Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Admiration for Bruiser

The University of Massachusetts did not only lose its head men’s basketball coach Monday – it lost a quality individual.

James “Bruiser” Flint was one of the most likeable sideline patrollers in college basketball. Flint spent 12 years at UMass, seven as an assistant to John Calipari and five as the main man for the Minutemen, and has developed great relationships in his time in Amherst.

“When you’re here for 12 years you build a lot of friendships – true friendships,” Flint said. “I’ll always come back.”

He will be back because the man is class personified.

But will he be welcomed? One would hope so. If his final public appearance is any indication then he will.

At his final radio show Flint spoke of the good times that he has had, never once mentioning the bad.

“I just remember the guys,” Flint said. “The Will Herndons, the Jimmy McCoys, even the guys like Mike Williams. They were funny – they had their funny ways.

“The guys that I coached when I was the head coach, Monty [Mack], Kit [Rhymer], Charlton Clarke and Lari Ketner. You will never forget those guys.”

Whether fans and critics of UMass basketball want to believe it or not, the bad did not only happen when he was in charge. Scandals happened when John Calipari was here – things were not as picture perfect as they are made out to be.

When Calipari was not making friends with the student body, he was having Final Four banners removed from the William D. Mullins Center. So the Final Four that UMass reached in 1996 actually did not happen – at least according to the NCAA – and in actuality that is all that counts.

So the fantasy world in which Massachusetts fans live was not as wonderful as legend has made them out to be. Nobody questioned Cal’s character when he abruptly left for a job with the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. Do not be fooled – Cal knew that there were problems in paradise.

Granted, Bruiser did not have his own clothing store downtown or five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, but what the man did have was character.

At times his character was put into question because he was a players coach, but there are not very many critics of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. After all, he is a players’ coach too. But he is a coach that wins and unfortunately for Flint he was a victim of a program’s prior successes.

But success is all too often measured by what is done on the court – in this case that is what happened. Bruiser’s success extends from the home to the classroom.

“I told [the players] in the home when I recruit them, ‘when you’re with me, you’re with me for life,'” Flint said. “No matter where I am, no matter what I’m doing, I’m going to be there for my guys.”

The 35-year old Flint has also has a graduation rate that is unparalleled. In May the coach will have seen 13 of 14 players eligible for graduation depart with degrees. Where does that show up on the stat sheet?

Obviously that does not bring the kind of recognition that this university wants.

Apparently the amount of wins does not even matter. Is a career record 86-72 not enough? Fourteen games over .500 will usually be enough to bring praise to a coach, but not at UMass.

The 1990s brought national identification to a program that had been mired in mediocrity for most of its existence. Then, all of a sudden, a No. 1 ranking is obtained and everyone expects that the Maroon and White be a title contender year-in and year-out.

Come on people, you know this is a ridiculous. A decade of good teams does not allow the bar for success to be set so high that touches the ceiling of the sky. Twenty wins every year is not where this team is or ever was headed. Does anyone know the number of 20-win season that the Minutemen had before the 1990s?

Five – the exact number of years that the University gave Bruiser a chance to succeed. In this case his chance at success was opaque at best. He had to follow in the footsteps of a “legend” – a legend that abandoned ship when the seas became rough.

Flint came here in the midst of a crisis. His departure puts the University in a bit of a crisis as well. For most of the season, fans, or the lack thereof, were screaming for UMass alum Rick Pitino or former Indiana coach Bobby Knight.

These are two of the highest-profile men in all of basketball. Is UMass really ready for men like these? Absolutely not.

Although Pitino is a proven winner at the collegiate level, he is not known for having the best of relationships with his players – the same is true for Knight. Both have had their fair share of on the court problems that have been well documented.

Pitino was part of the reason in which Boston Celtics forward Antoine Walker left Kentucky. And who can forget the antics of the lovable Knight? This is the same guy that slapped his son in practice, has thrown chairs across the floor at IU’s Assembly Hall and choked a player during a practice. Both would be a perfect fit in liberal Amherst – I think not?

UMass lost one of the true “good guys” when it forced Flint to resign. Perhaps women’s basketball coach Joanie O’Brien said it best – “It’s part of the business and you deal with it. It’s just hard when bad things happen to good people – that’s exactly what he is, a good person.”

The two coaches have both had to endure harsh times in their tenures, but the two always waged on and never did any disrespect to the University. Through thick and thin the two helped each other.

“We spent more time sitting in those chair we have in front of our desk’s, just talking – the good days and the bad days,” O’Brien said. “[The women’s coaching staff] understood what was happening.

“When [the men’s team] struggled playing I understood, when [the women’s team] struggled playing [Flint] understood. You’re always there for each other.”

It is just too bad that UMass could not be there for Bruiser.

“One week [the fans] were talking about me being fired,” Flint said. “We go on a little run and they were talking ‘yeah Bruiser lets go.’

“One day they’re patting you on the back – the next day they’re kicking you in the butt.”

The foot was raised since the end of last season just waiting to kick. Bruiser knew that nothing short of an NCAA tournament berth would save his job. And his team almost did it. The Minutemen came within minutes of defeating arch rival Temple in the tournament final, eventually falling 76-65 in his final game at the helm.

So now that the proverbial butt has been kicked the former coach has to seek other opportunities. For someone with a resume like his it should not be difficult to find a program that fits.

“I think I’m going to have my opportunities. I don’t know where, but I’m going to have my opportunities,” Flint said.

Flint has been rumored as the replacement for William “Speedy” Morris at LaSalle. Morris was fired after the Explorers’ loss to St. Joseph’s in the A-10 tournament. This would seem to be the perfect fit for Flint, as he would return to his native Philadelphia as well as remain within the conference. He has also been mentioned as a candidate for the Northeastern job that is currently held by Rudy Keeling. Keeling is expected to removed from the position.

As for UMass: poor job with handling this one. You just made the age-old adage of “nice guys finish last” come true.

Bryan Smith is a Collegian columnist.

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