OAKLAND, Calif. – Gary Payton, the retired NBA star, barked at players on the men’s basketball team of Lincoln University during a practice last month.
But Payton, the Hall of Famer, reserved his harshest words for the small school in Oakland where he’s in his third season as head coach.
This season, Payton said, his team had to cancel three trips because Lincoln has limited money for travel, an assistant coach quit because the school stopped paying assistant coaches and he has had to pay for the team’s uniforms, shoes and meals on the road.
“I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat this (expletive) no more,’’ Payton, 55, told USA TODAY Sports. “We’re not where we’re supposed to be. We have to run a program the way it’s supposed to be ran, not halfway (expletive).’’
Mikhail Brodsky, the president at Lincoln University, fired back when told of Payton’s complaints – similar to complaints lodged by former football players and assistant football coaches.
“Gary is a spoiled child,’’ Brodsky said. “We have to understand he is a star and he wants everybody to service him. And if somebody’s not servicing him, he’s frustrated.’’
Payton said he took the job for a chance to work with players in his hometown of Oakland.
‘I’m here for these kids, basically,” Payton said. ‘That’s about it. It’s nothing else.”
But he also indicated his frustration has escalated.
“I’ve stuck around too long,’’ he said. “We should have been better than this.’’
The team is scheduled to play the final game of its regular season Feb. 24, and Payton said he would not step down as coach before then.
‘I’ve got good kids,” he said. ‘I think if I quit right now I’d be quitting on the players because they came here because of me.”
Gary Payton says players were deceived
Former Lincoln football players said they incurred unanticipated costs because they were promised more than they received after they arrived at the school. Gumbs, the school’s athletic director, denied the allegation.
But Payton suggested something similar happened to basketball players.
“From day one, if we come out and be honest with the (athletes) and say, ‘Yo, this is what we got. This is what you going to have to do. But we can help you with this,’ the (expletive), it’d be different,’’ Payton said. “Then these players wouldn’t come in here expecting something that they’re not having … ’’
Payton said three players left because they were “lied to,’’ but he did not provide additional information about what happened or say when the players left.
Lincoln’s most recently available tax records show that Payton made $112,500 during the 2021 calendar year. Brodsky wrote in an email that Payton was paid an additional $90,000 in the early part of 2022 before the university stopped paying him ‘due to (a) lack of funds.’
Payton has worked the past two seasons as a volunteer and said that, in the absence of funding from the university, he’s used some of his own money to help keep the program running.
“Some days I come in here and I don’t have a trainer because he’s got to go and work and do something else,’’ he said. ‘We don’t have a full-time trainer because we can’t pay nobody.”
Payton also said the team is behind on payments at Open Gym Premier, the practice facility in Oakland that Lincoln’s team uses. ‘No other details on my end,” Matt Kanne, CEO at Open Gym Premier, wrote in a text message.
“We got stuff up in here that’s going on that’s just crazy,” Payton said. ‘But it’s a time to put your foot down. My foot is down.’’
Lincoln president shifts onus onto Gary Payton
Brodsky said Payton should accept responsibility for some of the financial issues.
“He’s spending money like crazy,’’ Lincoln’s president said, noting that the basketball team’s travel party has included 12 players and seven staff members. This year the team has traveled to Seattle, New Mexico and Hawaii, according to assistant coach Glen Graham.
The team’s results are not listed on the school’s athletic website, but Graham said the team went 5-3 during 2021-22, a season shortened by COVID-19; 19-12 in 2022-23; and is 15-6 this season.
Last year, Payton and his agent approached Brodsky about the possibility of hiring someone to raise money for the athletic department. But Brodsky said it would be too expensive and he put the onus back on Payton.
“If Gary would really want to do something for sport, he has to raise money using his name. Not for himself, but the university,’’ Brodsky said. “My goal is to teach students. I honestly don’t care what Gary thinks as a coach because if I teach students in Oakland, I’m successful. If they get an education, I’m successful. If they are not professional players, I don’t care …
“I told Gary many times about this. We had open discussions, we respect each other, but he doesn’t understand that this is not a professional team.’’
Athletic director tells Gary Payton: ‘You killed us’
While watching Payton lead practice last month, Gumbs predicted success.
“I’m telling you, give Gary a few more years with the right support, he’ll fill the Oakland (Arena),’’ Gumbs said, referring to the former home of the Golden State Warriors.
But Payton seemed to shoot down the idea when he launched into a tirade about problems at the school.
Of Gumbs’ role in the situation, Payton said, “I don’t care what he do. But don’t keep giving me dreams. Dreams. Dreams. Because all this (expletive) is dreams. Because this program ain’t right and my players ain’t getting what they’re supposed to be getting.’’
Gumbs has shared similar hopes with the football players and assistant coaches. He’s talked of Lincoln playing home games at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which was home to the Raiders before the NFL team relocated to Las Vegas in 2020. After three seasons, the football team has yet to play a single home game.
When Payton finished an interview with USA TODAY Sports and walked toward his office, Gumbs said to Payton, “You killed us.’’
To which Payton shot back, “I didn’t kill us. I told the (expletive) truth!’’
Contact the reporters at tschad@usatoday.com and jpeter@usatoday.com
