Boston College followed through on a promise and fired Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski if he interviewed with the NY Jets of the NFL. This instance, along with last year’s lawsuit of Rich Rodriguez by West Virginia, is some big steps by institutions to take back some control. Now, the institutions need to step up in the way they deal with coaches.
Many pundits (me included) rip on coaches for bailing from job to job, but that is a by-product of institutions that pull the trigger on coaches after a struggling season or two. This is not directed at programs where changes occur after three or more losing or break-even seasons. If the program is not headed in a positive direction (however subjective a measure that may be), change may be warranted. I am talking about the kind of pressure that almost ran Mack Brown out of Texas before Vince Young did his thing; the kind of pressure that led to Tommy Tuberville’s resignation at Auburn; he rather unwarranted pressure that is slowly building on Jim Tressel at Ohio State and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma.
The pressure to win and win now is heavier than ever. As the business of college football has grown and become more and more profitable, so has this pressure. Institutions have parted ways with coaches with winning records, consistent bowl appearances, and high graduations rates. You would think this is rewarded with contract extensions, but if all of that does not equate to conference wins and BCS wins, the coach may soon be on the way out of the door.
Many will say that the competitive nature of the sport dictates an expectation of a quick turnaround for a program. Some college programs jump too early at early success – see Notre Dame which rewarded Charlie Weis with a huge contract after one year and now rumors abound about the size of his buyout contract. Some programs seem out of touch with what it takes to be/stay competitive in the conference/nation – see UCLA who spent a crazy amount of money for Rick Neuheisel’s tainted résumé and work history in order to compete with USC. Either scenario creates enormous buyouts, crazy contract stipulations, and only adds to the cycle of confusion.
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Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
We saw a lot of institutionalized coaches leave this year: Fulmer, Tommy Tuberville, Tommy Bowden, Tom Amstutz (too! many! Toms!), and Rocky Long to name a few. Some of those decisions were mutual, others weren't. But some schools wants to see their coaches with passion, and something to prove. After a while you just don't have that, and you can go through the motions. The coaches for all those schools have a lot to prove.
But then you have schools like BC, Army, and Iowa State, whose coaches are leaving the senior class to play under their third coach as an amateur. That's just way too many, and it's bad for the program.