It's a rare day in my apartment that I wake up and decide to go to bat for DeChellis. I like the guy, and I think he does a better job with what he has than he's given credit for, but as we all know the results haven't been too great. That being said, I take exception to people who see the basketball program and tell it to start winning if it wants University support. I can live with football being king here, it should be, but to me Chris Morelli takes it one step past reasonable. (read the full article here)
At his weekly news conference last week, Penn State men’s basketball coach Ed DeChellis publicly complained about his team being forced out of the Bryce Jordan Center and into the IM Building across the street. Why did the Nittany Lions need to vacate the BJC? Well, a couple of weeks ago, there was a Bon Jovi concert. Last week, there was a career fair and a little event called THON – you know, the student-run event that raised $9.5 million for children with cancer.
Basically, DeChellis’ gripe with the athletic department, the Jordan Center and the Penn State administration is that the university doesn’t take basketball seriously.
It shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Undoubtedly there are shortcomings abound, but I fail to see the logic in Morelli's argument. Not only should the program be successful, it should have to battle out of it's current basement on it's own to gain the respect and support of the university. What Morelli fails to realize is the program isn't the Nets. It doesn't have independent funding or support to go out and get better, it relies on the university, and it's success is directly related to that support.
I'm not suggesting that DeChellis should be given a blank slate, there is plenty of blame to share. That being said, to expect DeChellis to pick up big names in recruiting areas dominated by Big East schools, Philly schools, and Ohio State on his own is a bit unreasonable, even more so without any help. The fact DeChellis is the only coach in the Big Ten without a private charter speaks to that support. He doesn't need a G6, but recruiting success shouldn't rely so heavily on public transportation, even more so when your competitor can be there in a heartbeat.
Essentially Morelli is expecting Penn State basketball to pick itself up and succeed on a whim. I remember talking to Andrew Jones on media day about his least favorite question to be asked. "I hate getting asked if I'm going to try hard this year, it's like they think I wake up and decide to not care today." To Morelli, it isn't about what you have to work with, it's about turning coal into diamonds and using your bare hands to do it. (You could do this with a microwave)
The apologists for the basketball program will tell you that Ed and his squad should not be subjected to the horrendous conditions at the IM Building. Crooked hoops? A dangerous playing surface? Say it ain’t so, Ed, say it ain’t so.
It says here that DeChellis doesn’t have a leg to stand on. If his program were in the NCAAs year in and year out, he’d have a right to gripe about things like practice facilities and travel accommodations. Heck, he could even complain about the chicken fingers at training table and no one would bat an eye. But this is a losing program that has done very little in DeChellis’ eight seasons.
Expecting Penn State to provide regulation hoops to a basketball team isn't being "apologist" it's being reasonable. It's one thing for Penn State prioritize it's programs, but another thing entirely to tell them that "when you start winning you can practice in the big boy gym" I don't mind holding the program accountable, but not at the expense of appropriate practicing equipment.
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"I they’re good. They wrestle hard. They came to compete. I was disappointed in the coaching staff. They let one of their kids, Molinaro, take a timeout when he wasn’t hurt. It’s not okay to break the rules. The kid wasn’t hurt. He knows he wasn’t hurt and the coaches know he wasn’t hurt and they allowed it anyway."
So I guess somebody has a little bit of beef.
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