by Kent Sterling
Hanner Mosquera-Perea played last night – 11 days after his indefinite suspension for being arrested on an OWI charge.
Two games. That’s it. Two games.
One of the most recognizable students at Indiana University allegedly gets hammered, makes the irreconcilably stupid and irresponsible decision to get behind the wheel of a car, and gets arrested. The extent of the punishment we know about amounts to a two-game suspension.
Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean had a chance to carve a line in the hardwood, and teach his team that playing for Indiana is a privilege. He had a chance to show the entire student body in Bloomington that getting behind the wheel of a car after drinking heavily is patently unacceptable – even once.
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Crean passed on that opportunity by reinstating seldom used forward Hanner Mosquiera-Perea only 11 days after announcing his indefinite suspension for being arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Mosquera-Perea was booked at 4:45 a.m. Friday, February 14th in Bloomington with a blood alcohol level of .15, almost twice the legal limit.
By foregoing the opportunity to teach through levying the ultimate tax against Mosquera-Perea, Crean has opened himself up for criticism or worse should there be a repeat performance by anyone on the team. You know the saying – “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
The Hoosier program under Crean has been free of publicized discipline issues, so he has earned some latitude, but he has chosen this episode to push all those chips into the middle of the table on behalf of a 20-year-old who not only showed total indifference for the safety of others when he drove after drinking, but failed to care enough about the program or teammates to stay sober during a 72-hour period between very important games – both losses.
Crean chose the welfare of the individual over the good of the whole. Maybe it would be unfair to tell a kid to pack his bags after a single mistake, but giving his team and everyone who follows Indiana the benefit of knowing that all it takes is one idiotic decision to ruin a life would have been a great teaching moment.
The statement released by Indiana University on behalf of Crean reads, “Hanner is going to be paying a price in the office of the courts and with the Dean’s office. He also is going to continue to be disciplined inside of our program with no end in sight to that. Hanner has done everything and more than what has been expected of him since the incident and we are allowing him to be available for competition beginning tonight.”
Not sure what everything and more over the course of 11 whole days might have been, but it pales in comparison to the lesson that would have been indelibly instilled in those near the program through requiring that Mosquiera-Perea continue his education and playing career elsewhere.
College is a place where soon-to-be adults learn what behaviors as an adult are acceptable by making hopefully painless mistakes, and that learning occurs through the application of harsh consequences. People out here in the adult world get fired for being arrested on drunk driving charges. It happens all the time. Bosses don’t make kids run steps, write sentences, or shoot free throws for hours.
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There is a brief meeting with the boss and an HR specialist, and the employee is out on the street. That’s real life, not some cocoon where kids are instructed rather than removed.
How many people at IU have to die due to binge drinking before someone wakes up and smells the damn coffee? Talk to the parents of Lauren Spierer. Talk to the parents of Rachael Fiege. Only through good fortune was Mosquera-Perea’s stupidity not paid for by the death or injury of someone else in Bloomington with the bad luck to be driving or walking near him.
Crean had a chance to bring the hammer down on a kid who deserved it, and he decided not to. That’s his right as the leader of the program, but if the discipline being meted out on Mosquiera-Perea shows itself to be insufficient through an encore, then the irresponsible party is Crean and the next punishment should be his.
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“failed to care enough about the program or teammates to stay sober during a 72-hour period between very important games – both losses”
Because a focused HMP would have been the difference in those games? Nah. This team collapses and can’t hold on to double digit leads because they have a recruiter who can’t coach calling all the shots. Are you still firmly in Crean’s corner because a massively stacked team last year had a couple high points?
I have never been firmly in anyone’s corner. Perea’s indifference to sobriety during a very tight window between games is problematic because of the likelihood that it is not an outlier among those on the roster.
Players play. Players win. Players lose. A good coach can help, and a bad coach can’t. Did Indiana lose last night because Crean doesn’t want his players to move their feet, or move the ball quickly? No. How much responsibility belongs to Crean is an assessment that belongs to people who are at practice.
“How much responsibility belongs to Crean is an assessment that belongs to people who are at practice.”…seems a lot of sports writers would be out of work if they followed this Crean slurping commentary! : ) waiting to see what happens after next year is the way to go , but again last night –opposing coach makes adjustments= Crean out coached in second half= another loss.
But the same two coaches matched up last month, and Indiana won. Games are won and lost by players, and understanding that viewing a program through the prism of games only provides an insufficient look at the leadership is prudent. Developing a complete take given incomplete information is what fuels the asshats who do nothing but yip and yap. Listeners/viewers/readers deserve better.
I like you and your writing, Kent, but every piece you do is a mix of opinion and partial information, and situations change daily. That’s what makes sports talk fun. NO ONE has complete information. Everyone, then, as you say, is potentially an “Asshat.” How should coaches measure themselves with other coaches, by height? —stolen and paraphrased from a conversation of Judge Smails and Ty Webb in “Caddyshack”, 1978, Harold Ramis directorial debut.
Harold Ramis was a genius – as was Doug Kenney, his co-writer on “Animal House” and “Caddyshack.” Reading the short stories Kenney authored while the editor of the National Lampoon makes me sad for college kids today who have never had that level of hilarious in a magazine they have read.
There are different levels of knowledge, and some try to assess without any real information. Determining whether a coach is doing a good job is too complicated for us to attempt given only the games to use as a gauge. About almost everything else, I’m game, but I like to know at least a little bit about what I’m saying or writing.
In the end, it’s about wins and losses. On March 16th, we’ll have a mostly complete look at 2013-2014.
And I don’t hold you or others here to the same standard keep for myself. You and anyone else can raise all the hell you want about IU, the Pacers, Colts, Indy 500, the Cubs, or anything else that floats your boat for whatever reason you like. I try to get as much information as I can so what I offer meets my own criteria for unique content.
Maybe so. But when I look back over the last 2 years, I’m not sure I’ve ever really seen us run an offense. Last year we relied on a lot of transition and didn’t fare too well when we had to run a set. I feel like with the best PG in the B1G and a top 10 draft big man you should never see a 23pt swing or multiple double digit leads blown no matter how bad the rest of the team is.
Anyway, on Perea, you may be right but I guess we don’t know if the other guys were out drinking, but you make a good point.
No question, IU’s offense is impatient at times, and players stand around way too often when they are patient. Maybe the freshmen and sophomores are slow learners. I don’t know how much of the blame belongs to Crean and gown much goes to the players, but there is a palpable apathy that seems to border on dislike – either for the game or each other – that makes it difficult to see this team as potentially successful.
Kent:
Great perspective and one I agree with wholeheartedly. I don’t care who is coach and what the team’s record is. Playing D1 basketball at a school like Indiana is a privilege and HMP forfeited that privilege by getting behind the wheel of a car while under the influence. Most of us would be fired from our jobs for such an offense. I’d let him keep his scholarship so the young man can still benefit from a college degree but he should be done with basketball at IU.
Crean tells Remy to leave and most likely Creek to make available scholly’s yet has a chance to get rid of a really bad player and doesn’t do it…praise Jesus.