2008 Woodie Awards
Bribes lead to Texas coach's resignation
Is $23 really that bad?
Justin Wolter
Issue date: 4/3/03 Section: Sports
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He was forced to resign after the school found out he was paying his players to play better defense. No, he didn't try to buy each one of them Hummers or throwback jerseys for good grades. He was giving his kids a dollar for every charge they took during games.
Carson came up with the idea after his team started the season off 3-10, obviously not showing much effort on defense. After he started their payouts, his team won 12 of its last 17 games. He paid a total of $23 to 12 different players. He didn't pay anybody until the season was over and since collected all the money back, so at least their eligibility won't be a problem.
I think Carson was well-intentioned in what he was doing. Everyone loves the reward system; even I would flop for a dollar. If a player is being paid a dollar for drawing an offensive foul, then what's next? A dunk being $10 or a trip to state secures each player $100. It has to be tough being a 17-year head coach and losing your job over $23, but the coach has to know that even if it was a dollar the pay-for-play method is illegal.
I think the Texas public school system should rethink their rules and regulations and do the right thing in this situation. Do you really have to make this guy resign? Oddly this isn't a coach resigning because he abused one of his players in the locker room or punched a parent. I guess when a player (LeBron James) gets hundreds of dollars in free clothes, and doesn't lose any eligibility must mean that is better than a meager $23 given away.
Why can't we just have a slap on the wrist here? He spent nine years there finishing with a career mark of 324-251. He also doubles as the head football coach too. There are far more pressing issues to tackle in high school basketball than some chump change. How about performance enhancing drugs and illegal recruiting?