Tuesday, April 8, 2008

My hope for BS Report's next guest: Gene Wojciechowski

Today, Bill Simmons had some thoughts on the NCAA Tournament Championship between Kansas and Memphis. Particularly, he had a bone to pick with those sports writers who don't want Kansas' coach Bill Self to leave for his alma mater.

Worst debate coming out of the game: Will Bill Self stay at Kansas or "sell out" and jump to Oklahoma State to become the highest-paid college coach? There's nothing funnier than when sports columnists and radio hosts -- for the most part, a group of people who will appear on any conceivable show no matter how terrible it is, as long as they're getting paid at least $50, and by the way, if you want them to spend three months ghostwriting someone's forgettable biography, they're available for that, too -- complain someone else is selling out. Give it a rest. I guarantee that if you offered any sports media member three times as much money to work somewhere else, 99.99999999-percent of the time, they'd take it. They would. So please, shut the hell up and spare us the "selling out" stories.

So, who is Bill referring to? Could it be Gene Wojciechowski, the columnist right under him on ESPN.com?

Wojo's take:

Don't do it, Bill Self.

Don't take billionaire T. Boone Pickens' money, even if it means you could walk from Lawrence, Kan., to Stillwater, Okla., on a road paved with his cash.

I think it would be a fun-filled debate if Bill Simmons were to invite Gene on his next BS Report.

You want my take?

They're both underestimating the value of going back to your alma-mater and building that program. It's a challenge. In just five years, he's already overcome the challenge of winning a championship at Kansas-- something Roy Williams couldn't do in fifteen years. What else is left for him to prove there?

Look, Bill Self is an Oklahoma guy. He was born in Oklahoma. He was raised in Oklahoma. He was Oklahoma High School Player of the Year in 1981. He played basketball at Oklahoma State. He got his bachelor's degree at Oklahoma State. He got his master's degree at Oklahoma State. He was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. He has coached two college basketball teams in the state of Oklahoma (Oral Roberts and Tulsa).

Oklahoma. Oklahoma. Oklahoma.

Oh and Oklahoma State has a head coaching vacancy.

It makes almost too much sense for Bill Self to come full-circle and become revamp his alma mater, Oklahoma State-- money aside. What if Bill Self has just been waiting all along to take over Eddie Sutton's program? What if this has nothing to do with money? He's proven all he can at Kansas. I say, let him go back home.

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