Letter to the editor: Good players, bad coach

Dear Editor:

Sports and our culture have become intertwined and have had a dual relationship for as long as I can remember. In a single sporting event, one can observe the good, the bad and the ugly of all that our society has to offer.

Such was the case at Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game, as the Broncs took on Siena. Admittedly, I was unable to attend the game. (Sorry, class is still a priority.) But I heard that the team demonstrated a lot of toughness and determination. Congratulations to the players. They deserve it.

I am almost thankful that I missed the last game of the season. I can still hold my head up high and be proud of our team. I cannot find any pride in our coach, however. To not play a senior in a final home game because Don Harnum, as a coach, mentor and leader, could not swallow his own pride is disgusting. I am embarrassed for the head coach, his staff and, most of all, for Rider and its student body. What kind of a statement did our coach make about our institution by committing such a stubborn, closed-minded act? Wednesday was truly a sad day for Rider athletics.

Coach, you owe a number of people an apology, specifically any individual that attends Rider now or in the past that you represented on Wednesday night. You are not bigger than the institution or your team, and the fans should be ashamed of you. I can’t think of anything a player could do to deserve that kind of treatment during his or her final career home game.

Any player that would stay on the roster and come to practice every day under the circumstances you provided deserved to play in that game. Couldn’t you have at least worked something out for the last thirty seconds of the game? Oh wait! You did try that, adding insult to injury, sinking even lower than not even starting a senior, and embarrassing Rider University and those associated with it.

Rob Glejzer

Disgusted fan