Will he or won’t he? Will Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall leave a good situation for another, another that pays more? That scenario is being repeated all across the country as athletic directors “dance with the stars” trying to entice them to coach at their respective schools.
This whole thing, finding the right coach, is conducted in secretive and unusual ways. The schools want “protection” if they are turned down by a coach that they make an offer to. Coaches want to be able to say that they weren’t “looking” in case they decide to stay, or don’t get that big offer. Thus, it has led to a whole small industry of professional “head-hunters”, former athletic officials who now specialize in helping schools and coaches find just the right fit WITHOUT sacrificing confidentiality for either side.
This whole process is much like when you attended your very first dance, perhaps in the sixth or seventh grade-unless you were tormented with parents or parents of friends who tried to force adulthood on you before that! Do you remember what it was like? Nobody wanted to just go up to a girl, or guy, and say “do you wanna dance?” Oh no, that would be too embarrassing! Instead you had your friend go to the friend of who you were interested in and relay that “Tommy would like to dance with Susie” or perhaps Sally says that she would “dance with Billy if he would let you know to let him know that he would.”
It all gets rather complicated and this “Dancing With The Stars” thing, this finding a new coach is very much like that. No athletic director worth his/her salt wants the public, and heaven forbid their alumni, to find out that they made an offer to a coach and got turned down. Imagine the shame if it happens twice, or three times? How do you convince your fan base, your players, your donors that your third or fourth choice was really “the guy we wanted all along?” Ditto for the coach. If you don’t get the job offer after interviewing, how do you convince your school’s fans, donors, and most of all, players that you really wanted to stay at “Old Swawmee Tech” all of the time?
Remember when word came back through Beverly that Susie didn’t want to dance with you? Remember how you felt? The only thing worse would have been actually standing out on that dance floor in front of everyone and having Susie turn you down. THAT, in a nutshell, is why we have all of this “Dancing With The Stars” and why it sometimes drags on and on.
Will he or won’t he? Will she or won’t she?  It’s a wonderful game!
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CHALK TALK
Don’t you get the feeling that most of America will be rooting for the Wisconsin Badgers this weekend?
Gee, I am SO GLAD that Charles Barkley  has weighed in on Indiana’s new religious discrimination law. I am sure he is quite expert! That is about like me giving my opinions on how to build a space ship! Come to think of it, maybe Barkley IS from Mars!
Congrats to Barton County sophomore Ahmad Walker who was named second-team NJCAA All American.
It’s not quite “Fifty Shades of Grey” but maybe a bunch of shades of Orange. Rick Barnes, dismissed basketball coach at UT has traded that shade of orange for the orange of UT (Tennessee). Before coaching Texas he was at Clemson. Guess what one of their colors are? A shade of orange! Ever the optimist, Barnes says he is “looking forward to taking the Vols to a national championship.” An optimist is a man who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery!