Donovan was another guy on Brady's nuts after he was fired. Probably was a personal invite or something I'd think. All these coaches see "Final Four" and think you shouldn't be fired 2 years removed from the Final Four, but they don't see the big picture and see the: 1. pathetic graduation rates 2. poor attendance 3. fact that the players hated playing for him. When your own players sell you out and say it's time for a change, then it's time for a change, because a lot of the guys have told me off the record that they would have voted for him to be fired had they been asked by Skip.
I agree that a change was needed if for no other reason than to light a spark among the LSU basketball fans. My main beef is that Brady was never given a chance by the fans. He was hated from the start. When he had success, he was belittled. When he had hard times, he was vilified. The reason I consistently defended Brady is because very few would. Now that he's gone (Claire and others) how about we move on and cut they guy a little slack?
Lets see. Rick Ankiel was moved to the outfield because he was about to start throwing perfect games. Al Davis and Mark Cuban could be forced into retirement because their growing popularity among owners is about to become a threat to the commissioners position. Jason David will be benched in 2008 because the NFL doesn't want to see him break all of Deion Sanders' modern records. Pete Carrol was fired by the Patriots because he was about to start a 3 championship dynasty. Maybe he was fired because he is the biggest a-hole in the universe, he couldn't win, and he blamed everyone but himself for the state of the program.
The players vote really should not count for anything. Can't let the inmates run the asylum. Brady was fired because he was a arrogant jerk that ran off many players that he recruited, and if he was not a jerk he probably would still be the coach.
He had zero charisma with the fans either. After 25 years of Dale Brown, with his contagious optimism, Brady was a huge drag. A real sourpuss with anger management issues. When he could have used some fan support, there was none left. You lose the crowd and you're done. It's what got Smoke fired and its what got Brady fired.
