Let him wallow in his own filth. His article is hardly worth the three minutes of my life I spent scanning it nor the 30 seconds I'm spending typing this in response.

You want to see the real truth about Wooden-Era basketball? Click the link below and you can see in person!

http://www.bruinsnation.com/story/2006/12/11/45219/660

I have never seen Cragg's writing on the site so I doubt he's eating foie gras off Slate's largesse. The sports columns are usually excellent and insightful.

He didn't give the Gilbert stuff any more weight than it deserved... he mentioned it in passing. To be fair, most people think Gilbert had undue influence over the hoops program so that will be expressed as such. We don't have a whole lot of evidence one way or the other. So he didn't express it as, like, "Gilbert made UCLA a success while the NCAA looked the other way", but more like, "its possible Wooden knew about this Gilbert guy". Which is fair, IMO, and that is a lingering doubt of UCLA hoops during that era.

Anyway, this blind hate at the mere sight of anyone saying anything about Wooden is foolish and silly. Wooden is fair game as much as any other coach.

Cragg's core thesis was that Wooden imposed too much control over his players and his game and turned it into something Naismith did not intend. I think that's a reasonable assumption, all things considered.

But is that a bad thing? Well, Wooden won so that's that. I think that's ultimately what matters. The best coaches we know are often strict disciplinarians (see: Knight, Bobby). The best college coaches are often lauded for "turning the boys into men" and Wooden of course, did that. So by the standards we judge good college coaches on, Wooden is the penultimate example. The coaches we all adore stick to the same template, pretty much.

Cragg wants something more free-form, open, etc. Fair enough. But that doesn't win ballgames. And if you can't win ballgames you can't keep a job. But that isn't the fault of Wooden, or Bear Bryant, or any other successful coach. That's why I think it's a foolish article, not necessarilly because he called out Wooden.

And yea, I'm not gonna lie, I rolled my eyes when I first saw the Pyramid of Success in the Wooden Center. It's kind of lame. But hey, I didn't win 10 championships so what do I know?

He also tried to say  Wooden was not following under  James Naismith's original principles "He set down only five guiding principles--discipline not among them--to govern his game, which he was delighted to point out did not need a coach". Of course it didn't need discipline or coaching he invented basketball in 1891 as a game( not a professional sport) to be played indoors. Basketball wasn't what it is today. If there is no discipline or coaches then all we have is street ball!

He also says in his article that Red Auerbach wasn't as rigid and had a lot of success in the Nba. I think he forgets to mention, that you don't have to be total disciplinarian with grown adults as you do with teenagers. And if anyone knows anything about how arrogant Auerbach was as a coach by lighting up cigars before the games were over and showing up the other teams, that doesn't show that much class on his part!

Last time I checked you have to mentor and monitor young people, you have to be a good disciplinarian.  A perfect example is Steve Lavin who instead of being tough on his players wanted to be their friends! A great head coach is your general; he has his players prepared and ready for each battle, period! And Wooden's record speaks for its self. (Also, there has never been one player that Wooden has coached that has ever said one bad thing about him, especially about him being tough on them!)

Here is another funny point in his article about the NBA Dress code. "instituted an absurd and paternalistic dress code" Of course, what an absurd notion!!!!! College players and the rest of America have dress codes, but multi-millionaires who play a sport for a living shouldn't! Yes very paternalistic indeed trying to keep the basketball players under total control! All  major corporations have dress codes period and the NBA is a major Corporation.

"Though it bears noting that UCLA benefited not only from the services of the best talent of the day, but also from the largesse of an especially oily booster named Sam Gilbert, a moneylender, as it were, whom Coach Christ forgot to cast out of the temple".