Monica Yant Kinney: Coach shows he can exploit weak defense
A fascinating thing happened last week in the court of public opinion: Holy Family University basketball coach John O'Connor - who bloodied a player to motivate his team - morphed from monster to martyr.
A fascinating thing happened last week in the court of public opinion: Holy Family University basketball coach John O'Connor - who bloodied a player to motivate his team - morphed from monster to martyr.
In a matter of days, a hard-charging Division II nobody became a shoving, kicking media darling, the tough-love child of Bobby Knight and Hoosiers' Norman Dale. Holy Family sophomore Matt Kravchuk may be the victim, having filed a criminal complaint about the tussle with his coach, but good luck remembering the kid's name.
O'Connor sobbed like a baby on Philly.com and prostrated himself on Good Morning America, but hold your pity. College athletics has a long tradition of courting controversy. The coach who gained fame for a "combat rebound" drill will surely land on his feet, most likely as an assistant in Division I.
"Anybody else reach out to you yet?" WPHT-AM (1210) host Chris Stigall asked O'Connor Thursday morning after GMA, but before his resignation.
"I've had some feelers, that's for sure," O'Connor cheerily replied.
Coaching, complaining
The saga began last month, O'Connor told radio host Michael Smerconish, after a couple of devastating losses in which the team "seemed to die on me." At the 5:30 a.m. practice Jan. 25, the coach ran his players ragged, hoping the "combat rebound" drill would encourage brute competition and teach them to never give up.
The incident - an elbow, a shove, a kick, or an attack, depending on your view - left Kravchuk bloodied, bruised, and bitter. Holy Family waited until Feb. 17 to suspend the coach. Fox29 aired the practice's video two days later.
Kravchuk, the 19-year-old forward, still sporting a wrist brace, at first grabbed the spotlight and sympathy. But in a videotaped interview with the Philadelphia Daily News' Dick Jerardi, O'Connor fell apart, bawling about blowing a 25-year career on one tyrannical teachable moment.
"I can't believe this happened to me!" O'Connor wailed. "Anybody can be average. I wanted them to be more than that."
That was Wednesday, the same day that Kravchuk retold his story to WPHT host Dom Giordano and that Anthony Gargano of WIP-AM (610) called the player "ridiculous" for complaining.
"This is collegiate sports. It's not an after-school special," Gargano argued on Fox29. "If you want to play, don't have such a thin skin."
By that point, I expected Ed Rendell to grab the mike and dub the Great Shove Debate another case of the "wussification of America."
All aboard the crazy train
On Thursday morning, the crazy train rolled into New York, where player and coach sat shoulder to shoulder at a televised therapy session led by Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos.
If you're looking for the precise moment the ground shifted for O'Connor, it was when Kravchuk snubbed the coach's apology.
Granted, O'Connor remained evasive about whether he had meant to go as far as he did, but the man looked the kid in the eye and asked for forgiveness.
"If I could take it back, I would."
Kravchuk sniffled, then stiffened.
"It's kind of hard to accept your apology just because you claim it's justified and you claim you weren't crossing the line," he coldly replied. "As your player, I'm supposed to be able to respect you, and I don't feel I can do that anymore."
Within hours, both injured parties returned to radio, and listeners seemed to side with O'Connor.
"What," Stigall asked, "do you think Matt's angling for here?"
In a rare moment of silence, the coach declined the opportunity to trash his accuser.
Kravchuk may yet file a civil suit, but for now he remains a player in search of a team. And O'Connor? He left Holy Family more famous than when he arrived. He will surely find his way back to the game.
"I want a chance to coach again," he pleaded. "I'm good at it."