You'd think people would have learned their lesson about putting Isiah Thomas in charge of things. His Indiana Pacers teams underachieved, he burned down the Continental Basketball Association, and, well, we all saw what he did to the Knicks. The mentality that it takes to give Jerome James $29 million or trade three draft pick and three players for "Sixth Helping" Eddy Curry, deserves to be questioned at every turn.
But that won't be a problem at Florida International University, where he's already pledged to give his entire first-year salary to the athletic department. It's almost as if he's trying to prove that he can do more for a basketball team than waste its money.
As we all know, college players don't get paid (publicly speaking), so joining the college game makes sense for a guy like Isiah. Legally, all he can offer is a scholarship and maybe a few other small perks. There's no hope of him outbidding Carolina for their third point guard and committing FIU to paying him $8 million dollars for the next four seasons. No, this job frees his mind from having to make decisions like that and allows him to do what he does best: Scout talent.
Remember, this is the same guy who drafted David Lee, Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson, Trevor Ariza, and Renaldo Balkman. He clearly has an eye for talent. Just not assigning dollar amounts to it.
So despite his reputation of not knowing what the hell he's doing, Isiah Thomas should be able to attract some talent to this small school in Miami. After all, he's still Isiah Thomas, the ball player, and as much I've talked about his executive history, the promise of learning from one of the NBA's greatest champions will be too much for a lot of kids to pass up.
But when they get down there, how will they feel about his coaching? After all, that's the real question mark for this entire situation.
He's never been a great coach, and I'm not even talking about his time coaching the Knicks, because better coaches tried and failed. No one was getting that team to the playoffs, even if his name was Jesus A. Phil Jackson Riley-Krzyzewski, so I don't hold that against Isiah. But I do remember those Pacers teams of his.
After the 1999-2000 season, Larry Bird stepped down after three seasons as Pacers coach. They were fresh off of a Central Division title and their first trip to the NBA Finals, where they lost in six games to Shaq and Kobe. In Bird's three seasons, they set franchise record for wins and did no less than reaching the Eastern Conference Finals each season. Even though they were a veteran team and there was a lot of change made to the roster, they were still hopeful for the future. All they needed was the right coach to keep this thing rolling. Larry Bird suggested his assistant, Rick Carlisle, but Isiah Thomas ultimately got the job, probably because Donnie Walsh was distracted by Isiah's dimples.
They went 41-41 the next season, 42-40 in 2001-02, exploded to 48-34 in 2002-03. Each season, they lost in the first round of the playoffs. When Larry Bird became team president in 2003, he showed Isiah the door and gave Rick Carlisle the coaching job he should have had all along.
The Pacers finished the 2003-04 season at 61-21 and went back to the Eastern Conference Finals.
How will this translate to the college game? It remains to be seen. After all, coaches who completely bombed in the pros have been successful in college and I'm not even talking about actual good coaches like Rick Pitino or John Calipari. I'm talking about guys like Tim Floyd at USC or Leonard Hamilton's run at Florida State. Almost any half-wit coach can win in college if he's got good players. And FIU doesn't need to win the National Championship; they'll be happy with being over .500.
If nothing else, it should be entertaining, because there are way too many fine women in Miami for this not to be. But I think he will do well. Or at least, well enough to cause a controversy when he bolts to a bigger school.
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