Sports Boss: ProJo's Poll Damaging?

Well, I guess the honeymoon is over for Keno Davis. A recent Providence Journal article by Bill Reynolds discussed former Brown, and current Oregon State coach Craig Robinson's rise through the coaching ranks. Robinson, for those of you who don't know, has a famous brother-in-law, President-elect Barack Obama. Robinson was a dark-horse candidate in PC's coaching search earlier this year.

While the article was positive toward Robinson, it led the paper to a new poll question: Was it a mistake for PC not to hire Robinson and go with Keno Davis?

Then, a week before that, there was a story which revisited the coaching search and confirmed what most observers of the program already knew, that the administration did have some talks with former PC and current Louisville coach Rick Pitino. These talks obviously did not lead to his hiring or even to a public offer.

Here's my question for the ProJo: Why are you asking this? Why is this being discussed now? This is a conversation for April, not November. The search and its initial aftermath are over. The time to analyze and agonize over who the school talked to, who they offered to, who said no, and who finally signed is over. We all knew the speculation, we all knew the rumors. That time has passed.

Now that the season is about to begin we need to put the focus on the games ahead, not who is coaching them. All this talk over whether or not the decision not to hire Robinson and to hire Davis is irrelevant and out of line. Davis, after all, has yet to coach a regular season game with the Friars. Robinson has yet to coach a game at Oregon State.

What kind of message does this debate send? I can only imagine what he, his staff, or his players thought when they saw this discussion, which by ProJo standards, exploded online. What does a recruit think when he sees his potential future coach talked about in this way before he has a chance to prove himself?

And, I'm not the first to write about this. ESPN columnist Andy Katz called the story and its poll a slap to Davis. How embarrassing.

Now to be fair, Reynolds' article never touched on the subject, so as far as I'm concerned, he does not have any blame for this poll. Whoever thought it was wise to put it up, however, certainly wasn't thinking. I understand you want readers and you want Web site hits, but is opening the new coach up for shots the best way to do it? Where's the integrity in that?

This was supposed to be the season of new beginnings for PC basketball. Gone, at least for the time being, was the disdain for the coach. Gone was the negativity. Fans could take some time off from second-guessing.

I guess not, though. Here's a sampling of some of the comments made by these self-professed basketball analysts-some real mental giants of the game:

"Yes, they spent their time talking with Rick Pitino living in the late '80s. I love Rick and what he did for us but they blew it, again. It is getting hard to route for them when they continually shoot themselves in the foot." You just have to love it when they "forget" to hit spell check.

"Craig Robinson is too good of a man for PC, so it never would have worked out. Not sure how Keno Davis will do, but good luck to him." What does that even mean?

Most people who know anything about the coaching search will tell you that it didn't come down to Robinson vs. Davis. Robinson was already hired at OSU before the Friars signed Davis, so the debate is irrelevant.

From my dealings, Craig Robinson is a very nice person who has worked for and found success everywhere he has gone-be it playing basketball, the business world, or in coaching. If I were to place a bet, I would say he will do very well at Oregon State, and I hope he does. His brother-in-law will be sworn in as president in January. Does that mean we should have hired him on the spot? No.

During the coaching search, Robinson was one of the candidates that I paid close attention to. I would have certainly supported the hire.

But the fact remains that Keno Davis was hired and is the head coach at Providence. How soon do some fans forget that this man is the reigning National Coach of the Year, or that he led a team picked to finish ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference to a 28-5 record, a conference championship, a top 25 ranking, and a trip to the NCAA Tournament? How about the fact that he coached two walk-ons into All-Conference players? Or the fact that he co-authored a book on defense? Davis was and still is qualified for the job and poised to lead this team to success.

Nobody knows for sure how either hire will work out. Ideally both will thrive for many seasons at their respective schools. Both men had limited head coaching experience. Both men were successful. Both men were good choices.

Its time for fans and the media to, at least for now, stop playing arm-chair or lap-top AD. Let's let the games begin, and stop the second-guessing. For once, let's get behind our coach. Give him the chance to succeed or fail, and just let him coach, and then, if we really want to, we can revisit this debate.