Does Isiah Thomas have what it takes to succeed as a college basketball coach? Nobody really knows for sure yet.

But for every other school in the Sun Belt, FIU’s gamble is a guaranteed win.

Maybe Thomas can use his fame and NBA history to seduce blue chip recruits into becoming Golden Panthers. Maybe he’ll fall on his face, the Panthers will stay mired near the bottom of the Belt, and all FIU will get out of this hire is a temporary PR boost.

I don’t know how Isiah will do. But I do know that Johnny Jones will be able to tell recruits that they’ll play against Isiah Thomas, and that’s one more tiny incentive that might sway a kid to choose North Texas over a non-Belt school. It helps everyone else in the Sun Belt sell tickets when FIU comes to town.

And he doesn’t have any sort of ownership stake in the Conference, so he can’t kill us like he did the CBA.

The haters have already begun to hate on this hire, some with Bissingerian froth-mouthed disapproval.

Florida International stinks at basketball, so I guess they figured—if we’re going to stink we might as well leave a spectacular stench all over the basketball world. That’s the only explanation for hiring Isiah Thomas. (…)

Will Florida International get better? It would be hard not to. They’re a lousy team in a lousy conference, but Isiah’s presence alone will probably get them a game or two on ESPN and more interest from top recruits.

Lousy team in a lousy conference? Check the 2009 scoreboard, my Michigan State-loving friend. It reads- Sun Belt: 1 , Big Ten: 0.

The reality is that the Sun Belt is most certainly NOT a “lousy” basketball conference. Western Kentucky’s recent success is no secret. Arkansas State’s John Brady took a team to the Final Four just 3 years ago. Since then, Johnny Jones (North Texas) and Ronnie Arrow (USA) have also coached in the NCAA Tournament. Robert Lee took ULL there in 2005. And Mike Jarvis (and his ATM card) can point to 9 NCAA appearances one of those culminating in an Elite Eight appearance.

That’s not even mentioning Joe Scott and the amazing turnaround he’s sparked in Denver with his plodding, cracker-friendly Princeton offense. Or Joe Pasternak, who deserves nothing but success after the struggles he’s endured since taking over at UNO for despicable piece of human garbage/current Marquette coach Buzz Williams. Or Kermit Davis, who shares a name with a Muppet beloved throughout the world!

Proven coaches, quality teams, a coach with a puppet name…  When it comes to basketball, everything is coming up Sun Belt!

From a Conference perspective, Isiah is a great hire. Sure, he may be a minor league-killing, NBA franchise-destroying, drug-overdosing, sexually-harrasing, racist national joke… But he could jump start FIU’s program anyway.

And if not, then at least the rest of us can benefit for as long as he lasts.

If Isiah does fail, I have a suggestion for FIU’s next head coach- Mary Kay Letourneau. She doesn’t have any college head coaching experience either… But she does have a proven ability to recruit teenage boys and hiring her would guarantee another round of national headlines.

There’s no such thing as bad publicity!