Sun Belt Sports Fans

Florida Atlantic 80, Florida International 78 (OT)

It’s true that the Florida International Golden Panthers put up a good fight on Saturday afternoon against the leaders of the Sun Belt Conference, but it’s worth asking just the same: Would this team be performing better on the court if its coach could actually devote all his time to, you know, coaching his team?

Basketball has become a distraction on the Florida International campus. Tight games such as this weekend tilt against the Florida Atlantic Owls at U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami, Florida, should be garnering more attention, but they’ve faded into the backdrop of an ugly atmosphere in which a coach is plainly devoting more attention to outside interests than his own group of players.

Don’t blame Florida Atlantic coach Mike Jarvis – he’s doing his job in leading the Owls to the top of the Sun Belt and the continued lead in the East Division with only one more full weekend left in the regular season. The coach at fault here is FIU’s Isiah Thomas, the very same Detroit Piston superstar who should be thinking about nothing other than making the Golden Panthers better… but isn’t. This is a scandal that FIU Athletic Director Pete Garcia needs to do something about.

Yahoo! Sports columnist and reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, one of the most respected basketball journalists on the planet, delivered a hefty and well-sourced story on Sunday (one day after this FAU-FIU fistfight) which documented the extent to which Thomas is pulling the strings with the New York Knicks. Thomas is working feverishly behind the scenes to convince team owner James Dolan to pull the trigger on a trade for Carmelo Anthony, but in a manner that will unseat current Knick General Manager Donnie Walsh and insert a pro-Thomas ally into the position next year. Thomas, who wanted to hold down a position with the Knicks while also coaching FIU but was formally denied that request by NBA Commissioner David Stern, is still crossing inappropriate boundaries. Wojnarowski reported that Thomas has gained Dolan’s trust to the point that Walsh is being vetoed in the realm of the Knicks’ internal decision making. It’s Thomas who is essentially running the franchise while “coaching” Florida International. The duplicitous and untoward circumventing of both authority and decency only makes Thomas look worse as a public figure. Thomas not only ran the Knicks poorly in the past as both a coach and GM; the legendary player was also charged with sexual harassment toward a female employee on the Knicks’ administrative staff. Thomas has been disgraced as a basketball executive, and Florida International’s hiring of “Zeke” raised eyebrows in the college basketball community. Now that Thomas is busying himself with the Knicks, FIU should can Thomas, but that move hasn’t come about yet. Garcia needs to pull the trigger if he wants his basketball players to come first.

We should be talking about the fact that Florida Atlantic’s Greg Gantt scored 21 points and pulled down 9 rebounds to lead the Owls. We should be noting the fact that Gantt tied the game on a layup with 16 seconds left and sent this contest into overtime. We should be lauding FAU’s Brett Royster, who blocked a close-in shot by FIU’s gallant DeJaun Wright (20 points, 14 boards) with five seconds left to seal the Owls’ win and move the FAU crew to 11-3 in the Sun Belt. Instead, the point of focus is Isiah Thomas and not his players.

Since Florida International is 4-10 in the Sun Belt, perhaps Thomas should be free to run the Knicks… from a place other than the Florida International head basketball coach’s office. Thomas should be fired if his program wants to make progress in the Sun Belt Conference.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer