National spotlight, top 25 rankings, promised land, nirvana. That's where Ball State fans hoped former coach Ronny Thompson could take the men's basketball program.
One day Ball State might get there, but Thompson won't be the one behind the wheel, and it won't be anytime in the near future. Unfortunately, there's a good chance that is exactly where the men's basketball program was going.
It might not seem like it after a 9-22 season, but the stepping stones had been built. Thompson, even with the horrible inaugural campaign, had signed eight recruits for the 2007-08 squad. Recruits good enough to make Van Coleman, a recruiting expert for more than 30 years, rate the recruits the best class in the Mid-American Conference.
If he could sign such a good class after such a bad season, imagine what he would have done with a .500 record, or a winning season. Imagine what he would have done once he had been here a few years, establishing credibility and connections.
Thompson wasn't given a full cupboard to work with in his first season. Five players either transferred or graduated, including Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year Maurice Acker. Four of the players started at least one game. Given time Thompson could have filled the cupboard to capacity.
Take Billy Donovan in Florida for example. He has led the Gators to back-to-back national championships, but in the beginning many didn't know if he had what it took to succeed in the Southeastern Conference having only two years of head coaching experience, both at Marshall. His first year at Florida he went 13-17, a whopping four games better than Thompson. The second year he went 14-15, still a losing record. Then in his third year his team went 22-9, starting a streak of nine-straight 20-win seasons.
His second recruiting class was the reason. That recruiting class, which was the 1998 class, included Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem, both of whom went on to the National Basketball Association. If Donovan broke through because of his second recruiting class, then Thompson could have broken through with his stellar first full recruiting class.
Although Thompson wouldn't have made it to the Sweet Sixteen like Donovan's Gators did that year he could have competed for a MAC Championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.
He was never given that opportunity. Everyone had labeled him a flop after one year. Purdue fans gave Matt Painter a break after his first year. He took over at Purdue despite just one year of head coaching experience. Purdue went 9-19 in his first year, a whole game and a half better than Ball State under Thompson. With a healthy Carl Landry, Painter coached Purdue to a 22-12 this past season making it to the NCAA Tournament. Now, the future looks bright for Purdue, as Painter has signed a top 5 class according to Scout.com.
There is a big reason Thompson left the program that many haven't even considered. That reason is Indiana basketball fans, especially here at Ball State, are prejudice against basketball people outside of Indiana. Many fans were looking for a reason to turn on Thompson before he ever coached a game for Ball State, and they used his nonexistent community service, along with the 9-22 record, as a reason to "boo" him out the door. Even the Ball State Varsity Club vice-president Steve Kern talked about how Thompson was an outsider.
"Ronny was just different," Kern said. "With the community he never really engaged. He's just the East Coast coming into the Midwest. I think his upbringing was certainly different than all of us here in the Midwest. Its sad."
So why can't Ball State fans accept someone from out of state? I don't know the answer, but it is a major issue. There's no doubt everyone would be singing Thompson's praises, and proclaiming 'we're not worthy,' if his record was inverted from the actual 9-22.
The only way someone is accepted from out of state is if they win immediately. That's not possible when you take over for a program that's already on the way down. It takes time, it takes years. Thompson had the mold set with his recruiting class. The fans and media took a sledge hammer to it. No matter who is hired to replace Thompson, he won't be an instant success unless Thompson's recruiting class plays a massive role, which is guaranteed because they make up more than half the roster.
A year has been wasted, the damage has been done, good luck to the next coach. If he is not from Indiana, may he be made of steel.
Write to Levin at ltblack@bsu.edu
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