What you have is a situation which was handled poorly all the way around. Pop a bag of corn, grab an adult beverage, because I'm here for a while.
First, there's no excuse for the hecklers, if in fact they were being vulgar and saying derogatory things about Jon's family. Four fans do not represent a fan base, however. Every school has its share of bad fans. Every school. Jon said these same 4 fans sat behind him in Pocatello, and they sat behind him in Reno. I have known Jon long enough to know he doesn't like being heckled by anybody, anywhere. If these fans were behaving as bad as he said, then he should have said something to an official - in Pocatello and in Reno. He should have asked to have the fans removed or relocated.
Second, there's no excuse for Jeff's defensiveness going public. This isn't the first time he has looked petty by tweeting something which he has then deleted. Be the bigger person and let it go. Sometimes it's good therapy to verbalize, vocally or typewritten, but if that's the case, then send a text to the SID or to your wife. If you believe that 4 fans shamed all of us, then what does that say about Jeff sending out a worldwide tweet? On the other hand, I'm glad he is defensive. It shows he cares - just don't let the world know.
Third, Jon is an asshole. He was when he was at ISU, and everybody knew it, it's just that he was our asshole. He's a sore loser, and he's an ungracious winner. I have the least amount of sympathy with him, because he's the one who should be rising above all of the b.s. Again, if these fans were being as vulgar as he says, then he owed it to himself, his daughter, the fans, and his team to have them removed. He shouldn't have stooped to their level and gone and gloated to all of the ISU fans after the loss. From his pre and post game interviews over the last two seasons, I'd be hard pressed to believe he is over his departure from ISU. He can't get over himself, so I find it hard to believe he can get over other things. Yep, the fans need to move on and get over it, but be honest, so does Jon.
There are always those history revisionists out there who like to mention one or two things, while conveniently forgetting to mention others. Yes, Jon won at ISU. That's not disputed. It's not even so much that he left ISU for Idaho that got fans mad, but rather, it was the way he left. The Idaho job was a lateral job, more or less, but at the time, the WAC definitely had more upside than the Big Sky at that time. It still had teams like Fresno State, Boise State, Nevada, Utah State, and so on. When Gordon left ISU soccer to take the head job at Arkansas, fans were sad to see him go, but were genuinely excited for him as well. When Ardie, who built the women's basketball foundation in the first place and took ISU to it's first NCAA tourney, left to take the head coaching job at Air Force, some fans felt a little betrayed because of the timing - she had what should have been a good team that year, but we moved on. It's not like Newlee leaving was a new experience to ISU fans. He just took to the media and blasted ISU, the administration, and its fans on his way out.
People forget that ISU was in a really bad place at that time. For those who knew somebody within the department, you know what I'm talking about. The athletic department was a toxic workplace, led by one of the biggest embarrassments the department had ever seen in Paul Bubb. Remember, he was on suspension while he was being internally investigated - and that was in addition to the recent news that he had just put the athletic department into a $1 million hole. The Boise media, which likes to pile on anything which isn't related to bSu, was ready to dish the dirt. To this day, I have no idea why they didn't. One member of the Boise media said the mess going on at ISU behind the scenes was the stuff which would make even the SEC blush.
So, Bubb finally gave his resignation, and Tingey was named interim and then permanent AD. Newlee was more than vocal about his displeasure with this, both in the media and in private. He may have felt nepotism was in place, but you can be sure he wasn't going to like taking orders from a then 20-something. Everybody knew the work environment was going to change - for the better - but some were comfortable with getting away with things the old way. Probably the most important matter here is Tingey had to immediately find ways to make up the $1 million deficit. That meant budgets across the board had to take a hit. That included the women's basketball budget, and Newlee was pissed. And he was vocal about it. My memory isn't what it once was, but as I recall, Newlee networked fast and hard, and he was out the door within 2 weeks of Bubb's resignation and Jeff's hiring.
I liken the events of that time to a sinking boat. Nobody knew what was going to happen, some felt things were sinking fast, and all of a sudden one of the shipmates jumped off by himself in a life raft, flipping off the passengers and crew as he floated away. ISU fans felt abandoned and betrayed by the actions. As it turned out, Tingey righted the ship and got even better shipmates on board.
Finally, and I can't emphasize this enough, ISU is in a much better place with Seton Sobolewski. The man is genuine in person, and he has become one Hell of an ambassador for the university. He gets his players out into the community to perform volunteer work, and rather than complain about fundraising, he gets out there and solves problems. Take the annual crab feed. It has become a true community wide event which is looked forward to every year. They could double the size of it, and it would still sell out. Through all of the drama yesterday, Seton's name never came up. He's class. I expect him to grab a bigger brass ring in the future, but I'm glad he's ours for now.
