As a college and high school basketball fan, I have read with surprise your reports regarding the principals in the Red Central Division of the Chicago public schools. They were boycotting games because they have been out-recruited and out-coached. Instead of taking stock of their own programs, they choose to transfer the blame for their lack of success by blaming a very successful and aggressive coach.
I cannot envision the Big Ten basketball teams boycotting Bobby Knight and Indiana University’s basketball games because Knight out-recruited their coaches or because his program was so good. Obviously, King offers young men a quality program, a program which provides many poor inner-city youth the opportunity to go to college.
One person stated on the radio: “We want our students prepared for life.” Well, sir, this is life. The best teams in college and the best coaches in college can more readily enroll the best players.
Coaches, instead of blaming someone else for your failure, admit you have been out-classed and improve your programs, instead of seeking to destroy another coach’s program for the sake of your egos. The Chicago Board of Education has more important issues, like its survival, to deal with.
