Pop Champaign: VCU’s win a win for all mid-majors
VCU fans had seen this gut-wrenching nightmare before – they were all too familiar with it, actually— and, by golly, they were determined not to go down that path again.
Shot on location in Portland, Ore., by CT photo editor Chris Conway
Adam Stern
Executive Editor
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Opinion/Analysis
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VCU fans had seen this gut-wrenching nightmare before – they were all too familiar with it, actually – and, by golly, they were determined not to go down that path again.
A beloved coach about to be sucked into the vacuum of multimillion dollar deals, the story went: The tale VCU fans have been waking up in cold sweats to for years now, it seemed about to happen once more.
“Here we go,” the thought was. A third coach in the last decade was to be usurped away to the purportedly greener pastures of high-majors, cruelly ripped away just when roots were beginning to take hold with emotions beginning to harden.
And VCU fans didn’t want to be hurt again.
So the old cliché came into play:
Fool me once: Shame on you.
Fool me twice: Shame on me.
VCU fans were done with that.
After Jeff Capel and Anthony Grant, they didn’t want to feel that feeling a third time or, to be frank, ever again.
Paranoia set in.
“He’s leaving,” became the rampant fear. “He’s done here,” others thought.
And who could blame them? After all, the notion of “he’s just like the rest of the cash-grabbers” was the notion that nearly every mainstream media member implied for the last two weeks.
Yet Shaka Smart was never that.
That’s what people forgot. But it’s understandable, in large part because, in this day and age, the common mentality is “cash rules everything around me,” no matter whom you are.
But Smart is a modern-day Renaissance man and is truly one of a kind.
A person who counts collecting famous, intellectual quotes as one of his pastimes, Smart is a cerebral man who has deep values that stretch far beyond the purse strings.
The Wisconsin native was accepted to Harvard and turned it down because he cared so deeply about the connection he had with a local coach he had met at Kenyon College closer to his home in the Midwest.
Additionally, he never played Division I basketball and thus doesn’t have the inherent – and, at times almost subservient and elitist – loyalty to high-major programs.
Most of all, he’s always been someone with a chip on their shoulder.
So it was more like a dream, then, when Smart came out with the news Wednesday that he’d rejected Illinois’ deal – not just for VCU fans but fans of all mid-majors.
Finally, we – not just VCU fans, but mid-major fans – had somebody whose loyalty ran deeper than their bank account.
Finally, we – not just VCU fans, but mid-major fans – had someone who saw as much in this so-called mid-major university as they did in any other school across the country.
Finally, we – not just VCU fans, but mid-major fans – have a David ready to slay Goliaths.
Smart’s move is a rare move, but it’s an important one, because it lets us know the truest of people still exist, however rare the may be. Loyalty can still run deep, Smart’s tale teaches us.
Community and camaraderie – they can still be thick.
So, after the painful turn of events versus Indiana in the NCAA Tournament, VCU fans will be glad to turn to a good tale, one that for now is complete with a happy ending.
Yes, for now, VCU fans can get back on with their journey of a lifetime— and, by extension, so can all fans of mid-majors.