First a video that relates to my topic and for your general enjoyment:
Since I started working in college athletics and had the desire to operate my own athletic department, I’ve begun to understand one concept. You have to make decisions based on what you think is best for your program.
This edition of the coaching carolsel for this college football offseason has been interesting. First, there were two black coaches, Tyrone Willingham of Washington and Ron Price of Kansas State being fired from their jobs. Of course, the grandstanding media were quick to point out that two black men were fired and now there were only a handful of minority coaches in college football. Honestly, as a black man, I could care less.
With the wretched state of this economy, the embarrassing War in the Middle East and the rest of the atrocities that are taking place in this country, the hiring practices of athletic departments are very low on my priority list and it should be for you too.
So that opened up jobs and places like Tennessee, Syracuse and other places took suit. The first hiring that confused me was Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. I know that Butch Davis was spoken to but really, Brian Kelly and Mike Leach weren’t really approached and you settled on him, OK, your school, your choice. Its just odd that Lane’s failure as an NFL coach made him qualified to handle a multi-million dollar operation, which is what UT is. He better be prepared. Tennessee is a unique situation.
Then Washington hired Sarkisian from USC. Seriously, all because someone was an assistant at USC doesn’t mean that he’s going to become Pete Carroll. I don’t know how Leach didn’t get this job, he even interviewed for it. Now Leach may have said no to the position, so we don’t know that.
However, the culmination of the whole coaching scenario for this offseason was Auburn. First, I don’t live in Alabama, am not a fan of Auburn and honestly don’t care how they operate. My feelings towards that school are very neutral.
While I said that when you run your own athletic department, you have to make decisions that you think are best for the program, you also have to consider your continuancy. And that’s what Auburn and specifically Jay Jacobs, their AD failed to do. That’s why you see the video above.
Auburn got rid of a man who won 85 games and beat Alabama for six consecutive seasons before this year. I don’t know why the administration, or lets keep it honest, the boosters, never liked him. Remember the whole Bobby Petrino debacle a few years ago?
OK, you get rid of Tubberville and come up with that lame excuse that he resigned yet is getting his full money. You don’t give money to someone that quits a job so we really know what’s going on there.
So now you decide to speak to the following people: Ball State's Brady Hoke, Louisiana Tech's Derek Dooley, Buffalo's Turner Gill, TCU's Gary Patterson, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, Tulsa's Todd Graham, Georgia assistant Rodney Garner and Miami offensive coordinator Patrick Nix. Furthermore, Leach wasn’t even approached.
I must sound like Leach’s agent right now, but the guy is a good coach.
All of them are more qualified than the guy you end up hiring, Gene Chizik of Iowa State. Dude was about to be fired at Iowa State and you give him the keys to, according to the Peoples’ Champion, a top-15 job in the nation. Really?
Of course, the Turner Gill rejection has gotten people all in a tissy, especially Auburn alum Charles Barkley who has decided to make public the issues of a black man with a white wife becoming a head coach of a major program in Alabama.
I would be naïve to say that race may not play a part in this but I think its more ineptitude by Auburn than racism.
Chizik can get to Auburn and become a coaching legend for all we know, but I just don’t see it.
So, kids, what have we learned from all of this besides nothing. Well, lets stick with nothing and call it a night.
Since I started working in college athletics and had the desire to operate my own athletic department, I’ve begun to understand one concept. You have to make decisions based on what you think is best for your program.
This edition of the coaching carolsel for this college football offseason has been interesting. First, there were two black coaches, Tyrone Willingham of Washington and Ron Price of Kansas State being fired from their jobs. Of course, the grandstanding media were quick to point out that two black men were fired and now there were only a handful of minority coaches in college football. Honestly, as a black man, I could care less.
With the wretched state of this economy, the embarrassing War in the Middle East and the rest of the atrocities that are taking place in this country, the hiring practices of athletic departments are very low on my priority list and it should be for you too.
So that opened up jobs and places like Tennessee, Syracuse and other places took suit. The first hiring that confused me was Lane Kiffin at Tennessee. I know that Butch Davis was spoken to but really, Brian Kelly and Mike Leach weren’t really approached and you settled on him, OK, your school, your choice. Its just odd that Lane’s failure as an NFL coach made him qualified to handle a multi-million dollar operation, which is what UT is. He better be prepared. Tennessee is a unique situation.
Then Washington hired Sarkisian from USC. Seriously, all because someone was an assistant at USC doesn’t mean that he’s going to become Pete Carroll. I don’t know how Leach didn’t get this job, he even interviewed for it. Now Leach may have said no to the position, so we don’t know that.
However, the culmination of the whole coaching scenario for this offseason was Auburn. First, I don’t live in Alabama, am not a fan of Auburn and honestly don’t care how they operate. My feelings towards that school are very neutral.
While I said that when you run your own athletic department, you have to make decisions that you think are best for the program, you also have to consider your continuancy. And that’s what Auburn and specifically Jay Jacobs, their AD failed to do. That’s why you see the video above.
Auburn got rid of a man who won 85 games and beat Alabama for six consecutive seasons before this year. I don’t know why the administration, or lets keep it honest, the boosters, never liked him. Remember the whole Bobby Petrino debacle a few years ago?
OK, you get rid of Tubberville and come up with that lame excuse that he resigned yet is getting his full money. You don’t give money to someone that quits a job so we really know what’s going on there.
So now you decide to speak to the following people: Ball State's Brady Hoke, Louisiana Tech's Derek Dooley, Buffalo's Turner Gill, TCU's Gary Patterson, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe, Tulsa's Todd Graham, Georgia assistant Rodney Garner and Miami offensive coordinator Patrick Nix. Furthermore, Leach wasn’t even approached.
I must sound like Leach’s agent right now, but the guy is a good coach.
All of them are more qualified than the guy you end up hiring, Gene Chizik of Iowa State. Dude was about to be fired at Iowa State and you give him the keys to, according to the Peoples’ Champion, a top-15 job in the nation. Really?
Of course, the Turner Gill rejection has gotten people all in a tissy, especially Auburn alum Charles Barkley who has decided to make public the issues of a black man with a white wife becoming a head coach of a major program in Alabama.
I would be naïve to say that race may not play a part in this but I think its more ineptitude by Auburn than racism.
Chizik can get to Auburn and become a coaching legend for all we know, but I just don’t see it.
So, kids, what have we learned from all of this besides nothing. Well, lets stick with nothing and call it a night.
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