Muncie Burning? Prominent Journalists Not Buying It, Apparently
Uncategorized August 10th. 2007, 11:17am
The National Association of Black Journalists Convention is underway in Las Vegas, and a potentially hot story has trickled out: A source in Vegas tells us that former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson and super-agent David Falk are aggressively pushing several prominent journalists in an effort to get someone to cry racism over the treatment Thompson claims forced his son, Ronny, to walk away from the Ball State coaching job after just one season.
The source told us that within the last month, John Thompson and Falk have reached out to New York Times columnist William Rhoden, Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock, Washington Post columnist Mike Wilbon, and ESPN college basketball writer Andy Katz - among others - in hopes of getting someone to claim racism was the reason Thompson resigned last month while NCAA violations were hovering over the program. The Associated Press reported this week that the school was looking into Thompson’s claims that he “operated in a hostile racial environment.”
Our source says all of the writers have been reluctant to carry John Thompson’s water on this subject, mainly for three reasons: 1) Ronny Thompson’s first Ball State team was among the worst in school history, winning just nine games; 2) pervasive stories about Ronny Thompson’s less-than-cordial personality (see this Washington Post piece), and 3) it’s Whitlock’s school (he played football there), and how might he react if someone labels his alma mater as racist?
Perhaps another reason is that the Ball State student newspaper, through the Freedom of Information Act request, unearthed emails that show Thompson was an “uncooperative, defiant and distant coach during the last month of his tenure†and President Jo Ann Gora and athletics director Tom Collins “were supportive of Thompson, even though Thompson adamantly disagreed with the university’s handling of the NCAA violations.€
If anyone else is privy to information about this developing situation, we’d love to hear about it. You can drop us an email at thebiglead@hotmail.com or hit us on the batphone at thebiglead@gmail.com. Also, we’ll be on IM for the next hour or so: thebiglead.
20 Responses to “Muncie Burning? Prominent Journalists Not Buying It, Apparently”
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August 10th, 2007 at 11:29 am
1. Shout out to the student paper for great journalistic work.
2.Countdown to Whitlock categorizing Big John as a race-baiting coon begins in 5…4…3…2..now.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Sources tell me that John Thompson is now trying to get journalists to claim racism in the motives of the person who leaked the original story to the press…
August 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am
Why would he have to go all the way to Vegas to talk to Wilbon, when they live and work in the same city?
August 10th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Funny thing about that Whitlock guy. He has no trouble calling Notre Dame racist for getting rid of Radio but no way he’s going to call his own school racist.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
To me this just smells of a guy trying to get his case out there in the public for an unlawful termination payout from the school.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Eric, this doesn’t seem like a racism thing.
In fact, it seems like Thompson planted those racist notes in his own office to get an out from the job. Campus police found no forcible entry, so whomever got into the basketball office actually didn’t break in. They had keys. And only certain people are privy to keys, mainly the coaches and the basketball operations/secretaries in place. it should be noted that Thompson fired everyone in basketball operations and hired his own people, so it’s likely the racist notes didn’t come from people he got in there.
TBL, you’re girding my loins about this. I’m a BSU student and this is some good stuff.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Darrell - JT didn’t go to Vegas … we heard this story from someone in Vegas
August 10th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
My fault, I see that I misread the story.
August 10th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Nice follow up from your post a couple of weeks ago TBL. Thanks for not leaving us hanging.
Obviously John Thompson’s trying to get Ronny an opportunity elsewhere (if some university bites on the racism claim). What’s Faulk’s role in all this? Does he represent both John Thompson and Ronny (I know Faulk’s D.C. - based)?
However, Ball State’s in a tough spot. How do you respond to those charges? Do the Thompsons and Faulk understand the long-term ramifications for the university? If so, they’re willing to affect the recruiting at Ball State just so Ronny can be a coach somewhere else.
If these charges of racism are true, then the President and AD need to resign.
August 10th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
How must Ronny feel? His dad basically chooses JT3 to be the successful coach and gets him the job at G’town while the red headed step child is forced to the MAC.
August 10th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
This has the makings of an ugly, knockdown drag out street fight where no one surfaces unscathed.
August 10th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
So to sum it up….he is a liar, bad coach, bad leader, bad employee, cheater, bad professional, and bad emailer. Yikes!
Sounds like he planted those racist letters as a way out.
August 10th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
My parents and sisters (basically I’m the only one who didn’t go there) are BSU alums, so my view may be skewed. Indiana has many racists, but BSU is not one of those places. One of the most beloved BSU stars of all time is former player and coach Ray McCallum (sp?), who is an African American. This smells too much like when Cub fans where accused of racism when they booed Jacques Jones, even though the two most popular players are the Venezuelan and the 6′5″ African American at first base.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Ok…now read this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/13/AR2007081301102.html
BSU was already being investigated for a selling-school-books-for-profit scandal before Thompson arrived.
9-22? For chrissakes there were a TOTAL of five players on the BSU basketball team when Thompson arrived. You were expecting a MAC championship? Final Four? Clowns.
