Not out just quite yet
My apologies to the Knicks and their fans, the Tony Kornheiser story on Monday is not completely accurate. The Knicks have not been been eliminated from the playoff race. They are four and a half games behind the Hawks who occupy the eighth seed.

AARP Coaches
73-year old Larry Brown has led SMU basketball to heights fans and alumni may have never dreamed. The Dallas (TX) school is in the national spotlight due largely to Browns’ coaching. At age 67 Mike Krzyzewski still manages to recruit and relate to generations of today’s athletes. We could include 69-year old Jim Boeheim at Syracuse to our list of senior coaches. Question have the Spurs ever had a losing season under 65-year old Greg Popovich? They may have however it’s been so long ago nobody probably remembers the year. In addition Coach Pop has NBA Championships on his resume. We cannot overlook North Carolina's 63-year old, his Tarheel team is 23-8 as this is written.  In addition he's won won two NCAA Championships at the school.  This next coach almost missed the cut due to his age.  Kentucky’s John Calipari is the youngest of this group of coaches at age 55, love him or hate him he’s a proven winner. 

62-year old Tubby Smith won the last NCAA for Kentucky (1998) prior to Calipari's arrival. The Bulls minus Derrick Rose were supposed to sink to the bottom of the NBA ocean. Tom Thibodeau (age 56) has done a masterful job of maintaining the ships ballast.  We journey next to one of Montana’s favorite son Phil Jackson. Jackson’s not coached in the NBA since 2011 retiring at the end of the season. All that is required of this 68-year old is to proclaim “I’m ready to coach again. “ I presume two or three NBA teams would be in line for his services. There are a number of coaches in the same age range that may have been omitted. This is not meant to be a complete report however these are just a few that come to mind and may be the most visible. The old adage might be true maybe age is really only a number.

He wants a job too
I wrote of Isiah Thomas and his desire for an NBA job earlier. Kareem Abdul Jabbar unemployed is also searching for job. Number 33 claims he’s open to involvement with the Bucks in some capacity. In the past Abdul Jabbar has served as a special assignment coach for the Clippers and Lakers.

PJ
I hesitated writing this, what we are hearing doesn’t make sense on a number of levels. The only portion I believe, Phil Jackson is one of the all-time great NBA coaches but that‘s not the job in question. The Knicks are reported to be considering him for a front office position, hiring him as a coach makes far more sense than a front office position. It‘s not that I don’t believe he could handle a front office position it‘s just the manner reported. Stories have circulated from several sources Jackson will run the Knicks from his home in Montana and the one California.  Steve Kerr (who played for Jackson) is reported to become the Knicks coach. 

The difference, they are paid athletes
College basketball is certainly a pathway to the NBA. Although we sometimes tend to see the game peering through NBA glasses there is still a difference between the NBA and college.  Professional basketball players are paid big time money, when they don’t play at the level we expect they are subject to critical commentary by the media and fans.  Technically speaking collegiate players are not paid if we exclude scholarship. How did I arrive here, we have a local sports talk radio host who is sometimes over the top in his criticism of college players.  I’m not referring to any involvement in criminal activity or a "Marcus Smart" venture into the stands.  I wonder how he feels when the viewing audience critiques his job performance?