Gary Howard is pathetic

[kaygee]

I take great offense to Gary Howard's column today, specifically referring to former UWM coach Ric Cobb as being "outclassed".

www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=406672

I'm not saying Ric was the best Xs and Os coach or handled every situation properly in his tenure at UWM, but Howard obviously never has met Mr. Cobb. I guess I'm tired of Ric being portrayed as a bad guy and Bo Ryan as UWM's savior. If anyone should be portrayed as the black eye of UWM basketball, in my opinion point the finger at Steve Antrim. Antrim tore apart a program that he had built up and had been on the rise after returning to Division I in the early 1990s winning more than 20 games a few years in a row with the like of Greene, Perine and Mitchell. But he destroyed it with his greed and stupidity.

Like I said, I don't agree with everything Ric Cobb did, but I know he wanted UWM to succeed and wasn't given the resources that Bo Ryan, Bruce Pearl and Rob Jeter have been given by the athletic dept. in recent years. If anything, Ric tried too many times to get athletic players with questionable backgrounds to try and rise the program up too fast. And call it what you like...bad decision, bad luck...many of those decisions blew up in his face. But some of the best players in UWM history, including possibly THE best player to put on a UWM uniform, came to UWM because of Ric Cobb. I'm sure glad he was able to talk the likes of Pat McCabe, Chad Angeli, Ronnie Jones and Clay Tucker into wearing the black and gold. All these guys were classy players. I also think it took quite a bit of class for Ric to show up at the Klotsche Center 3 years ago on Senior Night at the request of Ronnie and Clay.

I can't wait for the day when Howard leaves or is replaced at the JS, so I can write a letter to the editor about how its good to have a new Sports Editor to replace the UNINFORMED Gary Howard.

Oh how I would like to stick my size 12 Adidas up his a**! I guess in Howard's case, in order to recognize class, you have to have some.

[Deleted]

Nice post kaygee, and well said.
Ric Cobb deserves more credit for our first NCAA apearance than he receives. However, I do think a lot of credit also belongs to BO. When he came in we were an instant .500 team. If he haden't left for UW, we would have been singing his praises in 03. With all that said. great post on Howard.

[kaygee]

I wasn't trying to take anything away from Bo at all...he did things the right way when he came in and deserves credit for it.

1. He brought in players that were solid citizens and people that played with a lot of heart and represented UWM with pride...Kadima, Lettenberger, Frederick, Page, etc.

2. He demanded more of UWM as a whole and the athletic department to help raise up the program and restore some respect.

I also applaud Bo for what he has accomplished at UW.