Troy Smith's speech

Smiley @ JSU! (Jacksonville State, to you outsiders).

 

Did I read or hear once that Bobby Knight had his own at either Indiana or Texas Tech? Just a friend from outside the Sports Info office who basically was his personal caddy? Maybe I dreamt it.

Don't know if I'd be happy or pissed if I was the actual SID or basketball contact at said school.

Won't plug or criticize anybody, but from my dealings I always give extra credit to the ones who simply call back or reply to an e-mail in a timely fashion, whether they can help you or not (and do so pleasantly, instead of sounding the least bit put out). Just let me know you've gotten my request and you'll try (or not try) to take care of me. Nothing worse than leaving a voice mail or e-mail and two days later still not having any idea where you stand with something.

 

Hey now, I like the guy. I've never had any trouble with J.D. ... his Atlanta Braves fandom aside.

 

The Dark Knight indeed has his own personal SID, Randy Farley. Farley married Clair Bee's daughter. (For the young uns, Clair Bee was a great coach in the 20s and 30s and penned the Chip Hilton series of books.) When Knight gets the Tech job, Farley and his wife are working in Asia. Farley e-mails Knight, congratulates him on the job and asks if there's anything he can do to help. Knight says, ''Come and be my SID.'' In case you haven't guessed, Farley has/had zero experience as an SID. But what does that matter when Knight's bkb SID never has to worry about setting up coach/player interviews.

 

Ed Carpenter of Boston University, now retired, is clearly one of the All-Century SIDs.

 

To be fair, there was a certain way an SID had to be when working with Bobby. I would guess Kit and friends are easier to deal with now.

Competence-wise, I thought Kit was pretty good.

Haven't met a single one who meets either category. In all sports, from big to small.

SocKPuppet, thanks for that. I believe Indiana never really let Bobby have his own boy like that, but they sometimes ended up being extensions of him as far as the way they treated people.

 

Worked with AND for Steve Snapp. Dude's a prick.

Klingelhoffer, on the other, is much easier to deal with. He also seems like he generally enjoys his job unlike the Devil - er - Snapp, I mean.

 

Let me add Tim Bourret and most of his staff at Clemson (with the notable exception of the baseball SID, who is a puppet for the coach), to that list.
South Carolina, on the other hand, might have one of the worst staffs I've ever dealt with. Michelle Schmitt, their hoops SID, is unhelpful and horrible, Steve Fink isn't any better on football, and their wireless never, EVER works.
Georgia has been great to deal with always, and while haven't dealt with the new Alabama regime, if Larry White no longer works there, it's probably improvement by pure default, at the very least.

 

Tim Tessalone, USC
A pro's pro. Can't think of anyone better.