A T.O. with T.H.

The college basketball season hasn’t even ended and the coaching carousel has already begun to turn.

The three most notable moves thus far are Memphis coach John Calipari to Kentucky, Washington State coach Tony Bennett to UVA and of course VCU’s Anthony Grant to Alabama.

I find it funny that these three moves have come under such scrutiny from the various fan bases represented.

Let’s start with coach Grant heading to Alabama.

Ram Nation saw the entire story of this one play out. But even though Grant was one of the top candidates in the country, Bama fans still found ground for a complaint.

There were articles published and fans calling into radio shows saying Bama “waited too long for Grant’s decision” they also wanted their team to go after Missouri coach Mike Anderson and other various candidates.

This to me was ridiculous because Anthony Grant was a better candidate than Anderson, who led Missouri to the Elite Eight this year, but struggled in previous seasons.

But the time idea is the most absurd. Wow, it took Grant three whole days to decide he wanted to be your head coach. Really Bama fan? Can’t wait three days?

This “6-year-old at Christmas” mentality was not only laughable, but also down right moronic.

As for the Bennett/Calipari movement, the reasoning for the scrutiny was exactly the same: Both fan bases wanted someone else.

I sort of understand Kentucky. As my CT sports colleague Jerome Foster wrote in Monday’s Rome Report, the Kentucky fan base is one of the most delusional and unrealistic groups in the country.

Kentucky actually thought they could lure Tom Izzo away from Michigan State. And when they didn’t, they had to “settle” for a coach who led a Conference USA team to the nation’s longest winning streak and the doorstep of national title a season ago. That’s like saying, “I can’t have one million dollars, so I’m going to have to settle for $999,999.”

Big Blue needs to get over themselves and realize they are not royalty anymore. No matter what happened in the 50s, present-day Kentucky is merely another program that wants to win, and isn’t.

But once again the UVA fan base has proven that they deserve the award for the most unrealistic group in collegiate athletics.

When Washington State head coach Tony Bennett agreed to be the coach of UVA, the announcement was met with cries of, “Why didn’t we get Jeff Capel or Tubby Smith?”

Let’s think about this one for a second.

Why couldn’t Virginia, a sub-par team from
a great conference, get two of the top coaches in the country?

Why would anyone want that job?

Not only do you have to come face-to-face with a fan base that has high expectations even though Virginia has never won anything, but you also have to play Carolina and Duke every year.

Doesn’t exactly sound like a dream job to me.

So no matter which fan base you belong to, remember one thing: Be happy with what you got, not obsessed with what you want.

Calipari will win at UK, Bennett will win at UVA and Grant will win at Bama. They are all very talented coaches who deserve their new jobs. I just wish irrational, unrealistic fan bases could understand that, but I am not optimistic.