Trying to Make Sesne of the Coble Reason Rumors

A lot of rumors are going around about the reason for Kevin Coble leaving NU’s basketball team. We may never get the whole truth, but I’ve been trying very hard to come up with something that makes sense of everything that’s been said.

First of all, I think it is important to remember Coble did suffer a pretty serious injury. I’m not saying the injury was the cause of his departure, but I think it must have played some role in his decision. After all, Kevin would have played last season before he got hurt. The only major differences between then and now are the injury and the passage of time. I wouldn’t risk walking right just to play basketball and maybe that was Kevin’s thought.

Perhaps, it was simply that passage of time. Kevin has now seen most of the students he entered NU with graduate and enter the world. Maybe he wants to do the same. Rumors have surfaced about his loss of passion for basketball. If that’s reason for his exit, I feel bad because I bet that passion eventually comes back and he regrets his choice. Especially since he probably isn’t going to play in the NBA. He might have had a good shot at the Euro League with a nice year this season, but now he’s done and I doubt any team is going to sign a guy who hasn’t been tested post-injury. All that said, though, if Kevin really isn’t passionate about basketball right now he’s free to decide not to play. The effort of another whole season of college basketball would be a lot to handle for someone who wasn’t fully committed to the game or his team.

The biggest elephant in room issue related to team chemistry. Or simply the stated from the Tribune that Coble didn’t fit in with the rest of team. It is true that last year during pregame warmups that injured Kevin Coble would sit by himself while injured Jeff Ryan and Matt Steger would stand together closer to the layup lines. I never thought much of this, but maybe it showed something about how Coble related to the rest of team. Still, many teams have featured players who weren’t friends that still played together and won plenty of games. However, perhaps Coble’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his teammates might have made it easier for him to walk away when his rehab was slower than normal or his passion dipped. If he really didn’t like spending time with the other guys on the team having to spend virtually all of the 6 months with them during the season might not have been something he wanted to experience.

Bottom line, we don’t know why Kevin Coble left. He was free to make his choice and I don’t think he owes anyone an explanation. However, if I were in Kevin Coble’s shoes I’d actually go ahead and sit down for an interview and provide one. Not because I owed it to anyone, but because I’d be sick of a bunch of unfounded speculation on whether I was hurt, lost my passion for basketball, or simply hated Jeff Ryan's guts (Kevin probably doesn't hate Jeff Ryan. He did say nice things about the team in his press release).

Anyhow, if Kevin wants to provide answers I'd be happy to let him post here or I'm sure Lake the Posts would like an answer to his open letter to Kevin. Or Kevin could contact the traditional media (but that's no fun).