Stay safe everybody on Zulema St.
Down in Houston to see family. Wonder if this might be a topic of discussion with my sister and brother-in-law (both Rice alum)?
Oregon’s Arsalan Kazemi? has been a key player in the Ducks’ run to the Sweet 16, but while at Rice from 2009-12 he alleged that Owls athletic director Rick Greenspan repeatedly made insulting and discriminating remarks to him, two fellow Middle Eastern players and an assistant coach, and that led to his request for a hardship waiver from the NCAA to be eligible to play this season.
According to a document obtained by SI.com, Kazemi, the first Iranian-born player in NCAA Division I men’s college basketball, alleged in his hardship waiver that Greenspan made derogatory comments referencing Al-Qaeda and the Axis of Evil when talking about Kazemi and two of his teammates.
The NCAA only grants hardship waivers under special circumstances, but in this case it gave waivers to Kazemi and his teammate, center Omar Oraby, an Egyptian who transferred to USC in September.
The Egyptian born assistant coach who helped recruit these players also filed an EEOC complaint after he was let go. At the most generous, kind reading of the comments the Rice AD made, he was making very, very tasteless jokes.
The coaching carousel continues for teams thinking it would be easy to get a new coach. I happen to agree with Andy Katz on this one:
UCLA, USC and Minnesota are finding out what Oregon and others have discovered in how difficult it is to extract coaches from good situations. On the surface the jobs are perceived as better jobs than what some of these coaches currently have, but leaving a comfortable situation, an athletic director or president that they get along with, and facilities can be difficult to match. Oregon was fortunate when it landed Creighton’s Dana Altman, but he was down the list. How many schools get their first choice? Even Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall has a great situation for him. He makes more than $1 million and is now at the top job in the Missouri Valley Conference. Marshall could make his style work at any of the three openings. All three schools should make a major play for him. But he doesn’t have to move now that he made the Elite Eight. Butler’s Brad Stevens, Gonzaga’s Mark Few and VCU’s Shaka Smart have listened, but don’t need to move and haven’t so far. This is a humbling experience for these ADs when they go out expecting to find a coach and struggle.
Understand, that I happen to agree that UCLA and Minnesota needed to make a change (here’s another good read). At the same time, neither school is likely to get anywhere near what their fanbases seem to think they are entitled to get in their next coach. Shaka Smart is already staying. Brad Stevens doesn’t seem likely. The UCLA fans actually believe that Billy Donovan and Rick Pitino would actually listen. The reality is that whoever they — and Minnesota and USC — hire is likely to lack the pedigree of the guy they replace. Like Altman, in the longrun it might be better. But, initially there will be disappointment and anger at the AD for “screwing up the search and hire.”
Greg Marshall at Wichita St. is at the very least making it clear that it will take a lot of money to make him leave. Marshall has been smart. He didn’t leave Winthrop for quite a while despite interest. He waited for a job like at Wichita St. where there was already good things in place. He didn’t have to rebuild and have to risk job security if fans or the AD got impatient. He would be unlikely to go to the USC or Minnesota job, in my view, because both of those jobs — while coming with big money — would also be very difficult to build quickly enough to satisfy people.
That’s one more reason to be relieved that Jamie Dixon is still here. The odds would be that Pitt would have had to settle for someone that the fans would not like or that they would feel was not good enough for the job. I think people completely overestimate how willing Sean Miller would be to leave Arizona. He has a solid pipeline with California and West Coast recruiting. He has more resources and support in Arizona. And it was hard enough for Arizona to pry him from Xavier.
Miller is a quality guy. I have a hard time believing he’d leave Arizona after just a few seasons. He would probably feel that he owes it to Arizona to be there a bit longer. Even for his alma mater.
We are KINGMAKERS! What an impact Pitt has had on each and every tournament we’ve been in.
Shockers almost took their foot off the gas too soon. Blew a 20 pt lead but showed all the guts and heart of a special bball team that they are.
Hope Pitt is watching what it takes to be a real NCAA basketball threat! They need lessons…
Another Big 10 school bites the dust.
Pgh lost a good portion of the generation (20/30s) in the early 80’s. That was a sharp decline. So those people were gone forever and never replaced.
But that was part I.
Part II was felt from then on. Pgh lost the children of those who left. The migration out was huge, but it was a one time only loss, but it had a boomerang impact. These kids were born and raised elsewhere.
Currently getting inmigration, healthcare jobs, Marcellus gas, other energy jobs, (Westinghouse), great Universities. City resurgent due to increased downtown housing, improved night life.
People are retiring to PA because of nostalgia (it was home)and no state tax on pension income.
Looks like we could be having an all BE final…..B1G is over rated again.
In the end the guys says. “You Pittsburgh people are as proud a people as I have ever met. Every place I travel across the US I run into Pittsburgh folks and hear the same story. You all also have one other thing in common.”
I said “what would that be?”
His response… All of you people are “From Pittsburgh and not living there”.
He was right.
I love Pittsburgh and all that it provided me in my youth. Hard work mentality, great culture, great sports, great university. But I hate the weather. Overcast most days. Constant chill in the air. The south is a much better choice FOR ME. Thank goodness for air conditioning though.
If you look at the migration records for the last 50 years the largest cities in the country are shifting to the south and away from the north with th advent of AC.
ON any account. I love Pittsburgh and always look forward to return to visit family, friends,and Pitt athletics! Each of my kids are die hard Pitt and Steeler fans despite being born in the south (I guess it is in the blood)
Been to the City many times and they are only friendly when they want something from you. Philly is on my list of worst. Most cities I tolerate however.
Many fans of Pittsburgh everywhere you go given the great migration. My kids born and bred in Texas but consider themselves very much Pittsburgh.
I wish Panther Nation was as rabid as Steeler Nation. I see Steeler fans everywhere down here. Most if not all have some connection to the city via family. Sometimes I think I’m the only Pitt fan in DFW. Only once in over 13 years have I come across a Pitt sticker or shirt. I see many Pedo State fans unfortunately.
Happy Easter.
Baseball starts tonight. Go Rangers.
In most of his posts, he seems “positive” that Pitt is going to lose. And most of the time he is pretty optimistic that any Pitt team will embarass themselves on the field of Play. LOL
While the Conasauga was never on the stocking list, Sheeds/Sylco creeks were and found out when those creeks were stocked they did the Conasauga too.
They quit stocking those creeks. I called the TWRA and asked the region 1 office why they were not stocking that year. Was told they had stocked the year before and people would come on Fridays and siene the fish out. You are not allowed to fish on stocking day.
Evidently some hillbillys from Polk, Bradley counties in Tn/Fannin County GA were up to no good. There is still native trout in there though..
All year I kept asking folks “have you seen the Iranian kid play for Oregon?” and all year nobody had. I said “wait until the tournament”.
U of L frankly has our athletic department looking like, well like fools. They do better in football, basketball, and all the other sports too. Is U of L in fertile recruiting ground? Hardly. Did they make a mistake in hring a coach after Petrino? Yes, but they corrected it. Do they raise twice as much money as Pitt? Yes.
Want to see how an organization that knows what it is doing can accomplish and without a million grads like PSU or OSU, look to U of L.
Too bad it is April’s Fools and Cyanide Steve is still the AD.
The real joke is on the rest of us.
