February 27, 2007

We are getting to the time of the college basketball season where there is excitement galore. Everyone is getting ready for Championship Week, all leading up to March Madness, the greatest three weeks in all of sports.

My friends, this is also a tough time of the season for college basketball coaches. The rumor mill starts churning like crazy. That's right, if a school fails to live up to its lofty expectations, college coaches all over America are on the hot seat.

In this day and age, with the media scrutiny, such as sports talk radio, TV, internet, newspapers, the pressure is flat-out crazy. All of a sudden, you will see the transaction pages filled with the following: so and so school fired coach so and so.

Last season there were some 60 coaching changes in Division I. There are already several set for this off-season, including Colorado of the Big 12, as Ricardo Patton will not be returning. Minnesota has Jim Molinari in an interim role as Dan Monson left during the season. I expect the Golden Gophers to look for a high-profile coach.

Let me tell you, I learned so much from the experience of being fired as head coach of the Detroit Pistons on November 8, 1979. I can understand how lonely the feeling is when you get that ziggy. It is really horrible and when I was fired, I cried like a baby. It was shocking and humbling. Then you realize that the next day you can't go to work.

The only people that stand by you when you are fired are your family. I remember calling my father to tell him the Pistons let me go. My dad went nuts, saying that they didn't know what they were doing. They made me feel like I was better than Red Auerbach and John Wooden. He said that the Pistons didn't know how good I was.

My parents did have a great education but they had a doctorate of love. They were the greatest people in the world and they taught me to never believe in the word "can't". I called them and wanted them to know first about the firing.

I want to tell parents out there, make your kids feel special. That is so important for their psyche.

When fans root for coaches to be fired, they should understand that these people pour their heart and soul out on the sidelines, in the locker room, recruiting, running their respective programs. They are also people that have families to worry about, and that is often lost in the shuffle. Keep that in mind when you read your sports section and look at the transactions.

While it is a super time of season for college basketball junkies, it is tempered with the reality that most coaches are hired to eventually be fired.

Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.