ISIAH THOMAS HIRED TO COACH FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ is arguably the greatest English language novel in history as much for the insight it provides into the American character as for the artistry of its prose.  One of its most iconic lines, however, couldn’t be further from the truth.  Fitzgerald, though the book’s protagonist Nick Caraway opined that ‘There are no second acts in American lives’.  If anything, the country’s culture may better facilitate personal and professional reinvention better than any on Earth.  Most recent case in point—Isiah Thomas, much maligned former head coach of the New York Knicks, has found another job coaching basketball.  On Tuesday, he was hired as the head coach of Sun Belt Conference entrant Florida International University.

More surprising than Isiah receiving a second shot at a coaching career is how quickly it happened—he not only receives the lion’s share of the blame for running the New York Knicks franchise into the ground on the court as a coach, but with the boneheaded personnel decisions he made in his role as team president.  And Isiah was not only a miserable coach and an even worse judge of basketball talent, he managed to cause more trouble *off* the court than any of his players—and when you consider that includes Stefon Marbury, that’s no small feat.   Isiah’s most dubious off court misstep was the accusation of a former Knicks’ executive who accused him of sexual harassment.  While ‘Zeke’ maintained his innocence, the fiasco cost team owner Madison Square Garden $11.6 million when a civil court decided for the plaintiff.   Then there was an October incident where he was alleged to have overdosed—intentionally or otherwise—on sleeping pills.

All of that notwithstanding, however, he has been hired to a five year deal.  FIU athletic director Pete Garcia wasn’t concerned about his issues in ‘The Big Apple’ when he made the offer:

"I know he is a good person. Isiah is going to give our fans and alumni a lot of reasons to be excited."

Current Knicks’ GM Donnie Walsh, who fired Isiah, had these classy comments when asked for a reaction:

"I think it's a great thing for him and it's kind of what I wanted for him from the day I let him go.”

Isiah will be introduced as the new coach at a Wednesday news conference, but he issued this statement in response to the hiring:

"I'm committed to growing something here, and strongly believe that over time, we'll put a team on the floor that everyone at FIU can be proud of."

For the FIU basketball program, there’s really no way to go but up—they went 13-20 this season, their third 20+ loss campaign in four years.  They haven’t posted a winning season since 1999-2000, but Isiah thinks he can turn the program around quickly with some key junior college transfers.  Knicks exec Walsh said that he may be right:

"If you really think about it, some of these kids that are coming out of AAU that are going to go to college for one year, that's a pretty good sell. 'Come down to Miami, spend a year with me.' I think he's positioned to do well with recruiting there."

And judging from the reaction of the current FIU hoop players, Isiah should be able to get their attention. Forward Nikola Gacesa offered the following comments:

"It's an incredible feeling. I think we're still realizing how big this is for us. We still don't realize how big this is, how much knowledge and skills he can offer us and how much he can help us take this school to another level, take this school to where we are supposed to be."

For the sake of the Florida International hoop program—and Isiah’s future as a basketball coach—hopefully Gacesa’s enthusiasm is warranted.