Is Isiah really interested in Indiana job?

3/31/08
knicks
By Ryan Chatelain

Is Isiah really interested in Indiana job?

Photo credit: Game Face

Isiah Thomas says he’s not a candidate for the University of Indiana job because “I have a job.”

That’s true, but for how much longer? If you examine his words closely enough, Thomas’ interest in coaching his alma mater seems to come with a qualifier.

And it adds to the tradition of employed coaches drawing interest for other jobs who give ambiguous answers — or sometimes flat-out lies. But understandably, they’re in a no-win situation.

Tell the media you’re interested, and they and the fans will blast you. (Example: Larry Brown calling the Knicks his “dream job” while he was coaching the Pistons.)

Tell the media you’re not interested, and they assume you’re hiding something. (Example: LSU football coach Les Miles, drawing interest from Michigan, telling reporters, “I will be the head coach at LSU.” Within minutes, ESPN talking heads were trying to read between the lines because Miles didn’t clearly state how long he’d be the coach at LSU.)

Admittedly, coaches are somewhat to blame. Remember former Dolphins coach Nick Saban declaring “I will not be the coach at Alabama”?

But there are times coaches seem to be evasive in a Bill Clinton kind of way. What they say might technically be true, but the presentation is misleading.

Just before last year’s championship game, when Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan was rumored to be a candidate for the Kentucky job, he responded in dismissive fashion: “That has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Kentucky.”

Never at the time did he say he wasn’t interested in the UK job, leaving the perceptive to assume he was at least giving the position consideration.

Isiah’s “I have a job” defense might hold water for now. But until Indiana names a coach who isn’t him, the speculation won’t go away.

Don’t blame the media or the fans. Blame all the coaches who in the past could never be taken at face value.

Photo by Getty Images
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