FLIGHT TRACKING: CREEPY OR NOT?

by Thermocaster, The Meaningful Collateral

Most of us have done it at some point: Our favorite college team has a coaching vacancy, so we go to the nearest message board for that school. Do we go there to rationally discuss the various candidates? Do we go there to analyze the direction of the program?

No. We go and track private planes across the country.

Ever been to FlightAware? Well, get yourself familiar with it, because it's become one of the most popular web sites in the message board and blog worlds over the last few hiring seasons. All you need is the tail number of a plane, some spare time, and an unhealthy imagination, and you too can be the talk of the message board community!

Here's how it works. The link above is for a plane with the tail number of "N666K", (obviously being flown by Satan) which belongs to the Indiana University Foundation, that flew from the Monroe County airport in Bloomington, Indiana to Las Vegas. What was the purpose of this flight? Well, good question. It could be something as mundane as a trustee having to pay off a gambling debt at the Luxor, or returning a high-priced call girl.

Or it could mean that Indiana basketball is suddenly interested in UNLV coach Lon Krueger.

Interesting, yes. But is it conclusive? Probably not. Great message board fodder, though.

Ooh, another one! Alright, this plane, also belonging to the IU Foundation, has flown to Philadelphia. Lunch with Jay Wright, perhaps?

I've also seen flights from planes related to the University that have gone to College Station, Sarasota, and a couple of other places.

Now, obviously a lot of this is silly. It isn't as if the planes are solely being used for the purpose of talking to basketball coaches. But it does fuel the imagination.

That leads us to the main question here. Is it creepy behavior for a bunch of people to sit around and watch planes coming and going? Don't we as fans risk having an adverse affect on the hiring process by constantly updating the comings and goings of university planes? After all, a flight to Seattle can be explained away in a number of ways...but a flight to Lincoln or College Station is a bit harder to spin.

Unfortunately, most of the job openings these days are filled as clandestinely as possible, because no coach wants to be seen as ready to jump ship. And university PR departments never say anything about potential hires...thereby creating their own mess everytime someone notices that one of the main booster's planes just flew somewhere. I seem to recall a similar situation occurring during the Rich Rodriguez hiring process at Michigan.

So yes...I think it's vaguely creepy. But I also check it all the time myself.