BSU has ended it’s investigation of Thompson and staff’s alleged secondary violations after it was revealed that the impetus for the investigation was a single male BSU student who said he saw a tall, bald black man in the gym. I’ve never been to Muncie but you do have more than one black man in town, don’t you?
Thompson has attorneys from Arnold & Porter in DC representing him. This would not be the case if Thompson’s “complaints” were without merit.
Thompson showed up two hours late to a golf outing? He was at a meeting called by the A.D.
He missed booster events and didn’t spend enough time in public? BSU hadn’t had a basketball coach for two months, had five players on the team, awful facilities, almost no supplies….
Good lord, people. Maybe Thompson wasn’t the right coach for BSU. Whatever. But it’s naive to think that all of this — all of it — has merely been concocted by the Thompson family to provide an “out” for Ronnie.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
MrRahoo,
Before you assume that everything reported by Wilbon is fact consider these facts.
One, BSU was not being investigated for selling books for profit. They self reported violations where 1 walk-on football player sold his books HIMSELF not the University. This violation occurred before the current AD was even hired.
Two, BSU has one of the largest and nicest basketball facilities in the entire MAC Conference. It has a seating capacity of 11,500.
Three, BSU did not end it’s investigation into Thompson’s secondary violations. They imposed sanctions upon themselves which were for loss of practice time for the coaches. They also sent Thompson and his entire staff to an NCAA rules seminar in Miam, FL (at the school’s expense) for an entire week. If you actually believe that the school reported an NCAA violation based on what a student said you are out of your mind.
Fourth and finally, do you actually believe that a Div 1A University did not have any basketballs or equipment for the athletes to use? I went to BSU and know for a fact that this assertion is laughable.
The entire story is clearly Thompson trying to deflect the fact that he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and now he wants to blame everyone else for his own short comings as a basketball coach.
To simply write a story such as Mr. Wilbon wrote, clearly without doing any fact checking or due diligence is ridiculous and slanderous to Ball State University.
August 14th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
BSUfan,
I do not assume that everything reported by Mike Wilbon is fact; nor do I assume that everything alleged by Mr. Thompson is fiction. As I admittedly do not hold the former position, can one assume that you do not hold the latter? Or, would you maintain that BSU is completely and wholly without a scintilla of blame in this odd situation? In the end, I believe that will be the more difficult position to defend. Is Thompson blameless? No. Is BSU blameless? I mean, utterly lacking any fault in this instance? Your posts seems to suggest they are. I doubt that.
Re the book-selling scandal: Ok. That’s a distinction in degree, not kind. Wrong is wrong. I never said BSU was selling the books. I said the infraction occurred at BSU.
Re the facilities: I probably over-reached there. I like the MAC, and have no idea what sort of facilities BSU has.
Re your third point: my reference is to the (alleged) second time Thompson is said to have observed players on the court. The first infraction unfolded as you report. There was an allegation of a second infraction made by a student who saw a….as I wrote.
Fourth point: Whatever. None. Too few. Poor quality. Not enough. Could have used more….again, claiming BSU is beyond reproach in any and all areas robs BSU supporters of a great deal of legitimacy.
I’ll say this: I doubt the whole story has been reported yet. Thompson is at fault. So is BSU.
By the way, Wilbon’s story doesn’t even begin to approach slander. I mean, not even close.
August 14th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
MrRahoo,
It is clear that Ball State does carry some blame for this situation. In my opinion that blame lies with the president as well as the AD, thats a whole other issue that I won’t get into. However, I believe Thompson’s assertions that BSU was a racially insensitive environment to be an attempt at deflecting his own personal shortcomings as a coach. Not an attempt at shedding light on the truth of the situation. I agree with you that there are definitely some aspects of this story that have not come to light yet.
As far as the second time he was investigated for infractions. From what I understand those infractions were self reported as well to the NCAA. I could be wrong but from what I understand they were reported, not dropped.
I understand that it may appear from my earlier comments that I don’t find BSU anywhere at fault. Being an alumni of the University it pains me to see this story unfold in the media and not receive fair coverage. I grew up 4 blocks from campus and have attended BSU basketball games since I could walk. I believe BSU to be a wonderful institution and while I recognize that some of the current administration have made more than one poor personel decision in the last two years. I don’t believe that it adds up to the allegations made by Thompson. One piece of information left out of all of this is that Thompson tried to extort the University for $1,000,000 and threatened to bring civil rights leaders into the mix before resigning his position.
I am not ignorant to the fact racism is still prevalent in society today. But, just like most situations we see in the media today there is a rush to state what is fact and what is fiction (i.e. Michael Vick, Duke Lacrosse Case). For Michael Wilbon to write that article and clearly not perform any due diligence I believe undermines his own credibility as a journalist. Last let me clarify what I meant when I used the word slanderous. I did not mean that in a legal sense but for Wilbon to write what he did was not right and the end effect was slanderous in nature.
Thanks for the discussion and I am eager to hear your opinion.
August 14th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
BSUfan,
To a point, I agree with your assertion that Thompson may be using allegations of a hostile work environment to cover himself. From my perspective (and, I should say, I’m not black), your assertion, which seems to be the assertion that most pro-BSU advocates are voicing, doesn’t address two important points.
