Woodling: Washington deserving of special treatment

By Chuck Woodling     Jan 30, 2004

Journal-World File Photo
Lynette Woodard, left, and Kansas University women's basketball coach Marian Washington sit on the bench in this photo from Woodard's playing career. Woodard will take over the KU women's squad on an interim basis while Washington takes an indefinite leave of absence.

Don’t ask me what ails Marian Washington. I don’t know. And I don’t want to know. That’s none of my business. Or yours. I just want her to become healthy again, as should everyone.

Moreover, don’t ask me if she has coached her last Kansas University women’s basketball game. I don’t know that, either. Nobody does.

Still, it’s no secret the woman who is in her 31st year as the Jayhawks’ coach was in jeopardy of losing her position after this season. She is in the final year of a three-year contract, and the Jayhawks haven’t made the improvement Washington had hoped for — KU’s current record is 8-9 — after three consecutive losing seasons.

Kansas University officials, it has long been speculated, simply would not renew her contract, and that would be that.

Now comes Washington’s request for a medical leave of absence. There is no reason to believe the request isn’t genuine. In fact, according to sources, the 57-year-old coach has been hospitalized two or three times since the season began.

Nevertheless, some believe the leave of absence actually is the initial stage of a plan orchestrated by new KU athletic director Lew Perkins that will enable Washington to leave the coaching profession with grace, honor and dignity. If true, it is an ingenious idea worthy of a man who is believed to be the highest-paid college athletic director in the country.

Asked about Washington’s contract by the media after Thursday’s surprise announcement, Perkins said the pact never crossed his mind.

“I haven’t even thought about it,” he said. “I won’t think about it. There are no contract issues. The contract is not in my mind. I could care less. What I care about is this person. I don’t want anything to happen to this lady. She is special.”

Washington indeed is special. Back in the early 1970s, she was a black woman in a predominantly white collegiate world, and she built the Kansas University women’s basketball program into a Top 25 team. Yet she never really gained the respect she deserved because none of her teams advanced past the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

In basketball-crazed Kansas, it’s always what you haven’t done, not what you have done. Just ask Roy Williams.

Things began to turn sour for Washington a few years ago when she unaccountably began to make recruiting mistakes. Two years ago, the Jayhawks hit the pits when they went 0-16 in the Big 12 Conference. To her credit, Washington has rebounded from the nadir of her career, but progress has been slow and Allen Fieldhouse is usually like a tomb during KU women’s games. Kansas is on track to finish last in Big 12 women’s basketball attendance for the third straight season.

Whether the Jayhawks’ recent woes on the court and Washington’s undisclosed medical condition are mutually exclusive is conjecture. Only Washington, her doctor and those close to her know the answer.

If pressed, though, I suspect Marian Washington’s last game as Kansas University’s women’s coach may have been last Saturday’s disappointing lopsided loss to Missouri in Allen Fieldhouse.

When queried during Thursday’s emotional news conference if she planned to coach again, Washington did not vow she was determined to come back. She did not say she couldn’t wait to again be on the sideline.

What Washington did say was that she still had a love for the game, but that “you do reach a point in your life where the game is not that important.”

If Washington retires for health reasons, what a great way to go. She’ll be remembered for her accomplishments, not her failures, and the whole scenario will reach a crescendo this summer when she is inducted into the National Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Sometimes it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you leave the game.

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