Redux: Tubby Smith, Billy Donavan, and Thinking Outside the Paint

Note: Since Billy Clyde is out, I thought I would reprint this blog from two years ago just for the heck of it. If John Calipari does indeed take the job, I thought he might need to be ready for the worst.

Peace.

[Originally posted 3/26/07]

Having just returned from the Kentucky Boys Sweet 16 High School Tournament, and having watched college tournament action on television all week, I have to admit that basketball is on the brain. We all sit in the same seats every year (the picture shows my view; great seats!). Every morning I get there a little early, drink my coffee, and read the newspapers. I read a book review in the Lexington Herald-Leader that caught my eye last Thursday: “Hoops Philosophy: Knight Morally Above Wooden?”

Bobby Knight? The General? When he was at Indiana, didn't he throw a chair once when they were playing Purdue?

Don’t laugh. While Adolph Rupp and John Wooden are certainly kings, they weren’t always known for playing by the rules. They were wizards with the magnificent players they always got. Knight, on the other hand, made a lot of players. His players performed academically. He didn’t play favorites. Overall, Knight may not be the bad guy we portrayed him to be.

Back to the High School Sweet Sixteen. While in Rupp Arena one afternoon, I noticed all of the sudden that the press were frantically typing on their computers and people’s cell phones were going off all over the place. I initially thought that perhaps a tornado was headed toward downtown Lexington, or that our country was under attack. I was close: Tubby Smith was leaving the University of Kentucky (UK) to coach at Minnesota.

What about Tubby Smith? I’ve lived in Kentucky on and off for 7-10 years. I’ve never heard anything poor about his character. The Tubby-bashers say that he can’t recruit. Possibly. But while at UK, he won over 20 games every season (won over 30 games in two seasons). Won a national championship. Went to the Sweet Sixteen five (5) times. Swept every national coach of the year award in 2003 (only he and Bobby Knight have done that), after going undefeated in the SEC. Oh, they won the conference three years, too. And in the midst all of that, he was also a gentleman and a scholar.

Does that count? Not at the University of Kentucky. Tubby is gone. What are the qualifications?

• You need to be perfect. Damned perfect. Perfect as an Alabama football coach.
• Don’t be a nice guy or moral influence. You’ve gotta be cutthroat.

Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader was more blunt: UK’s coach needs to be an all-consumed Type A personality. A guy with an unyielding commitment to the bottom line and little else. A tyrant. Sometimes a jerk. In fact, here is the job search he put in the paper:

Wanted: Head men's basketball coach, University of Kentucky. Must employ up-tempo style of play. Must recruit with a relentless fervor. Must consistently beat Louisville, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and everyone else. Consistent Final Four appearances mandatory. One final requirement: It helps to be a jerk. – from “The Meek Should Not Inherit the UK Job”, 3/25/07, the Lexington Herald-Leader (the whole article is here.)

Since Adolph Rupp is dead, and John Wooden is 96, who can UK get that is perfect? A lot of folks are submitting Billy Donavan's name from the University of Florida. Some have said Tom Izzo. A few have said Travis Ford. Well, what about these guys?

Jesus Christ? I think the man from Nazareth has kept up with basketball, and would be a darned good coach. But Jesus was always slow to offend, and a slow offense won’t work with Kentucky fans. Nope, Jesus is out.

The Apostle Paul? He is immediately disqualified; in his letter to the Romans (chapter 7), he remarked that the holiest of our actions, even the holiest of the actions of the holiest saints, are still full of imperfections and defects. We may be saved by grace through faith, but that’s not perfect enough for UK fans.

Peter? Too fickle, and don’t forget that he jumped ship. Would remind folks of Rick Pitino too much.

John the Baptist? HEY! There’s an idea. Brash, loud, demanding, unrelenting. I think he’s the one.

The head-on-a-platter experience will serve him well.

Pax,
Sky+

True Community

I have been a United Methodist pastor for 20 years, and lived in various communities: the foothills of Georgia, metro Atlanta, and in various towns and cities in Western Tennessee and Kentucky. However, last Saturday evening I witnessed community like I've never seen it before.


Every year at this time, Marshall County (KY) High School sponsors the annual "Hoopfest" - a high school basketball tournament that USA Today identified at one of the Top Ten places to see high school hoops. It is a VERY big deal: over the years it has attracted teams like Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) and Mater Dei (Los Angeles). Six of USA TODAY's Top 25 boys teams played in the event in 2003. Notable players who have played at Hoopfest include Carmelo Anthony, Dan Langhi, Barry Goheen, Mary Taylor Cowles. Marshall County's own Howard Beth, the girls basketball coach, has a 647-104 record. This year, Oak Hill Academy was there once again, along with Chicago Hales Franciscan, DeMatha (Maryland), Chicago Simeon, and Chicago Whitney Young H.S. (where a young man named Marcus Jordan plays... son of Michael Jordan). Over the years, coaches like Tubby Smith and Roy Williams have come to scout teams.

