Cal State Northridge plays basketball in the Big West Conference along with schools such as Hawaii, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. Cal State announced in the last several days that it has suspended its head basketball coach, Mark Gottfried and the other members of his coaching staff with pay pending an investigation into NCAA rules violations. Here is some of what the Athletic Director said in announcing this action:
“Upon learning of potential rules violations within our men’s basketball program, I directed an immediate review and have placed our men’s basketball coaching staff on paid administrative leave while we complete this internal review. Our focus will be on the welfare of our student-athletes and ensuring their academic, athletic and personal success. CSUN does not comment on specific employee issues and cannot elaborate further about the nature of the potential violations while the review is underway. However, CSUN is committed to ensuring full compliance with all university and NCAA regulations while maintaining the highest standards of integrity and institutional responsibility.”
This action and announcement caught my intention for two reasons:
- It is not just one coach who is on suspension, it is the entire coaching staff.
- Mark Gottfried is involved.
In most circumstances when a school learns of potential NCAA rules violations, the school suspends or fires a coach or maybe two coaches and speaks about righting the wrongs and moving forward. This announcement is different; since the entire staff is suspended, does that mean that the entire staff was part of an organized cabal to violate NCAA rules? Or might it mean that the school is confident there were violations but has not yet gathered enough information to know who is responsible? That is the first unusual aspect of this announcement.
In addition, the Athletic Director here said specifically that the focus will be “on the welfare of our student-athletes”. Let me channel Keith Jackson here and say, “Whoa, Nellie!” Is that just a rhetorical flourish or is this some sort of NCAA rules violation that goes beyond players receiving “improper benefits”?
- [Aside: The business here about “not commenting on specific employee issues” is a convenient dodge. When/if the school hires or fires a coach or gives him a raise, that is a specific employee issue; and they announce it loudly.]
Let me be clear; I know nothing more specific about this matter except that it seems quite different from other similar situations where schools find themselves on the wrong side of the NCAA rule book. And, this situation involved Mark Gottfried who has a previous presence in another matter that involved NCAA rules violations and a school announcing that it could not comment on an investigation because of privacy policies. Let me turn back the clock…
About 5 years ago, the FBI ran a sting operation and discovered that shoe companies were funneling under-the-table money to high school basketball recruits to choose to play at schools that wore that shoe company’s brand. The DoJ got convictions in this matter for several of the people involved on the theory that the schools were being defrauded somehow. Mark Gottfried was the head coach at NC State then and the NCAA cited him for failing to maintain oversight in his program when one of his assistants was somehow involved in getting some “Adidas money” from the company to a recruit who spent a year on the NC State basketball team.
Mark Gottfried has been a successful college basketball coach at Murray State, Alabama and NC State prior to his current gig at Cal State Northridge. When he arrived there, his overall record was 401-240; that will not make anyone forget the coaching achievements of John Wooden, but it is more than a respectable record. His teams had been in either the NIT or the NCAA tournament 15 times in 20 seasons. In the last three seasons at Cal State Northridge, things have not been nearly so successful. His record is 37-51 and the Matadors have only been in post-season play in the CBI Tournament which is clearly a step down from the NCAA Tournament and/or the NIT.
Clearly, there is more to come on this matter – – even if only to announce that the investigation showed only the most minor of “rule violations” and that everyone on the coaching staff has been cleared of any wrongdoing. But there is enough about the matter that is “off-center” to warrant paying attention…
Switching gears … Yesterday, I urged folks to look at Mike Trout’s stats for the first month of the 2021 season. They are eye-popping, indeed. Those comments got me an email from a former colleague and long-term reader who is a Dodgers’ fan and not an Angels’ fan. He said that while Trout was having an amazing season the Angels were – once again – under .500 in the standings and that Trout was saddled again to be on a bad baseball team. He said:
- Mike Trout is the AL version of Ernie Banks.
I assert that Mike Trout is the best player in the game today and for the past 5 years or so. Ernie Banks never achieved that status simply because he was a contemporary of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax to name a few. Having said that, I am perfectly willing to entertain a motion from the floor to say that Ernie Banks was the best shortstop ever to play MLB. [I know that may take the breath away from fans around 40 years old who have come to believe that Derek Jeter had no peers at that position, but such is the case…] Let me list some of Banks’ achievements:
- He was in the major leagues for 19 seasons – – all of them with the Cubs.
- He was an All-Star 14 times.
- He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
- He was the MVP in consecutive seasons (1958-59) an achievement matched by less than a dozen players in baseball history.
- He was durable – he led the league in games played in 6 seasons.
- He led the league in intentional walks twice.
And with all those achievements, Ernie Banks never played in a post-season game in 19 years with the Cubs. The analogy by my former colleague is an apt one…
Finally, since today’s rant involved the potential breaking of rules and major league baseball, this item from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times seems to be a perfect closing:
“Major League Baseball has hired former WWE ‘sizzle planner’ Brian Stedman as its executive vice president of strategy and development.
“Pitchers immediately demanded to know: Are pine tar and Vaseline considered foreign objects?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………