One has to wonder if the University of Pittsburgh is having buyer’s remorse in hiring Michael Haywood. Less than a couple weeks after the hire, Haywood was arrested and held without bond for domestic violence aimed at the mother of an illegitimate child:

Assistant St. Joseph County Police Chief Bill Redman said Haywood was arrested about 3 p.m. Friday after a custody issue developed with a woman with whom Haywood has a child. The unidentified woman told police that Haywood grabbed her by the arm and neck and pushed her as she tried to leave.

Redman said the woman had marks on her neck, arms and back.

With his job at Miami U. filled, you have to wonder if Haywood might go from promoted to unemployed within a single offseason. He wouldn’t be the first. In 2001, Georgia Tech coach George O’Leary was hired by Notre Dame until they discovered that he had fabricated portions of his resume. Some accounts say padding, but that doesn’t do it justice with a master’s degree from a university that doesn’t exist and college letters he got despite never having played in a single game. O’Leary found an assistant job with the NFL for a year before becoming a rather successful coach at the University of Central Florida.

A year later, Alabama hired Washington State coach Mike Price to take over for Dennis Francione. Price lasted a bit longer than O’Leary, but found himself in trouble when he partied a bit too hard in Florida with the night allegedly ending with a stripper. The stripper was never proven and Sports Illustrated actually went so far as to settle a libel suit. Price ended up at UTEP with notably less success than O’Leary.

Price had never signed a contract, so that was easy to undo. O’Leary probably could have been fired with cause regardless of a contract, but he resigned voluntarily. I’m not sure precisely what Pitt’s situation is with Haywood and whether they can rescind it or not. If they can, they may take advantage of the opportunity to pare down Haywood’s contract.

Update: Haywood has been fired. Lesson of the day: if you’re going to screw up, don’t do it until after you’ve actually coached a few games.


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8 Responses to Another Coach Bob Livingston?

  1. Mike Hunt says:

    I don’t like when innocent until proven guilty goes out the window.

    In addition, she has every reason to lie.

  2. trumwill says:

    I don’t like when innocent until proven guilty goes out the window.

    Though it’s not impossible that they were self inflicted, she apparently at least had marks to back up her story.

    In addition, she has every reason to lie.

    This all just cost him a multimillion dollar contract (upon which child support payments would have been modified) and now the father of her kid is unemployed. Next to him, she’s the big loser in all of this.

  3. Mike Hunt says:

    Would you mind explaining the Bob Livingston reference?

  4. trumwill says:

    Bob Livingston was anointed Speaker of the House but was brought down before actually taking office. So whenever I hear about a coach that loses a job before they actually have it, like O’Leary, Price, and now Haywood, I think about Livingston.

  5. Mike Hunt says:

    Oh yes, THAT Bob Livingston. Since he wasn’t from sports, I didn’t even think of him.

    Anyway, regarding the baby-mama, wasn’t the problem that she didn’t have primary custody? Having your baby-daddy make a lot of money doesn’t do you a lot of good when you don’t have custody. Also, in some states, child support is capped at a certain amount.

  6. trumwill says:

    My understanding was that she did have primary custody for most of the year, but I could be wrong about that. if I am, that changes the dynamics somewhat.

  7. Mike Hunt says:

    You are right, she had primary custody. However, from the police report, they weren’t having a custody dispute. There were on friendly terms until this happened. It was just a domestic dispute. Therefore, I take back my comment about her having a reason to lie. I still think innocent until proven guilty should hold, though.

  8. trumwill says:

    I still think innocent until proven guilty should hold, though.

    Well, he hasn’t been convicted in a court of law yet. I can’t find Pitt’s statement, but if I recall they said it wasn’t about whether he was guilty or innocent but rather about how they can’t afford to have a coach distracted with legal troubles like this in his crucial first months.

    Unfortunately for Haywood if he is innocent, they’re probably right about that. I’ve also heard that the hire never went over well with the Pitt faithful. Inexplicably, I’m also hearing that Pitt isn’t interested in Rodriguez if he becomes available. Pederson (the Pitt AD and the former Nebraska AD behind the Solich/Callahan fiasco) is the worst coach hirer/firer I have ever seen.

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