To Be Perfectly Honest, Part Two

Not too long ago, I posted an entry in regards to harassing notes which Ball State's men's basketball coach Ronny Thompson & his staff received. Of course, in light of this incident, rumors are flying as much as truth is & what's worse, we're bound to believe the rumors & take them as true.

Fact: In Ronny's first year at the helm, BSU ended up 9-22 & in the process claimed the most losses ever in a single season.
Fact: Ronny & his staff committed some minor infractions which the NCAA eventually got wind of.
Fact: Ronny walked into his office (among others on the coaching staff) & discovered racially fueled notes left by some anonymous coward/cowards.

But if the truth doesn't raise any eyebrows, the rumors already are doing their work, yet how many of them actually have validity? (i.e. How many of those rumors can we actually believe?) If Ronny was thinking about leaving Ball State after all this, he would have told us so personally. But since he hasn't, the news we're hearing is speculation & nothing more.

The best thing that Ronny could do is stay around & see where he can lead his team a few months from now. For him to leave, even after a cowardly, spineless individual decided to commit such a dignity-robbing act, is to me the equivalent of giving up on his team. And what kind of example is Ronny setting by quitting? If he considers abandoning his role as head coach, he's only encouraging his players to adopt the same mentality, that it's good to give up when the going gets tough & when the situation calls for someone to step up & save the day.

Bottom line: winners never quit, quitters never win. At this point in time, the one thing Ronny cannot be, as with his own players is just that: a quitter. Adversity has a way of making or breaking people's integrity, that much is for certain. But the worst case scenario in terms of how to handle adversity is when someone faces tough times, they tuck their tails between their legs & walk away as if to say, "Why bother?" In such instances, this is where someone special must enter the picture (Ronny) & help steer his team back in the right direction, back on a path which his predecessor Tim Buckley filled with enough winding curves & hazards to make the most diehard BSU hoops fan stare in puzzlement.

There is always hope. But the one hope which the men's basketball team has now is Ronny & if he splits, what hope is left for the 2007-08 roster? It's hard to say but the outlook would at the least look just like last year, filled with underachievement, inconsistency & etc. which drove the Cards to their nadir (at 9-22). If I could say these words to Ronny, they would be: "Stay on. Your team needs you. Leaving is the easy way out of this situation. What good are you gaining by leaving while there's so much your team can prove to Ball State?"

When the easy way out of a situation equals the same thing as the right way out of it, this is where everything goes haywire. The right way out of this situation for Ronny Thompson goes beyond all the rumors buzzing around, & it is up to him to decide what side his heart truly is on.