The final game is on ESPN on December 13th - the #1 and #2 ranked high school teams in the nation: Oak Hill Academy vs. St. Benedict's (New Jersey). The Hoopfest website is here.

It's great basketball. And I was honored to be selected to officiate a game there Saturday night. But that wasn't the real blessing of the evening.


There is a young man who is on everyone's prayer list in the Jackson Purchase Area of Kentucky: Gunner Gillespie. Gunner has an inoperable tumor on his brain stem. He's a handsome 7-year old boy who has been fighting all of his life, being born premature and enduring the struggles that premature babies often have. And now Gunner is fighting for his life, undergoing treatments at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Gunner is the son of Gus and Janna, both teachers at Marshall County H.S. Gus is also the boys basketball coach. Here begins the real blessing.

Anyone who has even been to Reed Conder Gymnasium knows that the primary color there is orange, and on a game night the gym is all orange (which is actually comforting, having grown up in Tennessee myself). But at Hoopfest this year, the usual orange was subdued by yellow - yellow shirts that had been screened with a picture Gunner had drawn of the Little Engine That Could: "I think I can, I think I can."

I'm not talking about a few shirts. Reed Conder seats 6,000, and they are at capacity for Hoopfest. Now I know I'm a preacher, and preacher estimates can be highly inaccurate, but I'm guessing there were over 1,500 "Gunning for Gunner" t-shirts.

Not just Marshall County folks were wearing them. Teams from around the nation came out of their locker rooms to warm up wearing them. Fans all over the gym were wearing then. Marshall County boys played Rose Hill Christian on Saturday, and Rose Hill's coaching staff all wore Gunner t-shirts the whole game. Bruce Pearl, men's coach at the University of Tennessee, was wearing a Gunner T-shirt.

People bought T-shirts. Officials signed over checks. That money will certainly go a long way to help Gunner and the Gillespies. But I'm thinking about all of the people wearing those shirts: one of the most competitive atmospheres in all of high school basketball, yet showing that even in this tough, win-at-all-costs sports community, there are things that transcend sports and winning. Seeing all of those t-shirts won't just raise some money - it will raise Gunner's spirit and the spirit of his family.


I am frequently told that I don't smile very much - that I seem stoic and seem to wear a frown a lot. As you can tell in this picture, I was having a great time (I'm holding the ball, standing next to one of my partners, Mike Wooten - click on the pic and you can see more of those Gunner T-shirts). I think seeing all those yellow shirts out there reminded me that life is very, very precious - and to be celebrated for its joys.

Many of you who know me know that I usually conclude worship services with the following benediction. It continues to mean more and more to me:

My brothers and sisters: life is short,
and we do not have much time
to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us.
So be quick to love, and make haste to be kind,
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

True community lifts each other up: when things are at their worst, Christians are at their best. Such is the Body of Christ.

God bless you Gunner. I think you can, too.

Pax,
Sky+

White Elephants

If we lived in Burma, a white elephant would be a symbol of power and good fortune. However, we Westerners have very little use for white elephants. As one resource defined it: “[a white elephant] is something that is more trouble than it is worth, or has outlived its usefulness to the person who has it. While the item may be useful to others, its current owner would usually be glad to be rid of it.”

I officiate high school basketball. Last night, I officiated at a contest that was girl’s teams only – what is affectionately know as a “Title IX game.”

Title IX is, of course, the educational amendment that states that no one in the educational system shall be discriminated against because of gender. What is ironic is that while we hear the most about Title IX where athletics is concerned, the original legislation made no reference to athletics. However, because of Title IX, you have to have some nights where only girls play, or nights where boys play first and then the girls play.

The intent cannot be argued against – women should have the same opportunities as men where education is concerned. However, because of Title IX’s continual reinterpretation, those opportunities are having the opposite effect. At the contest I officiated at last night, I doubt that the gate receipts covered the costs of three officials' fees at the game. On nights when there are two contests, there are of course more people in attendance, thus more gate receipts. So, having separate girls’ contests just for the sake of girls’ games “being treated just like guys games” is having the opposite effect – it’s proving a hardship on athletic programs in general.

More outlandish is this story from Whitney Point, NY (taken from the N.Y. Times):

Whitney Point is one of 14 high schools in the Binghamton area that began sending cheerleaders to girls’ games in late November, after the mother of a female basketball player in Johnson City, N.Y., filed a discrimination complaint with the United States Department of Education. She said the lack of official sideline support made the girls seem like second-string, and violated Title IX’s promise of equal playing fields for both sexes.

But the ruling has left many people here and across the New York region booing, as dozens of schools have chosen to stop sending cheerleaders to away games, as part of an effort to squeeze all the home girls’ games into the cheerleading schedule.

Title IX had great intentions… but it’s turned into a white elephant. The Western kind.

For those of you who are United Methodist… does this all sound familiar? Does it sound a little bit like UM Church polity?

