| | There's this TV show, "City Confidential," where they don't just examine a crime, they examine all the particulars of the area it happened.
|  | | Leon Barmore enters next season with a 520-77 coaching record. |
If there's a murder in city X, they try to fill you in on what it's like to live there, who's who in town, what everybody thinks about the victim and the accused.
It's usually pretty interesting and often funny -- although in a guffaw, not ha-ha, way. In part, it's because the narrator has this smirking sound to his voice that suggests he doesn't really believe anybody.
This whole Louisiana Tech spring soap opera made me think of the show, although there was no crime committed, obviously, nor is there any grand conspiracy.
Rather, it's because just like in "City Confidential," you realize that as an outsider you can look in on something, talk to people about it and formulate a theory -- but you still don't know exactly what happened. And you'll never know, because even if everyone involved told you their view of what went on, they'd all have perceived it differently.
Maybe it's like the old psychology experiment where someone bursts into a classroom holding a banana and says, "Stick 'em up" to the teacher, and then runs out. The students are then asked to write about what happened, and supposedly it's amazing how different the accounts are. I can't vouch for it, though, because nothing that interesting actually happened in any psychology class I was in.
However, I was in a press conference on March 17 in Ruston, La., that turned out to be pretty interesting. Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore announced he would retire, surprising everyone.
A lot about it seemed not quite right -- it wasn't the way a coaching legend who has contributed so much to a sport should be making his exit. It costs little more that $200 to do a national teleconference. So why -- when Tech and its fans always complain the national media ignores the school -- did the school not hook up the media with Barmore's big news?
Because, Tech sports information folks said, Barmore didn't want it like that. No big fuss.
Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Women's basketball still gets a short stick from the media, sure, but everyone takes notice when the story's big enough.
Barmore said the reason he made his decision public at that time -- just hours before the NCAA Tournament started -- was because he wanted to be fair to Tech. "This is the time when you hire coaches," Barmore said.
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To
Tech fans angry with Kim Mulkey-Robertson,
remember: For most of her adult life, she
contributed a great deal to something you are all very proud of. Her departure doesn't
change that.
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And that seemed a little weird, too. His top assistant, Kim Mulkey-Robertson, was the obvious replacement candidate, having been at Tech as a player and coach for almost two decades. Most thought there wasn't much question she would be Tech's next head coach.
Barmore never publicly endorsed her nor anyone else. As expected, though, she was offered the job. But then -- stunning development No. 2 -- she turned it down, citing the school's insistence on a four-year deal as opposed to the five years she wanted.
Instead, she took the head coaching job at Baylor. Tech, suddenly without its top candidate, convinced Barmore to come back -- which, by this point, wasn't terribly surprising.
Barmore didn't even want to have a news conference after the unretirement and had to be talked into it.
On April 13, he said, "After my resignation, unforeseen events intervened. The team I love was suddenly surrounded by uncertainty.
"I said I was tired, and I was. But your calls to come back home, plus the circumstances of this situation, made me reconsider."
Neither Barmore nor Mulkey-Robertson really wants to talk much more about what happened. But it's not too difficult to connect a few dots and speculate.
Friction between the two apparently was fairly obvious after Barmore signed a contract extension last year. Mulkey-Robertson was probably restless to a degree she didn't even realize, and the extension may have exacerbated that.
Barmore was probably wounded by her frustration. He has always felt underappreciated on the national scene, and perhaps during the past season he may have started to feel that way in his own hometown of Ruston.
What was Barmore tired of? One could guess that, in part, it was unresolved conflict.
So who's the villain? Nobody.
Here are two people who were both successful athletes. They worked together as coaches for 15 years keeping Louisiana Tech as a women's basketball power when so many other mid-major programs fell by the wayside.
What do both those things tell you about them? They're strong-willed, highly motivated and they believe in themselves.
How long can one of those people work for another one before wanting to be the boss? When you think about it, it's kind of amazing Mulkey-Robertson stayed at Tech as long as she did.
Why didn't Tech offer her a fifth year? The school said it doesn't give any first-time head coach a deal more than four years. If Tech was so desperate to keep her, that seems a silly sticking point. This isn't someone coming in from outside whom they didn't really yet know; it's someone who has been at the school as a player or coach for 19 years.
By the same token, you may think that if Mulkey-Robertson really wanted the job, one less year on the contract wouldn't have stopped her.
Perhaps, though, here's where she's coming from: Tech loses three senior guards, including Betty Lennox and Tamicha Jackson, both of whom were WNBA first-round picks. It would be expected there will be some rough moments next season trying to replace them.
Let's say Tech has what it would consider a so-so year, which for that program probably would mean an early-round loss in the NCAA Tournament. Even though that would be completely understandable, there still would be people saying Barmore could have done a lot better.
And even if Mulkey-Robertson was prepared to ride out the inevitable "what Leon would have done" wave, maybe that one year became more symbolic than anything else.
Of course, some Tech fans out there are thinking, "You just don't know the whole story, Kansas City person."
Know what? They're right. Even reporters in Louisiana who regularly cover the team have been left to speculate to varying degrees. And they certainly know more about the situation than someone living in the Midwest.
But the advantage outsiders have is it's probably easier for us not to take sides. I'm not saying the local media did, just that it is harder to avoid that when you have a familiar working relationship with everyone involved. It would be the same way for me if something similar went down at Kansas, Kansas State or Missouri.
In this case, there's reason to understand everybody's side.
Not trying to read minds, but Barmore certainly never looked or sounded as if he really wanted to retire. Obviously, he gave it a lot of thought and felt he was at peace with his decision. But I wonder if he was ready to leave.
As for whatever embarrassment he felt about changing his mind, well, he just shouldn't worry about that. Everyone has had decisions that turned out to need reversing -- and that's especially true in this case, where circumstances changed. Tech's players, administration and fans are glad he's back. He seems to be glad he's back. Nothing to be embarrassed about.
And Mulkey-Robertson? Wish her well. Sometimes epiphanies come when least expected. The job everybody assumed she always wanted was open, but that forced her to realize that maybe she didn't want it after all.
To Tech fans angry with her, remember: For most of her adult life, she contributed a great deal to something you are all very proud of. Her departure doesn't change that.
If Tech continues its long history of success, and Baylor starts climbing up the food chain, there's a good chance for an overall happy ending.
Which is something that often doesn't occur on "City Confidential."
Mechelle Voepel of the Kansas City Star is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached via e-mail at mvoepel@kcstar.com. | |
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