Is New Job Same Dead End for Isiah?

He should own Chicago, Indiana, Detroit and New York by now. Instead, Isiah Thomas has the uncanny knack for making the most of himself and then throwing it all away, smiling all the way.

I thought the story ended in October, when Thomas, who grew from the ghettos in Chicago thanks to help from a mother who supposedly used a shotgun to keep gang members away from her baby, to all the highest heights. And then it ended with him on the floor, unconscious, having taken an overdose of sleeping pills.

But of course it didn't end there.

More Coverage: Thomas Will Give Back First Year's Salary

So on Tuesday, Thomas was named the head coach at Florida International University near Miami. That's how far Thomas has failed himself down to. A new start for him there?

Sure, why not. Let's call it that. Another start. But all the other starts have led to dead ends.

"Coming back to the college game has always been a dream of mine,'' he said in a press release. "I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to go somewhere where we can build a basketball legacy together.''

Build a legacy? Thomas already has. He's the kid who was the heartwarming American dream, won big for Bobby Knight, was an NBA champion. But like so many other great athletes, he has found life afterward to be one downhill slide, with nowhere to turn and nothing to stand on but his big name and his wonderful smile.

But he is radioactive now, having run the Knicks into the ground as president and coach, costing the team millions over a sexual-harassment lawsuit, nearly gotten into a fight with Stephon Marbury, the me-first player he brought to New York to be the face of the franchise. Let's see, what else?

The overdose, and his reaction to the reporters, who took it to mean he was suggesting that the problem was his daughter, not him. Remember the police chief, defending his cops' report and angrily saying, "My cops ... know the difference between a 47-year old black male and a young, black female.

"It wasn't his daughter. And why they're throwing her under the bus is beyond my ability to understand."

"These people should learn something from Richard Nixon, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up," he added.

No, we don't understand Thomas. His reality always seemed to be undermining his image, even when he was a player and there were rumors about mob ties.

Marbury told the New York Daily News after their near-fight: "(He) has to start me. I've got so much (stuff) on Isiah, and he knows it. He thinks he can (get) me. But I'll (get) him first.''

I actually go down as one of Thomas' defenders. His failures are in contrast to his image, which was never right in the first place. He flew too high on borrowed wings, as the saying goes. But if you think about where he came from, what he saw and what he got through, you can see that he was still a success.

You can overcome your background, but it never truly leaves you. Not fully. People think that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but really, it just keeps fighting you.

Last year, longtime Pistons owner Bill Davidson, who died last month, talked with the Detroit Free-Press about his on-again, off-again, back-on again relationship with Thomas.

"I was very, very close to Isiah, and there were times he was almost like a son,'' Davidson said. "But, because of his background, um ... I told him he had to change -- you know, coming from where he came from. I said, 'You've got it made now. Don't keep doing those things that you've been doing.

"I won't tell you what they are. But he couldn't change."

It is almost a sport now, watching Thomas throw everything away. He has gone from hero to failure to loser, and has bordered on tragic. He has managed to stay relevant only in the gossipy-celebrity sort-of way.



He was found liable, with Madison Square Garden, in the sexual harassment lawsuit, and that cost the Garden more than $11 million. He reportedly didn't treat people who worked for him well.

And now here he is, exposed. Maybe that will free him?

Probably not. But he will meet with reporters on Wednesday and talk about his new start, his desire to work with kids, shape them, mold them into his image, the way a coach does.

Wait a minute. Is that what we want?

"This is bigger than basketball and bigger than athletics,'' FIU president Modesto A. Maidique said in a statement. "Having a nationally recognized coach like Isiah at FIU will have a positive impact on our university as a whole, helping us achieve additional national exposure.''

Athletics director Pete Garcia, on the news of his grand hire, did not return my e-mail.

It does seem to be a hire for shock value. As a basketball coach, Thomas has had his moments. Will high school kids look up to him for all he accomplished, forgetting about the other stuff. They will know that Thomas has seen what it takes. Will parents be OK with sending their kids to him?

I actually think they will. So Isiah is a leader of 18-year-olds now, and he says he wants to build something here.

He starts all over again now, and certainly knows how to dig out from the roughest of times. He has been there.

Again and again and ...