ESPN’s Brett McMurphy reported this morning that the deal for Steve Masiello to take over as head coach at South Florida fell through because Masiello did not graduate from Kentucky as he asserted on his resume. In his bio on the Manhattan website, Masiello is listed as having a degree in communications from Kentucky, and having graduated in 2000. Neither of those appear to be true (it should be pointed out as well that Rick Pitino, under whom Masiello coached, said he had no idea Masiello hadn’t graduated yet.) Two immediate questions spring to mind: Why did Masiello put that on his resume in the first place, and why did South Florida offer Masiello the job before the consulting group they hired finished their homework?
Then a third came to mind: why do we care that he lied on his resume?
It is one thing for a law firm to hire someone who claimed to graduate from an ABA accredited law school, but did not. (in short, said law firm could be liable for all sorts of things, but that’s not the point of this post) but Masiello had a pretty decent apprenticeship, being an assistant for Pitino, and he compiled a .606 winning percentage in his first three years as a head coach, making it to the NCAA tournament this year where his Jaspers gave Louisville a hell of a run.
Obviously not having a degree isn’t important in the world of college basketball coaching. I couldn’t tell you where most coaches went to school, other than the coaches of my two alma maters (or almae matres if you want to be “that guy”) or when it is incessantly talked about (eg. Coach K playing for Bobby Knight at Army) and I certainly could not tell you what degree anyone earned, so obviously Masiello’s experience outweighs any sort of degree he could have gotten.
The obvious flipside to this, I suppose, is that it shows dishonesty and/or laziness. I can’t imagine he thought no one would ever find out. Did he just forget he listed it on his resume? My resume is accurate, but I also haven’t looked at it in months so I could not begin to recite what was on there. It’s possible Masiello could have just forgotten. That’s almost worse than dishonesty. People can rag on Masiello for being dishonest all they want, but like it or not this is a dishonest field. From certain coaches getting seasons vacated and/or offering extra incentives for recruits to attend, to Jim Boeheim’s outright lies about the NBA Draft and how it relates to Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant. This stuff is everywhere, so Masiello lying on his resume is small potatoes.
South Florida rescinded the offer, because that’s just what you do here. George O’Leary got fired at Notre Dame for a similar scandal, and resurfaced at Central Florida, taking them to a BCS game this year. Masiello’s coaching chops haven’t changed. His time of learning under Pitino hasn’t changed. A degree in communications from Kentucky doesn’t make him a better coach. Here’s a novel idea for South Florida: if you like the guy, just keep him.
