A Candid Look at Bighouse's Problems at WSSU
Most of the articles on the
great Clarence Bighouse' Gaines
tend to provide almost no analysis
and overlook several important
facts. What is reported is history,
albeit great history, about a great
basketball coach. However, a closer
examination of the "House" would
lead to several obvious if not painful
questions.
First of all, did the Winston
Salem State community, school or
its fans owe Gaines the opportunity
to make an attempt to break Ken
tucky coach Adolph Rupp's record
of 875 wins in a career? After all, he
only needed 38 more wins to get the
record. Last year's Rams team won
6 of 24 games. At that rate, Ram
fans would have had to suffer
through six more seasons to make
history.
The pain of such an attempt
would rival the last fights of
Muhammed Ali and Joe Louis as
they attempted, well past their
prime, to recapture lost glory.
Indeed, it would only sully the repu
tation of a great coach.
The reason for his 6- 1 8 season
needs to be explained. Gaines point
ed out to his ? and other black
coachcs with the possible exception
of Georgetown s John Thompson ?
to recruit the top high-school play
ers in the country'. Although that is
correct, the impression left this must
be the reason for the losing seasons.
However, since most of most
of WSSU's games were against
teams that could no longer sign the
Earl "The Pearl" Monroe types, they
would also appear to be equally dis
advantaged. WSSU's program
lagged far behind those at N.C. Cen
tral and Virginia Union and was no
better than those at St. Paul's or Liv
ingstone.
Did Gaines lose because he
had less money to recruit players?
If so, then the next question is why
Athletic Director Clarence Gaines
appears to have allocated the funds
in such a way that the football coach
had enough money to win several
CIAA championships, but not
enough for the basketball team.
If S3 1,000 was the amount of
money Gaines had to spend on bas
ketball scholarships and recruiting
costs his final season, then the rela
tionship between Gaines and the
Winston-Salem community, fans
and alumni must be questioned.
Tracey Bobbitt from pageB1
tunity to develop her coaching and
recruiting skills faster than an
established program would.
Something Bobbitt was not .
counting on this season is actually ,
being a head coach for u short time.
During u game against Bowie State.
Conley was unable to coach so
Bobbitt was pushed into the spot
light immediately.
' Alter the game. Coach
(Thomas) Snowden asked me it I
was ready to become a head coach
and . told him I wasn't ready yet,"
Bobbitt said. "He told that was a
good sign because it I said yes. I
wa^tyfTnt of trouble."
While planning to enroll in
graduate school this fall. Bobbitt
has taken a step to ensure her
coaching career by taking the
coaches' certification exam. Among
her goals is to become a. top assis
tant coach at a women's program
or even for a men's team. But Bob
bitt is grateful for the opportunity to
start at WSSU.
"Coach Conley gave me a
chance to come here and he didn't
have to." Bobbitt said, who
received her degree in physical
going to let me go out recruiting
with him and help him bring in
some players we think can help
build a winning program. 1 thank
him for believing that 1 can help out
this program."
Clearly, the ones who profess to
love WSSL sent few, if any, dollars
to support his program. Apparently,
the community saw no need to con
tribute in any amount close to Wake
Forest's.
The lack of financial support
GUEST COLUMN
By MICHAEL SIMMONS
also why WSSU alumni like to talk
about what should be done, but do
noj contribute to do something
about it.
(Michael Simmons is an assis
tant professor of economics at
North Carolina A&T University)
him to supplement his anemic bud
get.
Perhaps it s time people exam
ined why coaches such as Clarence
"Bighouse" Gaines receive so little
financial support from the commu
nity that claims to love him. And
by fans, alumni, former players and
the black business interest in Win
ston-Salem ensured Grfines would
not have an opportunity to break
Rupp's mark. Arguably the greatest
black basketball coach of all time
could not get the financial support
from those who supposedly loved
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