Isiah Insanity

Just when you think things can’t get weirder in sports, Isiah Thomas gets a job as a college coach.

Florida International University hired Thomas, this week, which is flat-out mystifying.

You already know the baggage he brings, which includes a sexual harassment settlement in New York, a sleeping pill overdose incident, bankrupting the CBA and failing the Knicks.

Yet FIU thinks he’s a good hire.

In an attempt to polish his good-guy image, Thomas said he’d donate his first-year salary to the school. How nice. That must be all of $200,000. Meanwhile, the Knicks reportedly owe him $12 million.

I have an idea: Why doesn’t he give back some of the money he lost the Knicks in that lawsuit? That was an $11.5 million settlement with former employee Anucha Sanders Browne, who claimed Thomas sexually harassed her and the Knicks let it happen. How about paying back some of the CBA owners whose teams had to fold?

One other note: Thomas reportedly conferred with Bob Knight about what it takes to coach in college basketball. Great. Just what we need. Another Blustering Bobby.

The amazing thing is that guys like Knight and Thomas keep getting jobs. Despite their pattern of problems, someone always seems willing to hire them, along with their baggage.

FIU should know better. Then again, it has lost 20 games in three of the last four years. Maybe the school figures bad publicity is better than no publicity.

Legend has it – probably erroneously – that P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

That must apply to college basketball administrators.

On the other hand, maybe they want just what Barnum provided – a real circus.