Nice Guy Finishes Last
March 27, 2007 at 6:05am by Walking on Sunshine
Filed under Arkansas Razorbacks, Basketball
Do nice guys really finish last? In a year where two “Nice Guy” coaches from the Bears and Colts made the Super Bowl, our nice guy is exiting stage right. Stan Heath is out as the coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and nobody is reveling in his demise. In this day and age, that says a lot.
These days, after a coach stays awhile at one place, he will alienate some; rub others the wrong way; make a statement that gets him trouble; lie or double cross someone. Thus, when he gets the axe, those who are haters take joy and pleasure from their fall from the perch. I’ve not talked to a single person that feels this way about Stan. The majority of fans pulled for him, even till the end.
When you think about it, there’s not many coaches that you can think of that get fired, but everyone still likes and respects at the end. Several words come to mind when I think of Coach Heath…but class and professional are the ones that resonate most. As Tipster put it, he was the “Anti-Nolan” in more ways than one…good at the PR part, but lacking in the “instill your will into your players” department. Time and time again, this resulted in a lack of consistency on the court, and the “Basketball Palace of Mid-America” being far less than full most of the time.
Stan was just not ready, and that wasn’t his fault. After one season as a head coach, he needed more seasoning before he could really succeed anywhere. The complete lack of talent left to him by his predecessor masked (for a while) his coaching shortcomings. Nobody could have won with what Nolan left…not even Nolan himself.
Other than Brewer, Hill and Beverley, Coach Heath did not really gather up a bunch of future NBA guys. But the ship has a lot fewer holes in it than when he first got here. Give him all the credit for that. But at Arkansas, you must make more progress than what has been shown in five years…bottom line.
Our good guy finished last, but represented himself and our university well. Wins, championships, and deep runs into the NCAA Tourney should be — and are – expected at Arkansas. And that’s what got him in the end.
Good luck, Stan, at your next stop. As always, we’ll be rooting for you.
Well said Sunshine.
ESPN made a good point about Stan leaving. Their take was that when you hire a coach with one year experience at a place like Arkansas the man making that decision should go as well. Of course Frank is on the way out. What about White?
I still worry about White.
White made the decision. Frank and most of the BOT wanted Self.
White should be the one leaving… I say we just clean house… let’s hire a men’s BB coach, women’s BB coach, A.D., Football coach, AND a new chancellor.
(sarcasm for those who are sensitive)
And once again, the “Good Ole Boy Network” is alive and well. The wrong coach is leaving the U of A. Stan earned one more season, unlike our football coach who can’t keep his texts to himself and has had more off field issues than any program in the nation.
Good luck Coach Heath. You were a class act when we needed it the most. You deserved one more year, but it is good to see UA committed to getting better now. Let us all hope that we get a proven winner as a coach. GO HOGS!
This is about basketball and it was time to make the move. Stan is a good man and left things better than he found them. d1nonlyhogfan, if you must divert into football, please back up your claim that football “has had more off field issues than any program in the nation.” with some facts. I’m still waiting to hear Rick Majeras’ name thrown around as a candidate.
I would gladly welcome Rick Majeras. That would rule.
It looks like nothing will be finalized about Gillespie, at least until Friday. A&M will finalize the package they hope he will take then. I wonder how committed Frank Broyles is to bringing him to Hogland. How high ($$$$$$$) will Frank go?
It is sad that big time college sports has pushed things to this. When this first came up, I thought that Coach Heath would be retained. So, I was surprised that he was not kept for another year. Then, my head kicked in over heart as I remembered how the EEO system works (or does not work in many cases). Contrary to what some think, supervisors hate to fire people. It is distasteful, may mean that you have failed in your hiring of a person, and means that your life may become more complicated because you must find, hire, and in some cases train another person. Most supervisors have an exceptionally strong tendency to give the person the benefit of the doubt ,and to be positive, and believe that another chance to improve or go higher in job accomplishments should be given. As I said, my mind kicked in today after I remembered how EEO works. It requires a strict accounting…no feelings allowed. Give Coach H. another year and if again the season is similar to the last one (2006-2007), and then a year later, you say this is just not going to work, therefore, we have to make a change. You make that change and then if the person challenges you in court under EEO, over and over again they will remind you that the record is the same as the one from the previous year and you did not fire the person last year, so why did you fire the person a year later. The answer must be that you descriminated against them because of …………… You then have to fight through those accusations. And some judges are ready to believe anything. Whereas, if you had taken the action a year earlier, it is more cut and dried (if things in court are every cut and dried) for that system.
If you will recall from the transcript of the court challenge by the former fired basketball coach, it was brought..alluded to… as to why that coach’s actions were unsatisfactory several years later but UA did not fire him earlier, This is not how the normal person things but when you get challenged in court you have to start thinking in those ways. It forces the supervisor to be more brutal than they would like to be and forces the supervisor against their basic “want to give the benefit of the doubt” instincts. In the case of EEO, you do that and you stand a good change of being beaten by some judge that does not understand how it is in supervising people..and I doubt that most judges understand the intricacies involved in supervising and the fact that most supervisors hate to fire anyone. Based on what I know of the personnel system, Coach Broyles, as far in trying to be consistent in making personnel decisions that fit with EEO thinking, made the right call.
Now the Athletic Director that may need to be fired is the one that did not try to retain Coach Blair. That was a travesty and it was hard to watch a good women’s basketball program be taken down, down, down. That was caused by a very bad personnel decision by the other UA athletic director.