by Bert Beiswanger
After it was reported this past weekend in the Muncie Star Press that Ball State basketball head coach Billy Taylor would be retained, I couldn’t help but think…
At a recent tribute to legendary Ball State announcer, Morry Mannies, President Jo Ann Gora said the following:
“As president of Ball State University, I speak annually to many groups about the key role that intercollegiate athletics plays in bringing us all together. Athletic events are among the most integral to Ball State’s campus life, because they provide a way for everyone affiliated with the university — students, alumni, faculty and staff, parents, and community members — to share in a rich tradition and form bonds that last across the miles and throughout the years.”
Right now the only bonds being shared are the butts of 3,000 dispassionate fans and their seats. Yes, that’s the approximate average attendance at Ball State basketball games these days.
What’s worse than fans who are fed up? Fans who simply don’t care. I’m as big a homer for my school as there is and I admit, it’s starting to be a lot easier to be the latter than the former.
Athletic director Tom Collins is on the way out the door after resigning earlier this year, and it’s Collins who ultimately was left with deciding whether to keep Taylor after having the most disappointing season in recent memory, so we were told. Now, I’m not necessarily suggesting Taylor should have been fired (though, performances don’t lie), but do you think Collins was going to fire a coach on his way out the door? How could he possibly be in the position to make such an important decision?
I don’t trust the leadership of my university to make such important decisions right now.
This team was supposed to be poised for a run at the NCAA tournament. Anyone associated with the team would tell you that. They had the best big man in the MAC in Jarrod Jones and plenty of supporting talent.
And what was the result?: An embarrassing, horrific non-conference schedule that failed to prepare this veteran team for Mid-American Conference play. They fell flat on their faces. This team was as talented as any in the MAC, yet, I can’t think of a worse season-long performance, from the coaching down. There are plenty of documented obstacles the team had to overcome, but excuses only get you so far. The coach has to keep his team focused and prepared – often, the team wasn’t.
The problem is, I don’t trust this administration to make the right hire for anything – A.D., coach, you name it. This is the same administration that hired the complete disaster that is Ronny Thompson, who lasted all of one year before the university had to suck it up and pay him to go away quietly (if you’re not up to speed on this fiasco, just Google Ronny Thompson Ball State. BSU’s own, Jason Whitlock, covered it quite well).
You think Kelvin Sampson was bad? Ronny Thompson shredded an entire program in ONE year! And Ball State folks have no one to thank but Team Gora. Most A.D.s wouldn’t survive a debacle like this. But Tom Collins did, which really says all that needs to be said. Because if Tom Collins was responsible for hiring Thompson in the first place (any competent due diligence would’ve ended the pursuit of RT early on), one would think he would have been fired, right?
Right now, it’s Collins who is on his way out after resigning. He’s sticking around until June so, in theory, he got to make the call on whether Taylor stayed?…
Honestly, if I wasn’t crying right now, I’d be laughing.
Before hiring Taylor, the program was in such disarray and a laughing-stock, from lack of pay to lack of morale in the athletic dept. Attracting the next solid mid-major coach (like a John Groce, now at Ohio) wasn’t going to happen. The administration screwed up so bad with Thompson that Billy Taylor was a safe hire…decent track record but more importantly, outstanding class and character.
There was no way they were going to get the next Brad Brownell (a solid mid-major coach at UNC Wilmington who went to Wright State before ultimately landing at Clemson). The word was on the street: BSU doesn’t pay and the culture isn’t good.
Now understand, Taylor had to pull a Tom Crean. He basically had to gut the program and start all over. It was as if BSU and IU received death penalties. Taylor had to work with very little and had to re-build the many fractured relationships BSU had with state high school programs. While he was probably the right man for the job at the right time, it’s a very fair question as to whether he’s the man for the job moving forward, especially if there’s an ounce of weight in the words of President Gora that opened this column.
Before uninformed non-BSU fans look up Taylor’s records the last three years and think I’m being a little hard on him, understand that Ball State’s non-conference strength of schedule has gotten progressively worse. Actually, as I mentioned previously, it’s downright embarrassing. It was one of the very worst in the country. In addition, if the MAC West division (Ball State’s division) was its own conference, the champion would probably have drawn a 16 seed.
Also understand that, along with Taylor’s players rarely developing or improving, his teams collapsed. Two years ago, all Ball State had to do to win the MAC West and #2 seed in the conference tournament was win one of it’s last three games (including one against what was possibly one of the worst D1 teams of all time: Toledo). Ball State lost all three. Last year, Ball State was in a similar situation, but lost three of four down the stretch to lose the MAC West by one game. This year, the team lost nine in a row and here is what assistant coach Bob Simmons had to say at the time:
“The good news is we haven’t played our best basketball, yet.”
Whaaa???
Here is a short list of teams immediately ahead of Ball State in recent Sagarin ratings:
Wofford
North Florida
Louisiana Lafayette
Northeastern
Portland State
Wow; I knew there was a northern part of Florida…I just didn’t realize there was a North Florida in Division I basketball. But, hey, they’re ranked higher than my Cardinals so it’s a little hard for me to pile on them.
This was the fifth year of the Taylor regime and this was supposed to be a Western Division title contender and overall conference title contender. It was NCAA tournament or bust, and they failed by every measure.
It’s easy to blame it all on the coach. But in this case, that wouldn’t totally be fair. You know what they say about a fish rotting from the head down?