More on Ronny Thompson

This guy is starting to sound like a real piece of work.

I knew when Ball State first hired Ronny Thompson that they were taking a risk. But, I thought it was a pretty decent hire considering the shape that the basketball program was in at the time. It didn't take long after the hire for me to decide that I wasn't a Ronny Thompson fan. Every day I think I dislike the man a little more.

There is another story in the Muncie Star Press this morning that again depicts Ronny as being a real ass. I keep reading all these stories and I can't help but wonder what BSU AD Collins and Pres Gora could have possibly seen from this guy during the interview process.

The topic of this morning's story is the $7749 that Ball State paid to send Ronny and his coaching staff to Miami for an NCAA rules seminar. The University thought it would be a good idea to send the coaching staff to the seminar because Ronny and his guys seemed to be having some problems following the rules. The expense reports from that trip show that Ball State paid $199 for each man to get a private room at the Marriot Biscayne Bay Hotel. There were five men on the trip and they stayed for 3 nights. The bill for the hotel was $3,473.78. The University also paid the airfare for the 5 men which totaled $2,215.50. The University also apparently reserved 2 rental cars in Miami.

The reserved rental cars are what really pisses me off. Ball State had reserved 2 rental cars according to the Star Press story. One car was for Thompson, and the other car was for Kyle Brennan, the Director of Athletic Compliance, who was accompanying the 4 coaches on the trip. The University reserved 2 cars through Hertz. The cost of the cars that Ball State reserved were $65 per day. One would think that $65 for a rental car would have been sufficient since the coaches would probably be spending most of their time in the seminar. Apparently Mr. Brennan found a Ford Taurus within the budget to be adequate, but Ronny found the $65 per day that Ball State had allotted for a car to be beneath him. So, Ronny upgraded his reservation to a Lincoln Navigator. When Ronny got back to Muncie, he submitted the expense to the University. The Navigator cost $199 per day for "His Majesty." The total cost for the three-day rental of the Navigator, including taxes, was $823.16. The total cost for Brennan to drive the Taurus for 3 days was $346.75.

Read the Muncie Star Press story here.