There is a right way and a wrong way for a new coach to accept a transfer from his old school.
Good news, Andy Kennedy and Mike Davis. You're all clear.
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| Interim coach Andy Kennedy, now at Ole Miss, deserved the Bearcats' full-time position. (Getty Images) |
It's as simple as this: When a coach is pushed out of his old job -- fired, forced to resign, not retained, whatever -- he has every right to poach his old players and bring them to his new school. Every right. That clear enough? Every right.
Cincinnati treated Kennedy badly. Indiana treated Davis worse. Now that Kennedy is at Ole Miss and Davis is at UAB, they are free to return the favor.
Cincinnati's best player is, or was, freshman point guard Devan Downey. He is seeking to transfer, and Ole Miss is among the schools he is considering. So is Kansas State. Both schools are coached by ex-Cincinnati coaches who left UC on Cincinnati's terms. That means both coaches -- Kennedy, and also Bob Huggins at Kansas State -- are free to accept and even pursue players from Cincinnati.
Give me one good reason why not. Loyalty to Cincinnati? Not a good reason. Cincinnati wasn't loyal to 16-year coach Huggins, its egghead president and gutless athletics director pushing him out because of bad and often erroneous national publicity. Cincinnati wasn't loyal to interim coach Kennedy, who overachieved on the court and off the court and deserved to replace Huggins more than the guy who got the job, another former Huggins assistant, Mick Cronin. (No offense, Mick. Really.)
Cincinnati used Huggins, and Cincinnati used Kennedy. Payback is a bitch. If Downey wants to play for the coaches who recruited him and coached him, he has that right. Why? Because the coaches who recruited him, and coached him, have the right to pursue him.
The same goes for Davis at UAB. He was forced out at Indiana. Hate-mailers, do not -- repeat, not -- tell me Davis "resigned" at Indiana to pursue other jobs like the one at UAB. That's like saying former FEMA director Michael Brown "resigned" from that enormous federal post to pursue that sad little consultancy opening in Louisiana. Words are words. Truth is truth. Know the difference.
Davis was shoved out, in the back, by Indiana's two-fisted athletics director. Fine. That's Indiana's right. But it is now Davis' right to accept a transfer from sophomore wing Robert Vaden, who came to Indiana not to play for the Hoosiers, but to play for Mike Davis. If Vaden wants to follow Davis to UAB, Davis has the right to accept him.
And it's the same for Indiana sophomore forward D.J. White, who also has been considering following Davis to UAB but reportedly will stay with the Hoosiers. As an aside to D.J. White, let me tell you something: If you're staying at Indiana because you view yourself as a 2007 NBA first-round draft pick, and you don't want to spend the 2006-07 season as a redshirt, you're viewing yourself all wrong. For one thing, you're not a first-round pick in 2007. For another, name a big man that Kelvin Sampson turned into a pro in 12 years at Oklahoma. Don't name Taj Gray, unless you consider Bolivia to be a pro league. Eduardo Najera? Fine, D.J. White. Stay at Indiana and become the next Najera.
Anyway, Downey to Ole Miss is fine. Vaden to UAB is fine.
Shawn James or Bobby Kelly to Duquesne? Not fine.
