Re: thoughts on Goin

[richard l. kandell]

Mike, I'm with you, and wonder about it also.  

The one thing I think is fairly evident is that Goin feels caught between the devil and the deep blue sea over this.  Put yourself in his place:

You have, according to a source in the athletic department, quit, if not over the Huggins dismissal (and it may well have been that, too), certainly over the way it was handled.  You came to UC to reestablish your reputation.  Up until the Huggins fiasco, you had hired what may prove to be the best football coach since Sid Gillman, dramatically improved the gender equity situation, upgraded the non-revenue sports, worked with one of the best college basketball coaches in the country to not only create a terrific working relationship but also, contrary to what some may believe, improve the academics for men's basketball to the extent that they had the highest grade point average in your conference, done absolute wonders in upgrading athletic facilities so that they will be equal to almost any university in the country, and, wonder of wonders, mover the school to one of the elite conferences in the nation.  The one last thing you really want to do is assist in the hiring of your replacement so that all the work you put in, and all the success you've had, continues on.

Now, getting ready to retire, in a final year when you should basking in glory (despite the football team having a tough year) the university's administration so completely mishandles the situation with the head basketball coach, it created a furor overshadowing everything else.  It puts you in an almost untenable position, because if you show strong support for the administration for something you don't believe in, you would be doing something you've never done, and which runs counter to your "code."   If you show strong support for your coach, you are moving against an administration which has shown no compunction about destroying what you have just built, and who knows except you, but could also damage the rest of your financial arrangement with the university.

So what do you do?

Richard K.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mike Sherrick 
  To: address@hidden 
  Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2005 8:13 AM
  Subject: [UC Basketball] thoughts on Goin


  I'm really not sure how to judge Goin in this overall mess.  He really didn't support NZ at the dump Huggs news conference (all he said was, 'I have participated in the discussion, it is time to move on' --- I bet NZ wanted more public support than that!) and I thought he continued making his pro-Huggs views known by stating that he was leaving UC earlier than planned.  But he didn't attend the toast, which seems kind of odd to me.  (I would expect my Head to be at a toast/roast for me!)  Maybe he felt his presence would detract from Huggs and attract a few boos, but if Huggs wanted him there he could have stated that and Goin probably would have been accepted by the audience.  But he wasn't there, which suggests .....?

  Mike in Newfoundland

  Mike Sherrick
  address@hidden