I don’t really care about Arizona State University baseball. Not a bit.
Still, I was surprised when I saw that longtime -and highly successful- coach Pat Murphy was resigning. ASU officials insisted it was his own choice.
Well, Arizona Republic reporter Robert Anglen -who I consider pretty darn good at digging for information- has discovered documents that indicate otherwise: that Murphy received “a hand-delivered letter stating that he had been terminated without cause. As that statement suggests, no specific reason was cited for the university’s wish to force him out. In the letter, Lisa Love, ASU vice president for athletics, told Murphy that he was being immediately relieved of his duties as coach and he must turn in his keys that afternoon,” said the article by Anglen and sportswriter Jeff Metcalfe, who I’d guess handled more of the sports aspect of the article. Either way, good team effort by the two reporters.
Look, ASU might’ve had its reasons – especially since Murphy’s regime has been under some fire (the article mentions an investigation that’s been turned over the NCAA). But it’s absolutely intolerable for a major university to deliver a bald-faced lie to the media and to the public that finances its activities. It will be a travesty if Love has a job by this time next week.
If ASU is lying about baseball coaches, can we trust anything it says? I spent nearly five years in PR, and I never saw anything good come from a straight-up lie. Spin? Sure, spin something in your favor, if possible. But to knowingly lie has the potential to really bite you someplace sensitive.
Predictably, nobody now wants to comment on the record. I recommend you check out the article on azcentral.com. Nice work, Robert and Jeff.
