Does Anybody Support the Arnold Firing?

Perhaps the most telling thing about the firing of Mike Arnold as basketball coach at Clark College has been the reaction from the public. Kate Zot had a story when Arnold was fired. I had a follow-up column on Sunday, trying to shed a little light on the subject. Both stories generated a large number of comments on our Web site.

Out the 100 or so comments, few of them — if any — were negative toward Arnold. And many were glowing testimonials about the guy — from players, players’ parents, former players, students, or just people who have known him for years. On a story like this, a story about somebody being fired under seemingly questionable circumstances, you expect most of the comments to be supportive of the person. But these stories have generated much more reaction than I expected, and I think that’s a testament to Arnold.

Asked about this last week, Clark College athletic director Charles Guthrie — who has been the target of much online derision — insisted that plenty of people have been supportive of the firing. “Do you think they’re going to post something online? Or come by my office and shake my hand?” he asked. Good point. But it’s hard to imagine that dozens of people have done just that.