Binghamton True Thoughts

Binghamton Situation

Its time for me to discuss the Binghamton Situation as I see it. I have met Head Coach Kevin Broadus on a few occasions and find him to be professional yet very personable with many people. That includes the kids he recruits at Binghamton and the kids he recruited at Georgetown. Having met him through one of my best buddies in basketball, who told me a year ago that Broadus is a very good person who believes in young men and always wanted to provide opportunities to them as well as many guys who worked with him and for him,the Kevin Broadus who I met is the exact person that was described to me.

Though I do believe in the coaches at Binghamton, I must say what the Head Coach and his Assistant did With the Notre Dame players was dumb, foolish, and borderline crazy and retarded. There is no excuse for this even if the incidents over the last month had not occured. No Excuses! The rules are the rules and many college coaches break them all the time including local schools we admire and love. Please do not have me start giving examples including special offers and deals. And many of you know exactly what I am talking about.

In this case I was told that Broadus actually had the rules confused. Still no excuse because a head coach has to understand the rules. Plus I thought there was an NCAA exam given to all coaches before they are allowed to recruit on the road.

This is a very serious situation right now on the Binghamton campus and throughout the East Coast. Everyone is watching to see what will happen next week. Well, allow me provide my spin on how things can be twisted.

Lets look at the charges against Broadus in the press:

The Foreign player that beat the student at Binghamton and fled the country WAS NOT recruited by Broadus nor was he on the team at the time. The previous Coach brought him to Binghamton. Why blame Broadus for this?

Broadus did not allow his player to peddle crack cocaine! How would he know he was doing this if in fact he was? Remember innocent until proven guilty. The Player had been close to a model citizen up to that point. Broadus was not in the car with him. Stuff like this happens all over America and if a kid is guilty he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But again how was Broadus to know?

Lets look at the condom theft and assault charges against another player. Stupid, stupid, and stupid! Assault or was he running and ran into an older women shopping? Now the press makes it seem as if he actually hit the women on purpose or beat her to the ground. He did a stupid thing by taking some condoms and was punished. Everyone knows the assault thing was exaggerated. Yet the press makes it out to be Broadus fault. I guess he knew when he recruited the player from Junior College that he would eventually steal condoms from a store? Of course he did not know this and neither does other coaches who have similar situations all over our GREAT COUNTRY!

I read in certain blogs statements like "he allowed his players to run wild by distributing crack; stealing condoms from a Walmart and then beating up a 66-year old woman; and beating another Binghamton student into a coma in a bar fight." I ask how did he do that? You mean he actually knew his player was going to be around crack and allowed it? You mean he was there and allowed his player to beat a 66 year old women to the ground (Never happened that way!)? You mean he actually recruited the foreign player who beat a student into a coma? He barely knew that player because he was recruited by a previous coach and was not part of the team.

I think a coach has to take some responsibility for the kids HE RECRUITS and the kids he inherits who are part of his program. But to make him sound like he knew and allowed certain behavior is not fair. I am telling you kids need discipline and maybe this group needed more than they were getting. But to rip this guy over things he had no control over is wrong. Rip him for his graduation rates at Binghamton, Georgetown, and George Washington. Oops.....His kids graduated and did well in school for the most part. Recruiting from diploma mill? Every school with the exception of a few would take a kid from a store front academy on Market Street in Philly or 8th Ave in NYC if he could help and could prove academic achievement and passing SAT scores. And just because a prep school has grass, great buildings, and a large endowment does not mean they are not close to also being a diploma mill with 5 and 6 kids in a class up in New England. Trust me when I tell you even the Ivy schools work hard to get kids in who would never ever be considered under regular circumstances. And somehow they find money for these kids....UMMMMMM. But more important most of the kids actually graduate from IVY schools because of the opportunity they received. Just like the Ivy's, Binghamton gave kids opportunities.

Some kids did not do well academically so they had to transfer or go to Junior College. They than transferred to Binghamton. Funny thing is do you think Albany, Vermont, Stony Brook, and others would not take those kids? Those transfers did not shoot anyone, peddle drugs on or off campus, assault anyone, etc. Why not provide them with an opportunity? I know 100 other schools in D1 who would have taken them with open arms. Stop beating on him for taking transfers. Low mid major schools have done this for years.

Now what happens from here? Honestly I feel Kevin Brodous in trouble. Not as much by all that has happened, but because folks are not fully looking at each situation. They are looking at The Binghamton basketball program and at this time he is in charge. Has he made mistakes? YES Should he be responsible for his program? YES Should he be held responsible for everything that happens off the campus in cities miles away? NO Should he be responsible for every ex player no matter what? NO

Maybe he waited too long to act on the various off court and off campus incidents. But when you look at it he would have a good case in regard to keeping his position with a strong letter outlining what needs to be achieved on and off the court by him, his players, and assistant coaches.

Lastly. Vermont was chosen to win the America East this season and it might have bothered a few folks in Binghamton. The person who decided this was the same person who did the article in question. Honestly the article was a good one and seems accurate as are most of the articles by the Writer in question. But my understanding is the Writer was kind of snubbed by the Binghamton staff based on this choice. Thus it was easy to write a story and put a coaches career in question over something that 65% of coaches do when they get an opportunity. I wonder if it would have been written if he was not snubbed! Well, at least HE had the facts!