More stones thrown at coaching icon when it's someone else's coach

It was predictable that the percentage of Penn State fans who thought Joe Paterno should be fired was much smaller than the percentage of college football fans in, say, the 49 states that weren't Pennsylvania.

Paterno should have been fired for his inaction involving the Jerry Sandusky scandal, and was. It's just easier to say it when it's somebody else's sports icon, not yours.

Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim has retracted some very foolish and potentially damaging comments he made several days ago regarding Bobby Davis' accusations that then-SU assistant coach Bernie Fine (fired by the school on Sunday) molested him while Davis was an adolescent. Boeheim said Davis was lying.

"This is alleged to have occurred ... what? Twenty years ago?" Boeheim said. "Am I in the right neighborhood? It might be 26 years ago? So, we are supposed to what? Stop the presses 26 years later? For a false allegation? For what I absolutely believe is a false allegation? I know he's lying about me seeing him in his hotel room. That's a lie. If he's going to tell one lie, I'm sure there's a few more of them.

“The Penn State thing came out and the kid behind this is trying to get money. He's tried before. And now he's trying again. If he gets this, he's going to sue the university and Bernie. What do you think is going to happen at Penn State? You know how much money is going to be involved in civil suits? I'd say about $50 million. That's what this is about. Money.”

Sunday night, Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com wrote this column saying Boeheim should be fired. Earlier in the day, Fine was fired. Not long afterward, Boeheim put out this prepared statement (it's always a prepared statement when things go bad, isn't it?):

"What is most important is that this matter be fully investigated and that anyone with information be supported to come forward so that the truth can be found. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse."

Doyel makes a valid case for firing Boeheim. I'll borrow this passage from his column:

" ... for that guy, in that town, to ridicule Fine's accusers as liars and opportunists -- as deceitful frauds looking to make a quick buck -- Boeheim laid down a very public gantlet to anyone else who might have been interested in telling the police they were molested by Fine:

Come after Fine, and you're crossing me.

When you heard the words and tenor from Boeheim a week-and-a-half ago, you just knew nothing good would come from them. If Boeheim is indeed the most popular and powerful man in Syracuse, as Doyel describes him, he grossly misused his popularity and power. That rage followed several days later by a prepared statement that was the equivalent of "My bad" isn't what you would call balanced, let alone right. He verbally attacked potential victims when he thought he had a leg to stand on in the matter. Sunday, he had no such leg.

But for those beyond the Finger Lakes region of New York state who join Doyel's chorus of "Fire Boeheim," I just want to know you would say the same thing if he'd coached your favorite team to 28 NCAA tourneys, eight conference regular-season crowns, five conference-tournament titles, and a national championship. Or even if he was simply coaching your favorite team and you believed he was on his way to bringing home some winners.

From what it seems from my chair, the more success a coach has, the more faith his team's fans have in him as an all-around good guy who never misuses his position. When it's another team's coach whose judgment is called into question? He's probably in cahoots with the devil.