Article:Women's Hoops Has Arrived

Hey fans,

We owe it all to Title IX. The landmark legislation that mandated that women have equal rights to play sports and to have the same size sports budget as boys. There's some other stuff as well, but for the purpose of this Blog we'll stick with that. Today Pat Summitt donated $600,000, yes, $600,000 to two Tennessee women's basketball programs as well as fund an asst. basketball graduate assistant position. I know JoePa donated over $1 million to a PSU library. That's fine. That was the football coach, who took his teams to Bowl Games and played regularly on national TV. But to see a women's hoops coach, granted she is a living legend, still doesn't sit right with this old-school graduate. I grew up in a world where Girls athletics was comprised primarily of Gym class and the girls wore one piece blue jump suit type dresses, which enabled us pre-pubescent boys to see parts of a girl's anatomy - specifically the thigh - which otherwise was forbidden. I still believe elementary school co-ed gym is the reason I remain a leg man to this day. And now, we live in a World where a college women's hoops coach has $600,000 to donate (a very admirable thing to do) in memory of her parents. A short time after that I learned the new West Virginia head football coach, took only $800,000 so that WVU would have the money to hire away a Florida Gator asst. coach and double the salaries of his coordinators. I think, we need to rethink these college coaching salaries, especially at times like these when New Jersey legislators are taking a closer look at the high seven figure package they are paying Coach Sciano, another State employee. I remember when Mickey Mantle signed a $100,000 contract to play baseball and that seemed like a million bucks. In the future parents may not be push their kids to become star athletes, but rather an NCAA Division I coach - boys or girls.

Till next time.

Chuck T

www.wonfan.com