by Paul Jordan
As the Eric Bledsoe saga hits the one week mark, there is speculation that the real target of this witch hunt may be Bledsoe’s HS coach at Parker, Maurice Ford. Ford has apparently made his enemies in Birmingham and this has become the hot new rumor.
From what I have been told, the chance of sanctions coming for Kentucky are going to be pretty low because the NCAA does not tend to get involved in matters of “shelter, food, and water” for athletes. For example, it is pretty apparent that IF Bledsoe’s family received rent payment ($400 a month for three months), it was an act of self preservation in taking the money. Living in a $400 a month apartment would be classified as “essential” for the family and probably just a step or two above being homeless. $400 a month is not luxury accommodations and that is why the NCAA may not be that eager to punish for that.
And let’s be honest. With the economy the last few years, the families of many HS athletes have faced dire financial situations and may have had to go to a charity, church, or trusted school official to make ends meet. Sometimes these high school coaches have to be the father figure for the kids and you really cannot fault a coach helping out kids if they are able to. Sometimes they are the last resort.
In some ways, Bledsoe’s case is very similar to Michael “The Blind Side” Oher. Oher at one point had an .6 GPA and through online courses and other methods that Bledsoe used, was able to improve his GPA. Instead of having a HS coach pay for rent for him, Oher ended up moving in with a family who supported him. Improper benefits are improper benefits. Oher gets a Disney movie made about him and Bledsoe gets the Pete Thamel treatment.
But the story of HS coaches helping out their athletes may have roots in for the Louisville Cardinals as well. Not first, I’d like to say, that I am not trying to stir up Pitino drama, but to point out just how common these type of situations can be. And really how the NCAA can not enforce the type of situations involving “shelter, food, and water”. If a family is faced with staying in their home or sleeping in their car or worse …. no one should fault these coaches for opening up their wallets and their homes and to help out. And if you wanted to open your eyes, you would find that most every high school is going to have a player or two whose families are on the brink of despair. And we should castigate the people that help them?
It’s called humanity, not improper benefits.
Yet, Bledsoe has found himself the poster child of everything that is wrong with college basketball as the national media has cried foul on this act of survival … while most of them have no idea what is is like to miss a meal or face the possibility of living on the streets.
Not surprisingly, most of the fire towards Bledsoe and Kentucky have come from Louisville fans and media who are up in arms over this story. Truth of the matter is, the Cardinals have possibly had a few players on their teams who may have needed this kind of help in high school. Look at these comments that Rick Pitino had on Terrence Williams about a year ago and tell me how much this situation really differed from the Eric Bledsoe situation:
I stayed with him that week, and sent Reggie Theus out to recruit him, and his background was really interesting, because he was living with Marcus Williams, the young man’s family that played at Arizona; and then the next week I’d call him, he’d be with his AD living at his home; next week I’d call him, he’d be with his high school coach. He was basically living at different places.
So the one conclusion I came early on, this young man had to be given a lot of attention and a lot of love, because he really didn’t have the typical home environment that most of these kids have.
So tell me. Should Rick Pitino be thrown under the bus because he knew that Terrence Williams was staying with his HS AD and his HS coach? How is William’s living with his Athletic Director and High School coach different than Bledsoe’s family taking money from a high school coach?
I’m waiting for an answer….
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