When Florida International hired a man who, though he'd been one of the NBA's greatest players, had failed at every point in his management career, had cost his last employer $11 million dollars with a sexual harassment suit, and had let his own teenaged daughter take the fall when he overdosed on pills, eyebrows were raised.
But Isiah Thomas was a name, and he was so determined to build something out of FIU's basketball program he'd offered to work for free. It didn't start well, in true Thomas style, but what matters now -- so long as he keeps his hands off the Golden Dazzlers -- is what's happening on the court. So how's that going?
The New Times checked in, and it wasn't pretty:
In the first three losing games of the Golden Panthers' season, the Hall of Famer's team was outscored 268-191. Its overall record stands at an abysmal 7-19. In the Sun Belt Conference, a middling group of unrated basketball teams, FIU is last in the East Division with a 4-9 tally...
The basketball team has averaged a paltry 120 attendees per home game this season. The arena seats 6,000.
Ouch. Honestly, say what you can about this career, we cringe just reading that. Though he's shown an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (his Pacers team featured Jermaine O'Neal, Jamaal Tinsley, and Ron Artest, and still couldn't win), it's a little hard not to root for a guy whose positive playing personality has translated into an ability to keep trying to get it right -- over and over and over -- and to laugh with fans who taunt him with his own personal failures in opposing gyms.
The situation is pretty damning on its face, of course. Even the part FIU was sure of -- that an NBA Hall of Famer would at least generate some buzz -- isn't working. But keep in mind: not even Mike Krzyzewski could waltz into a school like FIU and turn a program around in six months. Thomas was handed someone else's squad, someone else's program, and he really can't be judged until a few of his own handpicked classes fail.
So, you know, just give him time.
Sports
Janie Campbell is a Florida native who believes in the pro-set and ballpark hot dogs. Her work has appeared in irreverent sports sites around the internet.
