I could be the only one who cares about this. I’m watching Maryland vs Michigan State and Kareem Abdul Jabbar says he interviewed for the head coaching job at Columbia University in New York. A couple of thoughts. John Starks is the coach of New York’s World League team.
Did Kareem say he never really wanted to return to NY after he was booed when he first came through here with LA?
The Lions are a horrible team. I don’t think they won a game this whole season. I think it would be good for both the team and Kareem. The Lions couldn’t get any worse and Kareem would get coaching experience.
I love the hell outta John Starks. He’s a really nice guy (yea, I met him). I hope he does well, although I can’t imagine him as a coach.
I would shocked if Columbia hired Kareem Abdul Jabbar as he does not have a great reputation in the coaching field. However, as bad as Columbia’s basketball team is, they probably can’t do any worse.
The chances of any coach making Columbia competitive in Ivy League basketball are pretty remote. But maybe things will change. Brown finally won at Princeton this year.
Columbia grad here. Tom Penders was coaching Columbia during my stay there, and he followed me to Austin for a while!
While Columbia’s major sports have been a joke for a long time, I’m not convinced that Kareem is the answer.
Kareem doesn’t have a great reputation in the basketball world (there’s a reason radio hosts jokingly call him “Kareem Abdul-Jabong” and “Kareem Abdul-Jablunt”), which is why he’s never been offered a coaching job by an NBA team or any reputable college. Basketball teams are inclined to overlook a LOT of peccadilloes when a player or coach has the standing of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so I’m inclined to think there are some big-time skeletons in his closet that nobody else has wanted to deal with.
But even if we assume that KAreem is really a solid citizen, I don’t see how much good he could do at Columbia. Remember, there are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, so he won’t be able to attract even those rare guys who are basketball stars AND stellar students (those guys can go to Duke or Stanford, where they’ll get just as good an education and can get scholarships, as well).
The one asset Kareem has is his famous name… but he’s NOT famous to the kids he’d be trying to recruit! A kid the age of LeBron James was in the playpen when Kareem was last a star! I don’t see any great players flocking to Columbia just because Kareem is the coach.
Beyond that… Kareem certainly has enough X’s and O’s knowledge to be a coach, but so do a LOT of people who won’t have his baggage and won’t command such a paycheck. So… I have to vote no.
Kareem is a pothead? I didn’t know that. I assume that fellow UCLA graduate Bill Walton still hits the bong from time to time, given his fondness for the Grateful Dead. I wonder if Kareem ever went to a Dead show with Bill?