Debacle, what debacle?

There are three ways to fire someone and make them feel like the biggest piece of chicken-bleep in the world. Fire them for trying and failing, fire them on their day off and fire them in the middle of completing a job.

On osubeavers.com Sunday, in a press release stating Jay John’s removal, Bob DeCarolis was quoted as saying: “I want to thank Coach John for his contributions to Oregon State University and his tireless effort in trying to turn around the men’s basketball program.”

Check, check and check. Nice job Oregon State. Oh my bad, you didn’t fire Jay John, you relieved him of duty.

Relieved of duty? That’s what you do to a Marine on watch or a troubled police officer. Not a head coach. The last time anyone involved in sport was “relieved of duty” it was Bob Feller. And he was in the Navy.

Relieved of duty? Can you patty-cake around firing someone any more? Jay John was canned and humiliated. And Bob DeCarolis was the one screwing the lid on extra-tight and slamming the label on the front that read “D-U-N.” A coach can’t be dismissed quietly or gracefully in the middle of the season. Every party involved feels pressured to find a solution, the details of dismissal become too public and eventually it trickles out to the players and they stop showing up. Once the players stop playing for a coach, it’s over.

It’s true, he couldn’t win in the Pac-10 this season, he didn’t have control of his team and he brought in a bunch of transfers and gambled his future on their success. But just come out and say it. It wasn’t Jay John who failed. You failed, Oregon State Athletics Department.

In the same press release mentioned above, De Carolis also said, “I commend him (John) for being an ambassador for the university and his solid record of graduating his student-athletes. However, our progress on the court has not been what we all had hoped for so we are moving in a different direction.”

What did you hope for? 20 wins? 25 wins? Not in the Pac-10 with the facilities you have the team practicing. Not in the Pac-10 with a hand-me-down weight room. Not in the Pac-10 with the poor support.

You were the one that made this firing too late, you were the one that allowed it to trickle down to the players and you were the one that led to this team’s demise. I know this is a limb that no one – not even the tree it’s on – supports, but I don’t care. This is absurd. Fans want to blame someone for a 72-97 record? Fans want to blame someone for .387 FG%? Fans want to blame someone for a dismal 61.6ppg?

Blame the Oregon State Athletics Department.

Sure, we have history, but history can’t recruit the “ballers” to sign a letter of intent. History doesn’t improve guys’ shots from the line. History does absolutely nothing but put a feather in the cap of the front office. Most recruits today don’t care about Oregon State’s history and aura – that ended more than two decades ago before they were born. And if Oregon State thinks it has pull on players because Gary Payton played here or Ralph Miller coached here, there are more issues than just a head coach.

Recruits care about coaches, teammates, winning and where they will be playing. Not even the combined efforts of Bob Knight, Mike Kryzezwski and John Wooden could pull an All-American to play in that “Legendary” barn with a gaggle of no-name players that hasn’t had a winning season since neon was fashionable. There has been word that a recruit recently left in the middle of his trip here. Didn’t tell the coaches, didn’t tell the team. Just left.

I don’t blame him. What’s here to see?

Coaches: “And here is Gill Coliseum, where you will be playing with teammates like Kyle Bjornstad and Calvin Hampton.”

Recruit: “This is our practice faculty right? Where the fans watch us practice?”

Coaches: “Well, yes and no. Have you seen our glowing football outside?”

Instead of blaming a coach for failing in the best conference in America, take a look around. What did Coach John have to work with? The intramural games are played in better facilities. And in the winter the men’s basketball team shares the court with the women’s team, the wrestlers and the gymnasts.

The basketball team must look around and ask, “What about us?”

The Football program has a multi-million dollar renovated stadium. The baseball team has a couple thousand more seats. Meanwhile, the Basketball team has a new garden outside, some new walls inside and some banners on the ceiling. They play in a building that a pro scout recently called a “pile of [Deleted]”

So, while fans were more upset at Jay John than the great Joe Dimaggio was at the movie “The Seven Year Itch,” it’s even more appalling that an athletic department treat a coach like this. Absurd.