RIP Charlie Coles

[Bubbler]

Was Coles head coach when Devin Davis was at Miami? I guess my last year covering the MAC regularly was when Sendek was still at MU in 1996. Davis was certainly one of the most memorable MAC players of the era.

The MAC was great in the 1990s/early 2000s. Ball State, Miami, Kent State and Eastern Michigan, in particular, had some outstanding teams. Then they made the big financial push to emphasize football -- with leg-spread wide-open whoring for ESPN TV football dates on weeknights -- and lost the basketball plot. A shame.

 

[Here me roar]

Davis bridged Sendak and Coles. He had his best years under Coles, just because those were his later years. And I'm pretty sure the whole dreadlocks thing, with all the kids wearing them in the stands happened under Coles.

I had the pleasure of covering Coles teams at CMU, Central Catholic and Miami. Interviewed him in many settings, many places, alone and in a crowd.. including the stage of some high school in Toledo when I was working on a non-basketball story about race. He was always generous, highly quotable and just damn fun to be around. The esteem with which he was held by his colleagues cannot be understated.

He always had such a great perspective. I remember that he left CMU under a cloud (though I don't remember the details of the cloud) and 'rehabbed' at Central Catholic. Wouldn't surprise me if part of his wonderful outlook had to do with the fact that he had been to the mountain and slid down and then got back on it.

 

[BenPoquette]

Was Coles head coach when Devin Davis was at Miami? I guess my last year covering the MAC regularly was when Sendek was still at MU in 1996. Davis was certainly one of the most memorable MAC players of the era.

The MAC was great in the 1990s/early 2000s. Ball State, Miami, Kent State and Eastern Michigan, in particular, had some outstanding teams. Then they made the big financial push to emphasize football -- with leg-spread wide-open whoring for ESPN TV football dates on weeknights -- and lost the basketball plot. A shame.

Man, now we're talking the heyday of MAC hoops! Saddi Washington and James Black at WMU, Charlie's teams at Miami, Bowen Field House at EMU...I cut my teeth during those years. I still think Bowen had one of the greatest atmospheres in college basketball during the Boykins, Theron Wilson days.

Charlie Coles was one of those guys that would take as much time as the reporter needed...from a writer from a metro to the beat writer from a student newspaper. He was special.

As for the push to emphasize football...talk about screwing up. College basketball is the only sport where a team like Kent or James Madison can make a deep run. Shoot, look what Butler was able to do. I guess that Wednesday night Buffalo @ Northern Illinois game in Dekalb is more important than one of the hoops teams doing something on a national scale.

 

[tmr]

Dakich brought up briefly how he and Coles challenged the MAC on screwing up basketball in late 90s, early 2000s.

When Dakich would tee off on the commissioner in meetings about the state of the league, Coles would be next to him, Dakich said, going, "'Keep going Dan, keep going.’ Because he knew what was going to happen to MAC basketball.”

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/85329/remembering-charlie-coles-1942-2013

 

[Armchair_QB]

Was Coles head coach when Devin Davis was at Miami? I guess my last year covering the MAC regularly was when Sendek was still at MU in 1996. Davis was certainly one of the most memorable MAC players of the era.

The MAC was great in the 1990s/early 2000s. Ball State, Miami, Kent State and Eastern Michigan, in particular, had some outstanding teams. Then they made the big financial push to emphasize football -- with leg-spread wide-open whoring for ESPN TV football dates on weeknights -- and lost the basketball plot. A shame.

Man, now we're talking the heyday of MAC hoops! Saddi Washington and James Black at WMU, Charlie's teams at Miami, Bowen Field House at EMU...I cut my teeth during those years. I still think Bowen had one of the greatest atmospheres in college basketball during the Boykins, Theron Wilson days.

Charlie Coles was one of those guys that would take as much time as the reporter needed...from a writer from a metro to the beat writer from a student newspaper. He was special.

As for the push to emphasize football...talk about screwing up. College basketball is the only sport where a team like Kent or James Madison can make a deep run. Shoot, look what Butler was able to do. I guess that Wednesday night Buffalo @ Northern Illinois game in Dekalb is more important than one of the hoops teams doing something on a national scale.

How did MAC football screw up basketball?

 

[Here me roar]

It's all the conference focused on, including use of resources for years. They get alow kinds of bowl games, but hoops suffered from neglect

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Was Coles head coach when Devin Davis was at Miami? I guess my last year covering the MAC regularly was when Sendek was still at MU in 1996. Davis was certainly one of the most memorable MAC players of the era.

The MAC was great in the 1990s/early 2000s. Ball State, Miami, Kent State and Eastern Michigan, in particular, had some outstanding teams. Then they made the big financial push to emphasize football -- with leg-spread wide-open whoring for ESPN TV football dates on weeknights -- and lost the basketball plot. A shame.

Man, now we're talking the heyday of MAC hoops! Saddi Washington and James Black at WMU, Charlie's teams at Miami, Bowen Field House at EMU...I cut my teeth during those years. I still think Bowen had one of the greatest atmospheres in college basketball during the Boykins, Theron Wilson days.

Bowen was a blast. Jud Heathcote brought Michigan State there one year and it obviously was packed and had a great energy. Earl Boykins, Marcus Kennedy, Grant Long all great players.
Then there was the game that was delayed due to a student organization protest. I forget what it was about now, but after the organization took the court and refused to leave. They announced they were cancelling the game and everyone filed out.

As soon as it was empty, they lowered the court dividers and finished the game in front of media only.

Sadly, the new arena just doesn't have the same feel. Of course, it probably doesn't help that the team has been so bad in recent years.