Cheers & Jeers » Mentor, student face each other

POSTED November 21, 2008 | 12:05 AM

Head coach mentor-versus-progeny games happen all the time in modern sports. Look no further than Washington Redskins head coach Jim Zorn taking on his former boss, Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren, or Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh facing Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles.

Most of the time, the personal rivalry serves mainly as a pregame discussion topic while the players themselves take precedence once the whistle blows.

But once in a while, we get true insight into how it feels to coach against your old boss, as Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus offered after losing to George Washington’s Karl Hobbs on Wednesday, 71-57.

Broadus, who was a GW assistant from 2001-04, remembered being on the bench when Hobbs, still a fresh-faced new head coach, faced off against his own mentor, Connecticut head coach Jim Calhoun.

“I remember saying to Karl — we were at UConn — and I said, ‘He won’t pour it on us,’” said Broadus. “He looked at me, and he was like, yeah, right. That [guy] is going to put it on us, and he did.”

Back at the Smith Center with the Bearcats, things were all too familiar.

“I looked at my assistants tonight with about three minutes to go, they’ll tell you, and I said, ‘Ain’t this a you-know-what. They still have their starters in,’” said Broadus, a District native who also spent three seasons under John Thompson III at Georgetown before landing his own gig. “But I love him to death because he was sending a message to the student. The teacher — because he taught me — was sending a message, don’t mess around with me.”

Broadus lauded Hobbs for having the Colonials machine “oiled and running again” after last year’s 9-17 record.

“I think that’s a friend giving great support, and it’s greatly appreciated,” offered Hobbs, who smiled, but said he wasn’t able to enjoy the win against his close friend.

Both coaches said the home-and-home series between the two teams, which was a favor after GW had trouble getting games last season, is unlikely to be repeated.

“We probably won’t ever do it again unless it’s in the postseason,” said Broadus, who did win last year in New York. “Hopefully, we both make it, and hopefully we’ll play there. But this will never happen again. I’ll tell you that now."