Despite rampant rumors, no one knows why Stuart Goldstein’s tenure as the Phoenix St. Mary’s football coach lasted only two months before former Mesa Westwood coach Eddy Zubey took the reins, as was reported first by Les Willsey on eastvalleytribune.com Thursday night.
It’s my opinion, however, that the Knights made a mistake in hiring Goldstein in the first place. Contentious, often arrogant and dogged by rumors of impropriety, Goldstein was a far cry from the class and grace that defined the program under coaching icon Pat Farrell.
Was it Goldstein’s ability to attract student-athletes from all over the Valley that so enticed the Knights? He did, after all, make several stops in Arizona (Phoenix Carl Hayden, Scottsdale Saguaro, Phoenix North) that helped familiarize him with various points of interest.
Whether the truth of this affair emerges or not, hopefully Goldstein’s ouster will serve as a lesson to other schools (are you listening, Laveen Cesar Chavez?) to look at more than winning percentage when hiring a coach.
