A lot happening right now with our coaching and there are a lot of insiders and stories going on. I thought I might tell you all this story of how I wanted to be a big message board guy back in my 20's and how it almost ruined someone's professional career.
I went to high school with a guy who played basketball here in Tennessee, we were friends, not great friends but more than acquaintances. After high school we were still friends and he played low level college basketball and then went into coaching. He got an assistant job at a mid level D1 basketball team and began to work his way up. One year the team he was an assistant for played Miami and I flew down and went to the game and we hung out for a while after. This was during the Frank Haith days.
So, Haith and the Canes were struggling and had stopped improving after his first few seasons. I see my buddy at a wedding and he tells me that it is well known in coaching circles that Haith is in trouble and he needs to win now or he is out. If I remember correctly he even told me that some of the assistants were already looking around for other work knowing the axe could be coming down. I believe this was during the 2009-10 season. This was buddy to buddy talk at a wedding reception.
Naturally, with my first piece of inside information in hand I knew this was my opportunity to become a star on the Grassy (the very old 247 board for the real young ones) message board. I would immediately get a parade and know all of the inside jokes. So I posted the entire story word for word. I did not give away my friends name but instead said he had coached at schools x&y&z so everyone knew the info was legit.
A few days later I am laying in bed with my girlfriend at the time and my buddy calls, he is losing it on the phone. The conversation ends with "do not delete the post you have to go say you made it all up". So I did that and I text him the next day letting him know myself and a mod had done damage control. His text to me was the last time we ever spoke "its too late, the damage has been done. Miami coaches are telling everyone in the coaching world to never hire me"
Let me tell you what happened. A Miami coach of the basketball team had staff checking all Miami message boards. Who knows why. They saw my post and cross referenced the schools and were easily able to determine who my friend was. Then they contacted his head coach and proceeded to go scorched earth. They tried to get him blackballed in coaching circles and ruin his career.
It was a sickening feeling knowing that I may have gotten someone fired. After that I have never wanted someone to succeed as much as I do for him. Because of the actions I took trying to be big time on a message board I almost ruined someone's life. And I was just praying that it would not hold him back in such a cut throat world.
I also can never explain to someone what it felt like to get that call from him, knowing I couldn't BS my way out of it, knowing what the consequences could be for everyone involved, and knowing I had ended a friendship for such a stupid reason.
In summary, be careful out there. It's not worth it.
Also, my former friend ended up becoming and is still a head coach at a pretty decent mid major program. We have still never spoken again.
