Results appear to be meaningless in Lathrop incident

First Bobby Knight, now Bud Lathrop. I guess it no longer matters if you get results from your methods as long as some wimpy superior out there finds his or her sensibilities offended.

There are similarities in the two, not the least of which is an ability to use as so many hundreds of millions of us also use, well-chosen cuss words.

The first thing I ask is, so what? In our society where schools are afraid to even speak the name of Jesus Christ, call Christmas Christmas or even utter the name of God, they can take time to go after a man of Lathrop's high quality. And they continue to tear down the pillars of our society in order to build a secular world without a God or mortal heroes or role models. It's anything goes in what is swiftly becoming a hedonistic society.

Did I know Lathrop? Not really. We met and talked several times over the years and I considered him to be a warm and engaging human being who was quite enjoyable to be around. The guy knew basketball, and brother, he could tell a story. And when you have coached at the same place since 1962, those stories are easy to come by.

Here is a man whose players seemed to idolize him. He is a true Missouri coaching legend with 914 wins to his credit. But that's not all. He had 33 conference titles, 22 district titles and four state championships.

I guess that doesn't count for much these days, regardless of how high the people regard him when a man named Kevin Overfelt couldn't let Lathrop run his own program. From the looks of things it appears as though Overfelt might have had it in for Lathrop from the time he took over as principal. And I'll bet you I know which one is more popular. But Overfelt doesn't have to feel threatened or whatever anymore. In this day and age, success and results count for nothing when someone in power dislikes you because you don't fit into his particular mold. Maybe they'll remove all those championship banners from the wall because the coach cussed.

You see, Overfelt suspended Lathrop for cussing. Overfelt, of course, didn't hear this cussing, but he took the word of a stool pigeon teacher who was apparently eavesdropping on the Cardinals' practice and heard the coach utter the magic word after Overfelt had instituted a zero tolerance policy on Lathrop's cussing.

I wonder what Overfelt does whenever a Raytown South student turns on a radio in the parking lot and rap music blares out. Does he have a zero tolerance policy on that foul-mouthed garbage? You can bet not because rap artists are not as easy a target as Bud Lathrop.

I remember back in 1972 when Raytown South played Kansas City Central and the grand-daddy of all riots broke out. It was a white vs. black thing, but I don't know if race had as much to do with it as simple school rivalries that got out of hand. Central got in a lot of trouble over that one.

Already, hundreds of Lathrop's former players are rallying behind him because they know his way of coaching is what brought them success they can remember for the rest of their lives. He also taught them things like honesty and the importance of a good work ethic. You know, those little things that just don't seem to matter much anymore.

There are, however, two major differences in Knight and Lathrop. Knight's life is coaching. Lathrop's Raytown South.

In addition, Knight was fired at Indiana while Lathrop resigned rather than accept an imposed suspension for his cussing.

And so, Bud, I'd like to leave you with these forbidden words. Merry Christmas and may God bless you. To a lot of people these days, those are cuss words.