(11-13-2018 12:40 PM)elw4796 Wrote: I have a genuine question here because I've tried to stay out of the whole Graham thing. Has he really just up and abandoned Rice after coaching here for 26 years? I understand the ending was messy (and that you can make an argument that Graham didn't exactly make the situation any easier), but that just rubs me completely the wrong way. I get being peeved with the AD and key players, but I would think there would still be some sort of connection/bond to the actual school. I just don't understand how this entire thing devolved to where we are now.
Look, I really don't want to get to involved in this because I am pretty much done with Rice athletics. I still love Rice University, but the athletic department is another story.
As to Wayne abandoning Rice, I guess it depends on your perspective, but since I was very close to Wayne and remain so I can say that focusing on the ending kind of misses the point of the whole thing. Wayne felt that he had no support from the AD since Joe showed up. The personalities did not mix very well because one has a ton of skins on the wall and the other, well, not so much. Maybe it was insecurity, or maybe it was Joe's relentless focus on football at the expense of everything else, but the level of support Wayne had from even Greenspan went down considerably.
Wayne had pleaded for the batting barn and completion of Reckling Park for years and the money was raised, by baseball people not Athletic people, years before. Interestingly, Joe sat on the money and did nothing until Wayne's last season. The donors who gave that money gave it to help Wayne and he was never allowed to benefit from it. You figure that one out.
Wayne wanted Rice to bid for conference and NCAA tourneys and the reason we went to Hattiesburg year after year is that Rice did not submit a competitive bid. That never happened before Joe. Now maybe we were outsmarted by USM but that kind of speaks volumes.
There was also the continued disrespect of Rice people by Joe that got under his skin. Kim Koehn, Jimmy Comerota and Brent Scott had nothing but love for Rice and were discarded like second hand garbage by Joe. More recently the horrific treatment of Daniel Watson by Joe/Bragga shows that this pattern is still in place.
In addition, it seemed every time athletes were involved in honor council disputes, the baseball players were thrown under the bus while the football players were protected. His department even took the unusual step of removing a player from the field before his appeals were exhausted the day before the season was slated to begin. In the end he was reinstated, but the team scrambled without a starting middle infielder for the first month. On a personal level, Joe's meetings with Wayne showed, per Wayne, a complete lack of respect for him. At least one of them is recorded for posterity. In Wayne's mind, it was clear that the last thing Joe wanted was baseball to win. An athletic director rooting against his own team? Go figure!
Wayne Graham gave so much to Rice including his back as he continued to coach his kids. If he wanted a victory lap he deserved it. In the end, that too was denied by Joe and mysteriously his BOT friend gave him a three year extension at the same time. IMO, iF JK got three and Wayne was not allowed one, Rice has no conception of a meritocracy.
I know many on Parliament still support Wayne and even though Rice has been a disaster, the good people in Austin have embraced him as one of their own. He is treated at UT like a hall of fame coach and given respect at every function he attends. Too bad Rice did not allow this to happen here. In fact, I think plans are in the works to honor Wayne Graham at a Longhorn baseball game this season. He has agreed to attend that one because everyone from the President of the University to the Athletic Director and former players is treating him with the respect, I think anyway, he deserves.