Firing back at Scott

The Daily Princetonian, publishing yesterday for the first time since Joe Scott's departure, gave a couple of former players a chance to fire away at the coach who turned a 13-1 Ivy champion with four starters returning to a 6-8 nightmare.

The full text of the article is here but I'll give you a few exerpts, starting with the gem from one of said starters.

"For the last three years, I've tried to maintain a degree of class when referring to Joe Scott despite everything inside me telling me to expose the type of person he was toward me," [Judson] Wallace said, adding that the news of Scott's hasty departure did not strike him as being out of character for the coach.

"Knowing the type of person he is," Wallace added, "I can easily see how Joe Scott could talk and talk about having guts and character and always be talking down to people, then run like a scared child from the pressure of a tough situation."

And perhaps the only one relevant to today's team comes from one of Scott's numerous defectors, Noah Levine (no relation).

"I will definitely consider asking for a tryout, but I left the team for many reasons, and those reasons still hold true, regardless of the coach," Levine said. "However, with such a significant change in the program, I would consider asking for a tryout."

As I wrote in this column, Joe Scott's regime was threatening the health of Princeton basketball.

Now that he's gone, don't be surprised to see many more healing steps like the one Levine is asking for.