Can Rick Chryst Count to Twelve?
We’re hearing well-sourced rumors that, because some of our fellow conference members overscheduled non-conference games, the MAC may play a seven-game conference schedule this season. Adding insult to injury, the proposed schedule for Miami would leave the RedHawks with only three conference home games as opposed to four road games.
According to our sources, several MAC members have “inadvertently” scheduled five non-conference games for 2007. Rather than force those schools to pay buyouts or otherwise rework their schedules, the MAC office apparently is considering trimming the conference schedule to seven games. Nevermind that, as an astute observer on the MAC BBS has pointed out, this is mathematically impossible in a 13-team league.
We started off as big Rick Chryst fans, and his work in establishing a foothold for the basketball tournament in Cleveland and a MAC presence on ESPN was nothing short of brilliant. But in recent years, the MAC office has treated us to a series of missteps—Temple for football only, weeknight games with no broadcast coverage, and now this—indicative of a commissioner who no longer consults with the athletic directors at his strongest members.
Time after time, Chryst has asked the relatively strong schools in the MAC to take one for the good of the league. This time, we understand that Miami effectively would be punished twice for the mistakes of others—once by having to find a last-minute non-conference game and again by being forced to play more road games than home games in league play (because Brad Bates had the foresight to get two non-conference home games this year).
We have long suspected that some of our conference brethren take on players who can’t count to twelve, but we expected better from their athletic directors and our conference commissioner. If Rick Chryst wants to keep building this conference, he might want to start establishing policies that reward competence rather than incompetence. And if he can’t do that, it may be time for Miami to look for the exit.
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