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Next Tulsa coach must understand expectations
Published: 3/20/2012 1:10 PM
Last Modified: 3/21/2012 2:11 PM

If you haven't already, you should read Eric Bailey's feature on Tulsa's NCAA Tournament drought (click here for story).

I was struck by one particular quote in the story from Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham.

To me, this quote went right to the heart of the current state of the Tulsa men's basketball program.

"Importantly, we define success as much more than winning at CSU," Graham said. "The academic success of our student-athletes and our continued success in never having committed a major NCAA violation at our university are essential to how we define success here.

"But, if we are meeting our academic objectives and our standards of integrity are being met, but we're not winning, then we're not having the kind of success we require. We expect our basketball teams to win close to 20 games each year and we expect to be playing in the NCAA Tournament year-in and year-out. Those are our standards and we expect to meet them."

Former Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik hung his hat on the integrity of his program and the graduation rates of his players. He bragged that Tulsa didn't have the "knuckleheads" of some other Conference USA schools.

He once told me, "If people are hung up on the NCAA Tournament thing, well..." It was his way of saying that if not making the NCAA Tournament was your primary evaluation of his program, you weren't looking at his program the right way.

The difference between the words of Wojcik and Graham is striking.

Running a clean program and graduating players isn't the gold standard, it's the minimum standard.

Tulsa athletic director Ross Parmley was probably nodding his head when reading Graham's quote.

Those up for the Tulsa job would be wise to understand it as well.

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The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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