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Story Archives: Time to say bye to Brady


Time to say bye to Brady
by Joey Martin - posted Thursday, January 31st, 2008 @ 8:53 amE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
Skip Bertman gave LSU head men's basketball coach John Brady his full support in a cyber-side chat on LSUSports.net last week.

In several instances throughout history, that has been the last statement before a coach is fired.

Let's hope history repeats itself.

I never was a big John Brady fan. I had a high school coach tell me years ago when Brady was coaching at Samford that the Tiger coach was arrogant, obnoxious and did not treat his players right.

It pained me to watch LSU games through the years and watch Brady pouting on the sideline when his team was not following his instructions or just plain playing bad basketball.

He would have his head in his hands or just look away, ignoring the carnage instead of trying to rally his troops and fire up his team. He would not even argue a call.

Then came the magical 2005-06 season when LSU went to the Final Four. The players said Brady was much more patient and less demanding. The fact he had Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas and Garrett Temple probably played a big role in that, as well as reaching the Final Four. Those guys were not going to let anything deny them their goal of playing in the sport's biggest arena and looking back it was apparent Brady was along for the ride.

LSU is currently 9-12 and on an eight-game losing streak. Those losses include games where the Tigers had big leads only to lose them in the end. Watch a game and you can see the talent is there. The coaching is not.

But it's not just the coaching. If John Brady were anything like Southern Miss head football coach Jeff Bower I would say that maybe he should be given a chance. Bower was fired much to the dismay of a lot of people who admired his integrity, loyalty and character.

The facts speak for themselves. Brady has 36 scholarship players with eligibility remaining leave the team over his 11 years - one of those being Ross Neltner, who led Vandy past LSU in a recent contest. Only 15 recruited scholarship players have finished their eligiblity.

Brady has had only three winning SEC records and his the two seasons where he has had success were followed by very disappointing seasons.

Even through the tough times, I still found myself pulling for Brady to adapt and even become a fan favorite.

But the final straw for not wanting Brady around came near the end of Mark Kriegel's book, "Pistol, the Life of Pete Maravich." Kriegel talks about Pete's sons, Jaeson and Josh. Josh walked on at LSU.

This from that book:

"As for Josh, the two baskets he tallied in his second season turned out to be the highlights of a college career that degenerated into a series of humiliating rituals. After playing only ten minutes in 2002-03, he would play a single minute the following season."

Kriegel says Brady would mention Josh's name in practice only to admonish another player as in, "You just let Josh Maravich go by you, son."

As fans chanted, "We want Josh," near the ned of the Mississippi State game in 2005, Brady obliged with two seconds remaining in the game. Because he didn't have the right regulation T-shirt on under his shirt, by the time he took it off, the buzzer had sounded.

On Senior Day against Vanderbilt, the only senior not to play was Josh.

Fire John Brady? Sounds like a slam dunk to me.
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