Chane Behanan is a self taught basketball player with the physical gifts and athletic ability that most would die for. His problems on and off the court have always been very well documented. Chane grew up in the rough inner city of Cincinnati and was able to avoid any kind of real trouble while living there, but still was surrounded by drug, gangs and other dysfunction. Most thought that when Chane got away from that environment and got with a Coach that would challenge him to be better that he would flourish. Coach Pitino has pushed back and has always challenged Chane to overcome his defense mechanisms learned through that early dysfunction. Today Coach Pitino and Athletic Director Tom Jurich perhaps made one last attempt to get Chane Behanan to see the error of his ways by suspending him indefinitely from the Louisville basketball program. Chane apparently violated a “University Policy” and it is unknown at this time what that might be.

Chane has not lived in the players dorm or practiced with the team for the last four days according to coach Pitino. Maybe this time away from the program and this push back by Pitino and Jurich will force Chane to take an objective look at his life and what it is he wants to do with it. Coach Pitino has been down this road before with players most recently with Derrick Caracter. He does know how to deal with them and ultimately is a coach that will cut a kid loose if he thinks it will help him get his act together. I don’t know if that needs to happen in this case and I don’t think Coach Pitino has made his mind up about this yet either. I don’t think Chane has lost his way. He is just a kid that doesn’t have any healthy coping skills, problem solving skills or decision making ability. I know that most wouldn’t consider a 21 year old guy a kid but growing up with as much dysfunction that Chane did it slows the developmental stage drastically. I speak on this matter with a professional opinion and have been a Crisis Counselor for the last 21 years with 13 of those dedicated to trouble youth. I saw a tweet today that said “you can take the kid out of Cincy, but you can’t take the Cincy out of the kid” and while not the best way to describe this ordeal with Behanan it is a valid point. It is very difficult to erase years of damage created by rough environments. It takes a person to decide that they want to change their past and create a better future for themselves. Chane has said many times that he wants to be the one person in his family that does succeed and in the video below talks about wanting to be “Cincinnati’s Finest”. This very good short documentary by WDRB Sports reporter Pat Doney has the story of how leaving the city he loves may have saved Chane’s life and really brings to light what is going on with him right now.

I think this development today could be a big turning point in the story of this guys life. I still have confidence that he will get it together and wake up before its too late and he misses this great opportunity he’s been given in life. I do expect to see Chane Behanan back on the court in late December. I just interviewed Chane a few weeks ago after the Red and White scrimmage and he didn’t sound like a player that was ready to turn it in. It was exactly the opposite, and Chance talked about how he had finally realized he needs to work harder and has tried to correct his off the court stuff.

The Beak is behind you Chane God speed….