Troubling times at Binghamton lead to new round of blame game
A player was arrested for selling cocaine, then five more were subsequently dismissed. And now the Binghamton administration has turned on Kevin Broadus for ... being Kevin Broadus?
Is that right?
"We appreciate that Coach Broadus has given second chances to athletes," Binghamton president Lois B. DeFleur said. "But our program cannot take these risks."
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| Kevin Broadus got a contract extension through 2014 in June. (Getty Images) |
Does she mean take these risks anymore?
Because DeFleur has been Binghamton's president since 1990, meaning any risk taken has been taken on her watch -- as well as the watch of athletic director Joel Thirer, the man who released the following statement over the weekend: "Our coaches need to recruit student-athletes who value the opportunity that's being given to them."
Seriously?
Don't be fooled.
Despite what DeFleur and Thirer would have you believe, this is just a classic case of administrators trying to cover their administrative behinds even though they were complicit in producing every negative headline that's plagued Binghamton since Emmanuel "Tiki" Mayben was arraigned on cocaine distribution charges last Thursday and dismissed from the men's basketball team. On Friday, five more student-athletes -- including the American East's best player, D.J. Rivera -- were also dismissed, and that's when the school started releasing silly statements designed to pile blame on Broadus.
And make no mistake, Broadus deserves some blame.
Perhaps even most of the blame.
He's the one who bet his career on the slim chance that he could use a bunch of troubled (yet talented) humans to earn Binghamton's first trip to the NCAA tournament without it blowing up.
The first part of that equation worked nicely; Binghamton won 23 games last season and made the NCAA tournament. But the warm columns that typically come with such stories never came -- primarily thanks to the work of the New York Times' Pete Thamel, who had been holding a spotlight to Broadus' questionable recruiting tactics since he was hired in 2007. And then everything really turned to hell last week with Mayben's arrest, which pushed Binghamton into house-clearing mode and Broadus -- who did not return a voice message left Sunday on his cell phone -- into a state of silence, save a prepared statement and a few comments made at a coaching clinic.
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"Recruiting is a reflection of you as a person," Broadus said Saturday, according to the Press & Sun-Bulletin. "I'm learning that every day."
Again, Broadus deserves some blame.
Perhaps even most of the blame.
But let's not forget that it was DeFleur and Thirer -- those finger-pointing administrators -- who hired Broadus from Georgetown despite his history of recruiting prospects from a diploma mill called Lutheran Christian. Likewise, it was DeFleur and Thirer who allowed Broadus to enroll two players who spent time at Lutheran Christian -- among them Theo Davis, who was charged with marijuana possession at Gonzaga before transferring to Binghamton. And it was DeFleur and Thirer who allowed Broadus to enroll Rivera, who transferred after sitting out a semester at St. Joseph's because of academic problems. And it was DeFleur and Thirer who allowed Broadus to enroll Malik Alvin, who transferred from UTEP in part because of academic problems, and who was later arrested for stealing condoms from a Wal-Mart and assaulting a 66-year-old woman. And, yes, it was DeFleur and Thirer who allowed Broadus to enroll one Emmanuel "Tiki" Mayben, who initially signed with Syracuse but never played for the Orange because of -- just take a wild guess -- academic problems.
Want to know what else DeFleur and Thirer did?
They gave Broadus a contract extension in June through 2014.
And now -- after Mayben's arrest -- they want to clean up their program.
It would be funny if it weren't so sad, hilarious if it weren't so contemptible. I mean, the only thing more predictable than some of the idiots Binghamton enrolled getting in trouble is the 2010 divorce of Lamar Odom and Khloe Kardashian. That Mayben ended up in jail before his eligibility exhausted is about as surprising as a picture of Lindsay Lohan with enlarged pupils, which is why it's ridiculous for DeFleur and Thirer to now publicly criticize Broadus for doing exactly what they hired and allowed him to do.
They wanted wins by any means necessary.
Broadus got them wins by enrolling at-risk prospects.
They could've stopped him at any time, could've told him they weren't taking players with past drug issues (like Davis) or academic issues (like Rivera and Alvin) or just issues in general (like Mayben). Instead, they sat silently and let it all go down, celebrated Binghamton's first trip to the NCAA tournament, then rewarded their coach with a contract extension less than four months ago.
In other words, DeFleur and Thirer were OK with Broadus until last week.
Remember, he was their hire.
They knew what they were getting when they got it, knew what they were extending when they extended it. To spend the past few days pretending otherwise is dishonest bordering on disgraceful. And if some sanctimonious statements are the best they can do, they'd be better off keeping quiet, you know, just like they did while they watched Broadus build this program that is now a national embarrassment in shambles.
