First off, I have to give up a big congratulations to Kansas for winning the national title. As an alum for another Big XII school, I have much love for the other 11 (as long as it's not a day they are playing Oklahoma State). But now, the real question of the hour...is he or isn't he? Bill Self that is. Is he planning a leap from Kansas to come be the head coach at Oklahoma State?
Let's back up a minute. Like other OSU alums that attended at some point during Eddie Sutton's reign, I'm a Sutton fan all the way. I disagreed with the decision give the reins to Sean, though, when Eddie retired. Sure, Sean has been an OSU supporter and was Eddie's right hand man - but did he really deserve to be handed the head coach position at a major basketball program when he was unproven in that role? And yes, I'm overlooking the brief stint he did as head coach before he came to OSU. I don't think OSU would have agreed to that if Eddie hadn't shanghai'd us into it.
All of that said, I still hoped Sean would be successful once that decision was made. After all, how great would it be for the Sutton legacy to continue? But he wasn't. I know, I know - the argument is that he only had two years. But that's not completely true. Eddie led us to believe that the last few years, Sean was the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
But what about the things that are just now starting to leak to the public? He was lazy, showing up to practice 45 minutes late or maybe not at all. He was disrespectful, all the other coaches attended the mandatory weekly meeting - not Sean. There are rumors of a drinking problem - there have been reports from multiple sources about how much he drinks on a daily basis (remember I still have a LOT of connections in Stillwater). How telling is it that he hired someone whose dream job was to come to OSU, and that individual stayed a grand total of two weeks? And what about the kids that have come through the program that have encouraged younger siblings to NOT come and play for Sean - and I'm not talking about only one instance of that happening. There are at least three I can think of off the top of my head. It appears to me there were problems even beyond his inability to take a very talented group of kids to the NCAA tourney.
Which brings us back to Self. Because Sean's gone. I know what kind of role the media can play in these decisions. It was all over the place when Les Miles was leaving OSU to head to LSU - what stinging news to hear when your team is prepping for their bowl game. Talk about a morale killer for the kids. And the leaks came back to haunt Miles once more when the coaching position opened up at Michigan. I have no doubt in my mind that the initial story leaked to ESPN was true - that Miles was on his way to the north to take his dream job. But once the media got ahold of it, he was put between a rock and a hard place. Except this time, he made the tough decision to save face and stay at LSU (Okay, I know - winning program - can't be that tough. But we are talking dream job here.). I'm sure the boost in salary they gave him didn't hurt, though.
As far as Bill Self jumping ship to come back home to OSU, though, I have to think it is still a possibility. He hasn't made any bold denials - he's done a wonderful job, actually, of sidestepping his way around the questions. And I've heard a lot through the grapevine. I know, the grapevine isn't always the most reliable source of information...but this particular grapevine is spreading the word that it has been a done deal for several weeks.
The NCAA is over - so now we just wait and see.