The Book of Discipline gets larger and larger. I was a reserve delegate at General Conference 2004, and sat as an observer in the General/Judicial Administration Legislative Committee. I watched caucuses try to move their agendas, and draft legislation that would promote their causes. The Book of Discipline got bigger. We’re trying not to offend anyone, in the name of inclusivity. But the problem is, we haven’t become inclusive; we’ve become generic. Inclusive, in the truest sense of the word, is having the mind of Christ and walking as he walked. But in my opinion, the UMC’s attempts to be inclusive have moved us toward being generic, rather than inclusive. Generic is nothing. Rather than increasing the Kingdom, we’ve ended up taking away from it.

Try this: next time your church nominates church officers, be sure to give them their job descriptions as they are listed in the Book of Discipline and see if you can get anyone to bite. Or, if you want first-hand testimony, call the chairs of nurture, outreach, and witness at my church and listen to their reaction when I first read their job descriptions to them.

We’ve become a denomination that has dumbed down to mediocrity, majoring in the minors, promoting our causes, confusing political standings with religious values. We don’t want to make anyone upset or unhappy. It makes perfect sense that the UMC is losing membership and leadership – no one can articulate to new or growing Christians what we are asking them to join, nor have we defined what discipleship is and means!

A white elephant. Something that has outlived its usefulness. I know John Wesley didn’t mean to start a new church, and I’m fairly sure he would find today’s United Methodist Church right back where he started when the Methodists began at Oxford within Anglicanism.

So we’re trying to reinvent the wheel. But I think it’s a square one. Maybe we need to go back to the basics and realize that less may be more.

Pax,
Sky+

Seizing Opportunities to Disciple

One of my hobbies is voyeurism. Now before someone runs off and files church charges on me, know that I simply like to watch people in public. When I go to a mall, to Walmart, or a bookstore, I enjoy just sitting down and watching people come and go, usually with a cup of coffee in my hand to enhance my “cover.”

I took the picture above from my vacation seat at the Kentucky Sweet 16 boys basketball tournament in Lexington, KY. Kentucky is one of the last states to still have an open tournament – there are no classifications in basketball regarding school size. The best team in each of the 16 regions of Kentucky are here, and Rupp Arena is usually filled (the picture is how the view looks from my seat). As a result, you’re going to see white collar folks, blue collar folks, urban folks, rural folks, black folks, and white folks.

It’s pure heaven for someone like me who likes to watch people.

Whether it’s waiting in line for an ice cream cone, going into the hotel lobby for a Starbucks coffee, or sitting in one of the hotel lounges that inevitably fills with coaches, die hard fans, and officials from across the state – you see a lot of different people, and you hear a lot of different conversations.

While some of these conversations are light, there are others that become quite intense. Maybe it’s the anonymity of being in a different place, the freedom of being on vacation away from a stressful life, or the loosening of tongues in a lounge after a drink or two, but in overhearing some conversations (and becoming a participant in a few), I find that there are a lot of people in pain and in need of healing. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t wear my clerical collar everywhere, but I’ve never been ashamed to share faith, good news, and the healing Word when the opportunity presents itself. Sometimes these opportunities have led to further conversation at another time, occasionally they have led to an office visit or lunch, and once in a while they’ve gotten someone to church and the faith.

We Christians need to perfect the craft of “pro-active listening.” There’s a lot of pain out there, and we should be the experts in helping people heal. We just need to seize the opportunities, in the name of Jesus.

Pax,
Sky+

License to Lament?

Actually, instead of lament, I wanted to use another word... but hey, it's got alliteration, and it's a nice biblical-sounding word. Besides, one of my church members might be reading this.

I awoke this morning and read through my usual news pages and blogs, and realize that today no one is happy. Politicians are unhappy with each other, constituents are unhappy with those representing them. Pat Head Summit (sorry, she'll always be Trish Head to me, as I remember her college basketball days at UT Martin) is unhappy with UT's seeding in the tournament. Billy Packer and Jim Nantz are unhappy with the Men's tournament selection, while selection chairman Craig Littlepage is unhappy with Packer and Nantz and CBS in general for their criticism. Coach Calipari at Memphis is doing a great job, but his own hometown press and Memphis pundits trash him at every opportunity. At least they don't want to kill him, as John Chaney once wanted to. At least, not yet.

My denomination isn't immune: some are not happy with our bishops, one bishop seems to have made an error according to the Judicial Council, and now said bishop is criticizing the Judicial Council with filed legal briefs (ever watch Law and Order?). In my own state of Kentucky, a referee was unhappy that he was not allowed to officiate a regional final... so upset that he got a court order to postpone the game.

Is America just one big bitchfest? (oops, I said it after all... but hey, it has alliteration!)

I asked my wife and daughter just now, "Are y'all unhappy this morning?" My daughter said, "I'm not - I'm happy. If you're upset, just hang around me today and you'll be happy too." She'll be 13 on Thursday. While most people are lamenting life and getting older, she's loving life.

Works for me.

Pax,
Sky+