Larry Eustachy
From Rofflehaus
Larry Eustachy (born December 1, 1955) was the ISU basketball coach whose career burst like a flame only to be doused out by a stream of Natty Light.
Eustachy was hired in 1998 and was voted AP National Coach of the Year after the 1999-2000 season for leading the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament Elite 8. He also led them to two consecutive Big 12 championships. His record at ISU was 101-59.
The years after his initial stunning success were lackluster, including a NIT appearance in 2002-2003. But lukewarm records were the least of his worries.
On January 22, 2002, Eustachy was photographed smooching a co-ed and brandishing cans of Natty Light at an early-morning party in a Columbia, MO, party following the Cyclones defeat in Missouri. He also attended a Kansas State party after a humiliating loss there, making gentlemanly comments 1 about the female attendees' looks. The pictures floated around message boards but little was said until the Des Moines Register broke the story on April 28, 2003.
The story quickly gained nationwide publicity. Eustachy confessed alcoholism 2 and was generally repentant, even thanking the DMR reporter who broke the story for making him get his demons out in the open. But the university had had enough embarrassment and suspended him the day he made his confession on live TV. This brought immense ire upon the administration--the public, the ones who spoke out, generally threw their support in with Eustachy. So did his players (with the apparent exception of Adam Haluska).
On May 4, 2003, Eustachy turned in his resignation. He walked away with $960,000 after agreeing to permanently sever his relations with the school.
Eustachy now coaches at The University of Southern Mississippi.
[edit] The Media
The media generally took a licking for dethroning a beloved basketball coach.
Interestingly, Jeff Raasch, then sports editor for the Daily, chastised 3 athletic director Bruce Van De Velde for not investigating further when the pictures of Eustachy partying with Mizzou co-eds first surfaced on message boards. The Daily had seen the photos as early as February 5, 2005 4, and apparently did not do any further investigation (the column's writer said the picture was "guaranteed" to be fake). The Des Moines Register eventually broke the story in late April.
It's worth noting that Eustachy's good friend Pete Taylor died and Randy Brown was found with [child pornography] during this time, and so if Larry's partying had been looked into in a timely matter, it would've been the perfect shitstorm for the basketball season. Luckily, for the sake of everyone involved in ISU basketball, the delay by the media in investigating the rumors gave everyone a quick breather from controversy and tragedy.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- [1]: The article, Kansas students recall Eustachy's actions at party, in the 04/29, 2003 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 04/29/2003)
- [2]: http://espn.go.com/ncb/news/2003/0430/1547270.html
- [3]: The article, Who does and who doesn't deserve our sympathy in the Eustachy situation?, in the 05/02, 2003 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 05/02/2003)
- [4]: The article, Having a party with Larry isn't a bad idea, in the 02/05, 2003 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 02/05/2003)
