Avoiding College Coaches Gone Wild

After a bitter and acrimonious exit from West Virginia, coach Rich Rodriguez oversaw the worst season in recent memory in Ann Arbor. The Michigan Wolverines managed to win only three games last year, a feat essentially unheard of in modern recorded history.

Fans hoping for improvement and a return to normalcy will apparently have to continue waiting. Multiple players allege Rodriguez and staff regularly violate NCAA rules governing the amount of time student athletes may dedicate to their sports.

If true, that's unacceptable.

Ethics, apparently, are optional in college athletics. No one's perfect. That's understood. But Kelvin Sampson, John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Billie Gillispie, Andy Kennedy and numerous others are among those having experienced recent trouble.

That's why I don't understand a bumper sticker I saw Friday evening. Fire Kragthorpe, it read.

Such sentiments are short sighted. I'd much rather build long-term success properly within a program, such as Steve Kragthorpe is attempting here in Louisville, than broker some Faustian pact that brings but temporary success at great cost (as was experienced with Louisville's previous football administration). Make no mistake, if Kragthorpe's detractors succeed in running him off prematurely, as surely they are trying, he'll proceed to build a successful program somewhere else. Let's hope that doesn't happen, as we have a great opportunity to build long-term success here, something not even the Michigans of the world are always capable of managing.