The Heart of The Matter

When it comes to a coach like Ronny Thompson stepping down from his post after a mere year or so with the Ball State men's basketball program, one can't help but draw parallels with another (& more noteworthy coach), Billy Donovan from the University of Florida.

In his first two years @ Gainesville, Donovan had to endure two consecutive losing seasons, yet he didn't lose faith in his team or decide he was going to jump ship when the going got rough: in the first two seasons of Donovan's career at the U of F there were signs that his teams were destined for greatness & when they registered their first 20-plus win season, this served as proof that the best was yet to come for the Gators.

And one season after the next, the 20-plus win seasons kept proliferating...& of course, you have to give the Gators praises for winning two straight NCAA hoops titles!!

On the other hand, Thompson's only year at the helm with the Cardinals was filled with more negatives than positives: the most obvious of them all being one of the worst seasons to date, along with record losses (9-22). Who knows what could have been if Ronny stayed on? No one can say for certain, but if Ronny only found the heart to persevere, despite facing NCAA sanctions as well as a fanbase which felt he was too standoffish, who knows of all the good things that could have happened? This isn't to assume he would have the same level of success as Billy Donovan has had, but he could have taken his team in an upward direction, to heights they once thought they weren't able to reach...bottom line is, Ronny Thompson could have made believers out of the most skeptical BSU hoops fan if he waded it out & didn't call it a day so abruptly. The question of how & by what means Thompson & his players would achieve that success is beside the point; the fact is Thompson had so much to prove & no one gave him the time of day for him to maintain he could translate his philosophy into victories.

Now it's time to find a new head coach & with that search a restoration of sorely needed credibility which Ball State's athletic program in a sense is in desperate need of. The question is, will the new coach be on the same page as the players he's reaching out to? Or will it be just like old times? I'm not positively sure. But what I am sure of is this: he could learn a thing or two from checking out Billy Donovan's record at the University of Florida to learn some newfound secrets of success.