Friday, February 1, 2008

Whitlock's Spot-On Column


By now you are probably sick of reading about Kansas State vs. Kansas, how good Michael Beasley and Bill Walker are, and how KU's streak is over. But this morning I was sent an amazing column by MTAC reader and fellow KU honk know as "PPierce." Most sports fans are familiar with the works of Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star, Fox Sports's website, and formerly of ESPN.com and Yahoo Sports among others. He inked a piece talking about the K-State basketball revival and how this could all end badly under the cloud of suspicion and allegations, thanks to some extremely shady practices brought on by the hiring of assistant coach Dalonte Hill and the recrutiment of Beasley.

Two big things I learned in this piece (italics are quotes from the Whitlock piece):

1. Beasley is currently driving around campus in a Hummer - The winning doesn’t have to stop when Beasley hops in the family Hummer and drags his mother and siblings to his NBA payday, leaving behind the modest Manhattan life they’ve cobbled together thanks partly to the generosity of an aunt back east.

2. Hill makes $300,000 a year as an assistant coach - Yep, I’ve seen this all before. I’m not going to overreact to anything. Not even the drunken-driving arrest picked up by the college basketball assistant with the fattest recruiting budget, I mean salary, in the Big 12, Dalonte Hill or Dalonte 300k, as he’s referred to on the recruiting trail.

Yes, the "family Hummer" was not just a play on words. Beasley is actually driving around in a Hummer. Said Whitlock later in the column: You may read this and wrongly conclude I have a problem with Hill’s salary, Martin’s ascension, Beasley tooling around campus in a Hummer and Beasley’s mother posturing broke in a newspaper article. I don't care how "generous" his aunt is, does anyone really believe that story?

What about Hill's $300,000 salary? The guy was Beasley's AAU coach, then went to Charlotte for one year, essentially to get Beasley to go there, then goes to K-State and is currently in his second year there. Yet he is the highest paid assistant coach in the country by a mile? Other than the Roy Williams', the Rick Pitino's, and the Jim Calhoun's of the world, Hill is making triple what most head coaches make. Oh, did I mention Hill was arrested for DUI early Thursday morning?

How has this not gotten more National publicity? Make sure you give this a full read.

It's Too Soon to Judge K-State's Success - Jason Whitlock, KC Star

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