College recruiters are notorious for using anything at their disposal to get a leg up on a hot high school prospect. Earlier this year word spread that Michigan's rivals were telling footballers that Lloyd Carr was retiring after the coming year to try and sway them away from the Big House. That's mild compared to the rumors that have been whispered about Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson.
If you're a high school power forward who has caught Arizona's eye you may have already heard this but it seems that Olson has Parkinson's Disease. Except he doesn't.
"I have gotten some calls about rumors and certain radio stations running some things about me having Parkinson's, which is a complete lie," Olson said. "I have physicals like everyone else does. There is absolutely no medical indication of any type of problem. There is absolutely no truth to that statement. If it has been repeatedly on radio stations then I will take the necessary actions that I need to get this stopped. It is a vicious, vicious rumor. If I need to I will get my physician to make a statement. I don't think anybody deserves that rumor to be circulating. I'm healthy. When you get nervous, you start shaking a little. But most people my age do. This is the kind of thing you get from people you are recruiting against. If the rumor is going around here, it's certainly going to be passed around."
Those involved with college sports are a pretty sorry lot overall so it doesn't come as much surprise that these appalling rumors would spread. I did a little digging, though, and found that these kinds of rumors have hit all kinds of college coaches.
Bobby Knight - Has Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Billy Donovan - Greases his hair with the sweat of illegal day laborers building his pool.
Bruce Pearl - That wasn't paint on his chest.
Mike Krzyzewski - Kills a hooker a month to satisfy his god, a bathroom attendant at the Durham Hilton.
Rick Majerus - Ate ineligible players to avoid probation.
Tubby Smith - Engages in pigplay with his assistant coaches.
Roy Williams - Hated E.T.
John Thompson III - Wears his father's old towel in lieu of underpants.
Jim Calhoun - Is actually Jewish.
Bob Huggins - Trys to control your off-court behavior in draconian ways.
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