Tim Curley: Winning Is Overrated

Well, after fighting like hell during an 0-12 start to the Big Ten slate and playing nearly every game down to the wire, PSU finally came out and showed virtually zilch in the "heart and desire" department at the worst possible time. Quite frankly, I don't have the heart or desire to go in-depth on the disgusting display of basketball I witnessed during last night's 76-55 shellacking at the hands of Minnesota. Talk about a 'tease,' if the players were going to give up on the season and act like they could care less, why did they wait until now? Why didn't they just throw in the towel ten games ago? I would've known better than to actually have hope that they could possibly spring a couple of upsets and make a deep run into the Big Ten tournament.


I also can't say that I'm shocked to hear the news about Ed DeChellis being retained for an 8th year. Tim Curley is a man who hires on the cheap and has always treated the basketball program like a fringe sport at PSU, why on Earth would he pay all that money to buy out Ed's contract just a year removed from extending it following the NIT championship? Plus, let's remember that Jerry Dunn got 8 years before having the plug pulled on him, and Curley wasn't nearly as close with Dunn as he is with Ed. Did you really think that he would give his buddy less time to coach this program?

I realize Curley is not the kind of person who uses a harsh tone when making statements to the public, but I hope that if he hasn't done so already, he sits down with Ed and makes one thing clear: Anything short of an NCAA Tournament bid in 2011 is grounds for dismissal. The excuse train derailed a long time ago, and I don't know about the rest of my fellow PSU hoops supporters, but I've become increasingly agitated after seeing schools such as Auburn and St. John's fire their coaches after six dismal seasons and no NCAA berths while Curley comes out and gives a glowing review of a coach who in seven years has compiled a 95-123 overall, 32-87 Big Ten record and only 2 NIT trips to show (and be honest, you'd sooner trade in that NIT title for a trip to the Big Dance, as nice as the NIT run was last year). I'm pretty sure the North Koreans have a job offer waiting for him whenever his tenure as AD ends.

So, what's on deck for 2010-11? Hopefully a couple of quality JUCO post players because that's hands-down the team's biggest sore spot right now. Taran Buie could very well step in and contribute right away for the backcourt, but not to the extent where many expect him to be the solution to all of our problems. In all likelihood, I'd expect something around 6 or 7 wins in the Big Ten which would probably net us NIT at best, depending on what our OOC record is going into Big Ten play. This would lead to delaying the inevitable: Ed being let go as coach. The only problem is by then, Ed will have filled up his recruits for the 2011-12 season. Usually, when there's a coaching turnover, a couple recruits decide they want out of their commitments and go elsewhere. Couple that with the fact that we lose 4 seniors including Talor Battle, and you've got yourself another rebuilding project, not as massive as the one Ed was tasked with when taking over the smoldering crater left behind by Jerry Dunn, but still a rebuilding project.

Or perhaps Tim Curley has super-secret psychic powers and sees an NCAA caliber team just waiting to burst onto the scene? Forgive me, I'm desperately searching for something positive to say at this point.



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