密歇根新闻广播 欢迎梅尔·塔克教练

 

After a week of the usual chaos¹, Michigan State University has a new football coach.

Welcome to the asylum², Coach Mel Tucker. It’s where the inmates³ otherwise known as the board of trustees repeatedly show zero understanding of the difference between management and governance, and where MSU’s new president, Samuel Stanley, is nowhere to be found beyond a simple news release.

This is not encouraging. Tucker has only one year as the head man at Colorado. And he might suspect that he answers to trustees Joel Ferguson and Brian Mosallam. A former Spartan⁴ lineman, Mosallam spent more time than the president or the athletic⁵ director talking publicly about Mark Dantonio’s abrupt⁶ departure and the search for his replacement⁷.

And all that does is reinforce the perception that the only locus⁸ of power at MSU is the trustees’ board room. It doesn’t work this way on a properly functioning board that should leave managing, hiring and almost all firing to, well, management.

The University of Michigan did it right when it hired Jim Harbaugh from the NFL, say people close to the process used by interim⁹ athletic director Jim Hackett. Or when Michigan hired the two previous outsiders to coach its iconic football team.

It did it right when Michigan’s largest donor¹⁰, New York real estate mogul Stephen Ross, wanted a subcommittee to pick the football coach. Hackett refused, in part because Ross owns the Miami Dolphins and NFL rules say an owner cannot be involved in wooing a coach from a rival team. And because Hackett didn’t want the school’s top donor perceived as picking the football coach.

“We weren’t involved at all,” says Andrea Fischer Newman, a Michigan regent for 24 years.

Until it comes time for a university’s governing board to approve the new coach’s contract, that’s the way it should be. But if the past and this week’s public board angst are any indication, that’s not how it usually goes down in ol’ E.L.

It seems MSU’s trustees haven’t learned much from the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal, its legal aftermath, and what it says about the school’s management culture. Second, President Stanley appears content to acquiesce¹¹ to the MSU way. And, third, the rookie athletic director failed to have much of a backup plan when his top choice – not Mel Tucker – said, “no thanks.”

Who could blame Luke Fickell? The Cincinnati coach, just 46, was smart enough to see the dysfunction at State, the prospect¹² of NCAA sanctions, and being labeled a “waffling flake” by Mosallam. The question answers itself – to the extent deniers concede it.

But Mosallam also got it right this week when he said on sports talk radio: “At the end of the day, we can’t make somebody want to come here.”

Absolutely right. And exactly what would give the guy who wants to be here confidence that he’s not inheriting a situation set up for failure – besides the big money, that is? That’s a question for Coach Tucker to answer.

Daniel Howes is a columnist¹³ at The Detroit News. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spartan   

adj.简朴的，刻苦的；n.斯巴达；斯巴达式的人

参考例句：

• Their spartan lifestyle prohibits a fridge or a phone.他们不使用冰箱和电话，过着简朴的生活。
• The rooms were spartan and undecorated.房间没有装饰，极为简陋。

5 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

6 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

7 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

8 locus   

n.中心

参考例句：

• Barcelona is the locus of Spanish industry.巴塞罗那是西班牙工业中心。
• Thereafter,the military remained the locus of real power.自此之后，军方一直掌握着实权。

9 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

10 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

11 acquiesce   

vi.默许，顺从，同意

参考例句：

• Her parents will never acquiesce in such an unsuitable marriage.她的父母决不会答应这门不相宜的婚事。
• He is so independent that he will never acquiesce.他很有主见，所以绝不会顺从。

12 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

13 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。