Huskers head basketball coach Tim Miles submitted his own application online, declaring his intention to lead the Iron N this winter. Unfortunately for Miles, though, he submitted his formal entry 48 hours after the Iron N’s deadline and didn’t get a response. And, no it wasn’t anyone acting on his behalf, he made sure to clarify in his Tuesday press conference.
“I have no comment,” Miles said when asked why he didn’t get a response. “I’m a little peeved about that, actually. So I’m 48 hours late for the deadline. I can’t even get a little leeway on that deal?
“If you read the application, I’m clearly qualified. I’m above and beyond the call. Better than the cat they got now, I promise you that. I’ll go one-on-one with him right now when it comes to Husker love.”
How qualified is Miles, exactly? Allow him to lay out for you in the following excerpts from his actual application.
“I am applying for the position as Winter Sports Director because I love basketball,” he wrote. “In fact, I’ve spent the last 20+ years at various colleges closely following their basketball teams. I want to use my passion to create and lead a thundering army of fanatics so great, even creatures like Badgers, Wolverines, Knights, Turtles, General People from Indiana, and Eyes of Hawks and Bucks will cower. I also know Bill Murray so Gophers shouldn’t be an issue either. Ok, I don’t know him ‘personally’ but I’ve seen all his movies. I frequently yell ‘It’s in the hole!’ when Shavon Shields shoots.”
The form then asked what made him qualified to be the fearless leader of the Iron N. Rather than state the obvious answer, Miles got creative.
“I’ve been to every Husker game (home and away) for the last two years. Haven’t missed a single one!! I even sneak into the arena and locker room hours before the game because I never have a ticket and want to save my front row seat. Some say I’m obsessed, I say ‘That’s why I’m the right man for this job.’
“At the games, I spend much of my time yelling, jumping and waving my arms. When I get really excited, I’m all fists of fury - which is why I own two Copper Fit elbow sleeves. If that’s not dedication then it doesn’t exist. But, I also think outside the box. For example, I sat on No Sit Sunday, on two separate occasions.
Lastly, I have a very open relationship with the referees. In 20 years, I’ve only been ‘asked’ to leave one time. Coincidently, that’s the only time they didn’t agree with me either.”
He suggested a peculiar improvement for the student section experience, writing that he doesn’t much care for face paint but “I do like to go commando for gamedays. It really gives that level of freedom that I need for inspiration. TMI, Tim. TMI.
In what was his best stroke of genius in the entire application, Miles suggested that the student section host a “Cat Night, so Bo Pelini will come.” Yes, please do. That would be such a win!
Club organizers of the student section at Nebraska basketball games say they can’t overlook coach Tim Miles’ flaws in rejecting his tongue-in-cheek application to lead the “Red Zone.”
The fun-loving Miles used Twitter on Tuesday to say the Iron N club denied his bid and he’s “totally hurt.” Miles, starting his third season at No. 21 Nebraska, bragged that he attended every home and away game for two years.
On Wednesday, Iron N spokesman Patrick Luddy says Miles was a strong candidate but “we felt that his habit of sneaking into games early and his admitting to sitting twice during ‘No Sit Sunday’ would reflect poorly on our organization.”
Luddy says he hopes Miles participates in the student Red Zone and harbors no “ill feelings.”
If Tom Crean could go back and change a lot of what has happened this offseason for the Hoosiers, he definitely would. That’s what he told reporters as he fielded question after question about Indiana’s off-court indiscretions during a 45-minute press conference on Wednesday.
After giving an update on Devin Davis’ condition — the sophomore forward is able to sit up and walk, albeit with assistance — Crean was asked to reflect on how he may have handled this past weekend differently.
“You know what I wish I would have done?” he said to a reporter. “I wish I would’ve scheduled practice later that night. The rules say — I’m not joking — that you get to practice ’til midnight. That’s it. Then you can’t go again until the next morning at five.
He continued on to say that, in hindsight, the accident involving Davis and freshman Emmitt Holt could have been prevented by a more restrictive practice schedule.
“If I could go back and do it all over again, we’d have practiced until 11:30, midnight, showered up, got the guys something to eat and then took them back to my house, got up the next morning, came back in here shortly after five and practiced again if I knew that that situation was going to happen that night.”
Crean also addressed the party scene at Indiana, long known as one of the top party schools in the county. He seemed to second-guess his judgment in bringing recruits on campus during some of the more rowdy weekends and the message that it sent to prospective student-athletes.
“You know what I’ve learned from this? If coming to Indiana and really looking forward to Halloween or Little 500 weekend or some other get-together that comes in on a college campus — if I could really look at it and say ‘you know what, they want to come for that?’ — well, then they’re not coming to Indiana,” he said.
He said he didn’t think that any of his players specifically came for that, but added a caveat.
“Do I think it’s a part of it? Yes. And if I could go back and do that over, I absolutely would.”
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is backtracking on a series of comments he made at a dinner in his honor at an event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army a few weeks ago.
As part of his acceptance speech for an honorary medal acknowledging his commitment to the troops, Krzyzewski expressed his displeasure about the United States “not having boots on the ground.”
“I know it’s upsetting to many of you when you hear ‘no boots on the ground.’ It upsets me too, because that’s like saying I’m not going to play two of my best players,” he said in his speech.
On Wednesday, he told the Charlotte Observer that his comments were misinterpreted, despite the fact that his speech was videotaped.
“I’m passionate about the United States military and always will be an amazing supporter of the military,” he said. “On that night nothing was ever said about President Obama, and nothing was ever said about ISIS. In fact, I hate even saying that word.
“I do not hate saying the other word because I love President Obama. It’s amazing that it happened three weeks ago and on Election Day something is brought up and said in a way that I didn’t say. So be it,” he said after Duke’s exhibition game on Wednesday night.
While it’s true that he does not specifically address President Obama by name or make direct mention of ISIS in the video, Krzyzewski’s implications in the speech are indubitably clear. Semantics aside, the phrase “no boots on the ground” is directly borrowed from many political discussions linking Obama to U.S. military strategy in Iraq and Syria.
Contributing: Kami Mattioli, The Associated Press
