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November 25, 2006

VALVANO: Shannon's small stage can teach a big lesson

BY BOB VALVANO

I learned a long time ago, largely from my brother Jim, that the size of your stage, your “arena” if you will, isn’t nearly as important as doing something within that arena to positively impact the lives of those around you.

By that measure, two coaches with Indiana ties more than meet that yardstick for success, even though the size of their arenas is markedly different. While both coaches are to be celebrated as difference makers, it is easier for this ex-coach to access the “feel good” part of the achievement of the coaches on the smaller stage.

In this case that coach really is on the stage. New Albany boys’ basketball coach Jim Shannon just finished his run as Coach Bolton in the stage production of Disney’s “High School Musical” at NAHS. (Hope you aren’t typecast Jim — better talk to your agent) He had to memorize about 50 lines of dialogue, really had a part with some “meat” in it, and even had to sing a little bit. All of this while keeping his two day jobs, as history/government teacher and basketball coach.

The other, former IU coach Bob Knight, is literally weeks away from becoming the winningest college coach in his sport’s history. Yet, on the cusp of that achievement, we are discussing a recent incident in which he hit one of his Texas Tech players on the chin (Disclaimer time - I know of Coach Knight’s almost god-like status in these parts for his success at IU, and I am not here to dispute that legacy. But let’s tell it like it is - he smacked Michael Prince in the mouth.)

And while there is no doubt that Bob Knight has made a positive influence on many of those who have played for him, or coached under him, on the grandest of stages, it is difficult to constantly be reminded that there evidently remains a part of his personality that unrepentantly leaps over lines of generally accepted behavior. Outbursts that seemingly stem from a lack of the discipline that Bob Knight has successfully built a career out of instilling in his players. A side of himself, perhaps a very small side, but one that nonetheless pops up often enough that it prompts the legendary coach John Wooden (another Hoosier) to remark, “He is a good coach. But I wouldn’t want anyone dear to me to play for him.”

These two stories, of coaches Shannon and Knight, are intertwined in my mind in many ways because another legendary coach, Joe Paterno, has always maintained it should be easy to assess acceptable behavior for our athletes and coaches - just treat what they do as you would behavior in any other extracurricular activity.

To that end, would NAHS director David Longest not have been questioned had he smacked one of the actors in his charge in the kisser in putting on this production? How about Coach Shannon himself, if he were to hit one of his players at New Albany? I contend that they certainly would be under intense scrutiny, and understandably so. So this is not the “unfair” singling out of Bob Knight.

I am probably like a lot of fans who are forced to have two opinions of Bob Knight. I admire his ability to mold a team, to develop and progress a group of individuals into a cohesive unit, as well as any man ever has. Yet, I wish, as he is the man who will serve as the standard bearer for the profession for years to come, that he could find a way to do it without all the contradictions, the gap between the expected standards of behavior of his players, and the excused lapses of the same from him. And more troubling are the comments afterward, which paraphrased are, “…if I have to apologize for this kind of behavior I am living in the wrong country.”

I tend to think that reasonable people can often disagree, and as I disagree with his behavior here, I don’t think it’s a measure of my patriotism. Do you?

It is easier to see the consistency of the message Coach Shannon’s experience brings, which to me is this: “You are not a dumb jock. Playing sports is one of the things you can do … look at me … I can teach, I can coach, and maybe I can act. And you know what? You probably can too. Try it. Grow. Learn. Work hard, try your best, work within your team, and you can achieve great things, be they in the classroom, on the court, or even on the stage.”

It may be a smaller stage than the one Coach Knight is playing on, but it’s one with a difference maker that is worth commending.

Bravo Jim. Encore.

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