Chaney's punishment should be dismissal, not suspension
No more excuses for John Chaney. No more explanations, no more minced words.
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| Temple coach John Chaney has had a handful of run-ins. (AP) |
In Temple's 63-56 loss Tuesday to Saint Joseph's, Chaney sent in a goon -- his word, goon -- to send a message. That message went all the way to a hospital in Philadelphia, where Saint Joseph's forward John Bryant was diagnosed Thursday with a broken arm.
Chaney sent a player into the game for the express purpose of roughing up Saint Joseph's, and the result was the probable end of John Bryant's career.
And so should end John Chaney's career.
Earlier Wednesday, before anyone knew the severity of Bryant's injury, and before Adamany stepped in, Chaney suspended himself for the Owls' next game, Saturday against Massachusetts.
That gesture, before any of us knew about Bryant's broken bone, looked noble enough. Now it looks hollow. What happened Tuesday night wasn't an act of passion. Chaney was upset with the officials for allowing the Hawks to set what he felt were illegal screens, but sending in his goon was no fateful, split-second decision. One day earlier, he had told the media that he would take action if the Hawks continued with their illegal screens.
On Tuesday, that action was named Nehemiah Ingram. He stands 6-feet-8, weighs 250 pounds and plays almost never. He averages 0.4 points and 0.0 assists per game, not that Chaney called on Ingram on Tuesday to score or pass. He called on Ingram to get rough, and Ingram did -- fouling out in four minutes, including a technical foul.
The result was a disaster, right down to Ingram's stupid shove of Bryant at the end of a layup. Bryant landed hard, and probably won't play again this season. Because he's a senior, he probably won't play again. It's too late to redshirt, and he's not good enough to play overseas. His career, in effect, is over.
And Chaney will miss a few games? Not good enough. He shouldn't be back at all this season -- not for the A-10 Tournament and, should the Owls win that, not for the NCAAs, either.
And after this season, a Temple administration that has kowtowed to Chaney needs to take a hard look at the kind of man Chaney has become. Or the kind of man he has been all along.
For years, we've looked the other way. All of us have. Chaney once grabbed the neck of a rival coach, George Washington's Gerry Gimelstob, in 1984. Everyone looked the other way. That's just John Chaney.
Chaney once threatened to kill a rival coach, Massachusetts' John Calipari, in 1994. The threat was captured on video. It was embarrassing, a career-ending move for most coaches. Not for Chaney. Everyone looked the other way.
