Dan Dakich: blowhard or whistle blower?

The only people who stand in the middle-ground in terms of their feelings for Dan Dakich are people who probably haven't listened to him speak. The rest tend to put him into the ratings-monkey camp, or refreshingly-honest camp.

Regardless, his name is blowing up these days due to the expose run at the New York Times about former basketball star Jonathan Hargett (which you should read). Dakich was the coach hired by West Virginia to clean up the mess left by the former staff. His tenure lasted eight days.

In a story which took ten years to come to light, Dakich claims that Hargett (a sophomore on the basketball team) came to his office and told him that he was owed $40,000 by the previous coaches. Dakich took that to David Hardesty, then the President of WVU, and Hardesty reportedly told him that if he went anywhere with the story that he would destroy him.

“My wife, who was with me then, stands up and says to David Hardesty, ‘What do you mean destroy us,’” Dakich said.  “…My actual thought was, 'You know what, if you come across this desk, it'll take me two seconds to knock the hell out of you.

"Then Hardesty goes into a story about Gale Catlett and what a great man he was," Dakich said.  "My response was, ‘I’m sure he’s a great man, but I’ve been here 24 minutes and I’ve found a laundry list.  You guys have been here 24 years and you’ve never found anything.”

The story – according to Dakich – has now come to light due to the investigative reporting by Pete Thamel. The other side claims it's just Dakich looking for ratings for his radio show on ESPN.

All of this has led to what is a very interesting Twitter feed to follow. Dakich, with almost 31,000 followers on Twitter, has taken to re-tweeting everything about the story, including the most recent piece at Deadspin.

Considering the gravity of the original story, lets hope that the Dakich vs his detractors war doesn't become the new story. But If it does, it will at least be entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

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