Bad sports, good sports: Facebook costs coach his job

Posted on February 14th, 2011 by Alan Spoll

The world has changed. The rise of social media has affected many aspects of our lives, giving us the opportunity to reconnect with many people we might have never otherwise encountered again. There are people who would argue that there is a reason you lost touch with certain people, and see no benefit in hearing about the daily minutiae of someone they haven’t seen since fourth grade. Although I am a fan of sites like Facebook, I do think that there are people who overshare. A number of professional athletes have been fined by their respective leagues after posting things on Twitter that violated rules or simply angered someone. This week, a man who had been hired to a football coordinator position at a major university ended up having the job offer rescinded after the hiring was revealed on his Facebook page.

Rocky Seto, an assistant coach for the Seattle Seahawks, was hired to be the defensive coordinator at UCLA by the Bruins’ head coach, Rick Neuheisel. Seto was very familiar with UCLA, having held the same position at crosstown rival USC before going to work in the NFL. Something about the job offer must have been hush-hush, I guess, if you consider the drastic reaction that occurred. Seto told some friends and family, a few of whom posted congratulations on his Facebook page. The next day, Seto was suddenly not the newest member of the UCLA staff. Even without posting something himself, the very public nature of the website cost this young man his job.

In my job, I have the opportunity to manage a department. I have interviewed many candidates over the years. Recently, I have noticed candidates I have interviewed viewing my profile on LinkedIn. It may have happened on Facebook, too, but the information about who is viewing your profile is not readily available there. I have not returned the favor, but if I had, it is possible that I would have seen things about the candidates that could have led me to reconsider offering a job to someone. Something in me makes me feel like it would be wrong to do that, like it would be spying in some way. I realize that I could be saved from a bad hire by simply looking at a couple of pages, and I imagine some people would call me foolish to not take advantage of the information that is available to me. Either way, I don’t imagine I would rescind an offer because someone’s Aunt Ethel said Mazel Tov on Facebook. If I had said not to tell anyone, I would be disappointed. The press conference would still go on, as it were.

Bad sports, continued:

2) A statue of Harry Caray, the late broadcasting legend famous for calling Chicago Cubs games, was hit with graffiti last week. The words would indicate a White Sox fan was responsible for the vandalism.

3) Brandon Banks, a kick returner for the Washington Redskins, was stabbed on Saturday outside of a night club. A friend of Banks’ was injured as well. A man has been arrested for the crime.

Good sports:

1) Norris Cole, a shooting guard on the Cleveland State basketball team, scored 41 points and had 20 rebounds in the Vikings’ 86-76 win over Youngstown State on Saturday. The extraordinary game allowed Cole to join Blake Griffin as the only players to have a game of 40 and 20 since 1995. One more assist, and he would have also had a triple-double.

2) Ray Allen’s three-pointer near the end of the first quarter of Thursday’s Celtics-Lakers matchup made Allen the NBA’s all-time three point shooting champion. He broke Reggie Miller’s career record of 2,560 triples.

3) The Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the mid-1970s can rest easy, as their record 26-game losing streak still remains on the books, although they are now tied for the dubious honor. The Cleveland Cavaliers finally won a game on Friday, beating the Los Angeles Clippers (who else?) to end their own streak of misery at 26 straight losses. They were so pumped up by the win that they promptly went out and lost to the woeful Washington Wizards on Sunday. Oh well.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02