First, while the hostile work environment complaint may NOT be why Thompson left, it doesn’t mean that BSU doesn’t have some race-related issues. At this point, I’m unwilling to believe Thompson slipped those notes under his own office door simply because BSU supporters “find that suspicious.” Frankly, I find the BSU admin’s handling of this situation equally “as suspicious.” Further, I think the near-unanimous belief amongst BSUers that Thompson did write the notes is somewhat of an ostrich-head-in-the-sand policy of crisis management.
(For the record, I’m writing this while sitting in my office in Washington, DC, so it’s not like I’m pointing a finger at Muncie and claiming we’ve figured out race-relations here).
Second, is Thompson actually a bad coach? He came to a program where the previous coach had been fired. The A.D. was relatively new. The position was empty for two (important recruiting) months. He had only 5 returning players — and they weren’t five returning starters. He’s competing in perhaps the preeminent mid-major conference in the country. He was given a single year. One year? I honestly feel that concluding, ipso facto, Thompson is a bad coach given that situation is a bit unfair. A bit. What if 9-22 had led to 15-16 this year and 22-9 next year? Unlikely? Maybe. But his Dad and brother seem to have done OK when given support and time.
Now, saying he’s not “the right” coach for BSU? OK. Sure. Boosters/Alums/Fans/Elks/Students/The guy at the post office have the right to say that. I mean Davis at Indiana and Tubby Smith at Kentucky got booted by boosters so Thompson’s fair game. But “wrong coach” is different than “bad coach” given the situation which I (think I fairly) outlined above.
I suppose those are my two issues right now with the common BSU opinion.
You referenced the Duke Lacrosse fiasco and appropriately so. Thing is, that experience needs to swing both ways. We ought to always respect the presumed innocence of citizens (or institutions such as BSU) lest we put more people through the same ringer those three kids went through. So, while we should not assume that all ya’ll farmers living in fly-over country are racists, listening to Chesney, watching Tony Stewart, and hoping for the next Jimmy Chitwood to walk through that door (I kid)….we also shouldn’t vocalize profusely that Thompson is scum, terrible, an embarrassment, planting racist notes, and so forth.
August 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
MrRahoo,
I agree with many of your points as well. The “note planting” theory I have a hard time with, but I can’t altogether rule it out either. I think it would be interesting to see what conclusions the University police department comes back with from its investigation of those notes. Although I believe it is going to be hard to prove a particular persons guilt either way.
I would also agree that it was hard to judge Thompson as a “bad coach” after only one year. When I say bad coach I mean basketball strategy, teaching, on the court aspects. However, it was apparent that his off the court abilities were less than desirable. Which I contend are probably as important a contributor to coaching success. One point I would like to clarify about when Thompson came to BSU. He had more than eight players when he came to the University. It is widely known that several of the players that were on the roster were run off by Thompson. So I find that to be a misleading statement.
I find the biggest mistake in this whole situation was made by the AD Collins. In my opinion he should have never hired Thompson in the first place. From what I have heard Thompson was on the brink of being fired by Stan Heath at Arkansas but BSU saved him from having to do it. It seems as though other administration got involved in the hiring process (President). I just don’t think that Thompson was ready to take on a head coaching position yet and got overwhelmed by the demands of the job.
I am not in the camp of people wanting to demonize Thompson as scum etc. I think that just weakens your argument. I do not know the guy personally so I will not judge him as though I do. But, I do know that something doesn’t add up in this equation. To me it’s going to add up to other people being canned at BSU, as it should. My biggest fear is that the entire institution will be judged on the actions of one or two people which I don’t feel is right.
August 14th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
“He had only 5 returning players — and they weren’t five returning starters. ”
No, only four of them were starters.
Here’s the SEVEN (not five) players he had (after he rescinded the incoming freshman’s scholarship and three players transferred out after he was hired):
Julien ‘Skip’ Mills (19ppg, 5.5rpg)
Peyton Stovall (’05 - 17ppg, 3.5apg, 3.5 rpg)
D’Andre Peyton (10ppg, 4rpg)
Anthony Newell (3.5ppg, 3rpg)
Jalon Perryman (6ppg, 2.5rpg)
Brandon Lampley (1ppg)
Christopher Ames (3ppg, 3.5rpg)
Four starters (and one part-time starter). Two MAC all-conference players. One future MAC all-conference player.
For the record, I (and most people) were willing to cut him some slack for the first season. He came in during mid-April and had to fill five roster spots. Most talked of giving him three years to get the program out of mediocrity. He wasn’t bum-rushed out of town. He quit. In e-mails released to the Daily News, it is proven that the AD and President were trying to work with him and were not shoving him out the door.
He lost seven players during his one year tenure and rescinded two scholarships. Three players quit when he arrived and four have quit since (three of them his own recruits). That’s very telling in my mind…
I agree that BSU made mistakes. I think the AD is inept at times, and they mishandled several things. I will not pin the letters on Thompson unless it is proven that he did it. That is irresponsible. But the actions of one person doesn’t condemn the entire university and entire town to being a racist cesspool and doesn’t constitute a racially hostile workplace in my eyes.