25th
season at the helm.
If I was being railroaded
by the athletic department at Purdue, I know I would be looking for the next
train out of West Lafayette. Coach Keady is loyal to Purdue, no doubt, but I
speculate there is another reason he turned down the offer to coach at San
Francisco: it is not the sort of place you find guys like Gene Keady.
Keady and San Francisco go
together about as well as Hillary Clinton and the N.R.A. Even at age 67, when
Keady gets fired up, he looks like he could kick some serious ass. It would be
hard to imagine him setting up shop in the city of Brother-on-Brother love.
What would Keady do in his
free time? Go down to Haight-Asbury and sing anti-war songs? Read poetry with
flower children? Smoke some hash? After spending so much time in America’s
heartland, I could just imagine what was crossing his mind when touring the city
of San Francisco and the USF campus. This is why Keady said thanks, but no
thanks to the Dons.
If I was Keady, I would
still send out my resume, but to schools in the Big XII Conference, where he
would be a better fit. At least there they have some appreciation for
old-school coaches. Who knows, maybe he can rekindle a rivalry with another
former Big Ten coach.
