Stephenson returns to Wichita State In a stunning decision, Gene Stephenson says he will return as Wichita State coach, leaving Oklahoma after he was announced as the Sooners' coach at a press conference Monday morning. Stephenson, in a release faxed out Monday night, said scholarship issues arose at Oklahoma that caused him to reconsider. Stephenson's statement: "We are very appreciative for the opportunity to coach at the University of Oklahoma. "However, some scholarship issues have arisen that are unresolveable to our satisfaction. "We have worked over the years at Wichita State in order touse our scholarships and to plan for the use of our future scholarships. "As we assessed the Oklahoma baseball scholarship situation, we would be too limited in our ability to take the program in the direction that we think it should go. "OU has always been our dream job, and it is most unfortunate for all of us that this could not work. We dearly love the University of Oklahoma, and are very thankful to have been given the opportunity. "Unfortunately, the scholarship issues have forced us to reconsider, and have made a decision to stay at Wichita State University." Stephenson, 59, is a native of Guthrie, Okla. and started his full-time coaching career as a Sooner assistant. Today, no active coach has a better career-winning percentage than Stephenson's .754. His record is 1,506-489-3, which is the second-highest victory total in Division I history. http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/sports/colleges/wichita_state_university/12109883.htm
He basically said he's decided to move back in with his wife, because his mistress wouldn't let him take a crap on the pot he wanted. Must be nice to be WSU, knowing your coach used you as a fall back position after 30 years.
It's business. As long as he wins and gets to post season, he'll be fine. His job is to coach the team, not to be everybody's favorite uncle. There is no law against trying to better your station in life.
I'm kind of with you in wondering about this one. I mean, he's a pretty good coach and all, but royalty he ain't.
Coachspeak. Many of them use the imperial "we". They realize that assistant coaches and families are impacted by their career decisions. They do it often to take the blame off of an individual. "We fumbled the ball and lost yardage" instead of "Joe Bob can't catch a punt". Coaches also pluralise a lot when speaking of disciplinary action. It emphasizes that the team made this decision, not the coach, you see. Coach Les Miles said. "We will let this incident run its course through the legal system, however, we expect that there will be a timely resolution to this matter." "We take a great deal of pride in the conduct that our players exhibit. We expect it to be exemplary. Behavior that reflects poorly on LSU or this program will not be condoned."
Good point Red, they usually always use "we" when talking aboiut their family as well. As for WSU, I would think they are estatic that they will be able to keep him, just like Ga Tech was when Bobby C. decided to stay at Ga Tech after accepting the S. Car. offer. Of course he didn't call S. Car. his dream job but I'm sure WSU knows their place and that OU would be a much higher profile position in a much better baseball conference.
