Coach's contract -- best idea?

By Mike Kaufmann

On April 28, the Santa Clara athletic department announced that they extended the contract of women's head basketball coach Michelle Bento-Jackson through the 2007-08 season. But, looking back a year ago, I can't figure out why.

Last summer, the university told Bento-Jackson that she was to be fired, amidst allegations from former players that she mistreated them.

According to a San Jose Mercury News interview, the university said that they had been hearing such claims for three years, the entire length of Bento-Jackson's tenure at Santa Clara.

However, after an independent arbitrator heard and reviewed the case, it was ruled that the university had no grounds to dismiss Bento-Jackson, and she resumed her role as women's head basketball coach.

During the investigation, former players were quoted as saying that Bento-Jackson was "tyrannical" and "emotionally scarring." Although Athletic Director Dan Coonan interviewed the team and found that each of the current players were in support of their coach, the university later discovered that some of the players wanted to change their stories, as long as Bento-Jackson wouldn't find out.

It seems that now that the team has earned a WCC regular season title, all of last summer's turmoil has vanished. With each victory on their 10 game winning streak during the year, the allegations that were aired only months earlier began to fade.

The athletic department dismissed Bento-Jackson on July 7, 2005. Clearly, something had to have changed their tune in order for them to go from giving a coach her walking papers to giving her an extension.

I will admit that the allegations could have been from some oversensitive players who were never harshly ridiculed by previous coaches. I'd say it's also entirely possible that the disgruntled players weren't getting enough playing time and were trying to get back at Bento-Jackson in some way.

But, if she was fired, Coonan and the athletic department must have believed these allegations carried some weight, right?

This dramatic shift in Bento-Jackson's job evaluation is unacceptable. Santa Clara's successful athletic program, including the hard work of the women on the basketball team this year, is something we can all be proud of.

But when this success becomes more important than the physical and emotional well being of students, nobody wins.

Contact Mike Kaufmann at (408) 551-1918 or mlkaufmann@scu.edu.