There are still a group of Auburn fans who maintain that the best coach to hire in replacement of Tommy Tuberville was Tommy Tuberville. Did Auburn react to the success of the cross-state rival and traditional power come-back-to-life-again University of Alabama and Nick Saban? It is hard to argue that it did not at least register on the decision-makers’ radar.
Eddie Robinson won more games as a head coach than any other coach in college football while at Grambling University. (Sorry Joe Paterno.) At one time in his career, the university was seriously considering letting him go while the team was struggling. Only a groundswell of alum and media support thwarted this effort. What a travesty that would have been!
College football, on the D1A (FBS) level, is a beauty contest. It is not just for the championship, though that certainly applies, but in terms of the whole athletic department. Many powers that be (especially at southern schools) believe the national prominence and recognition of the football team affect so many other aspects of the university.
Remember the 1993 film, The Program? The head coach has a winning season, misses a bowl game, and is called into the president’s office with the AD and other boosters to talk about the direction of the program. The coach responds with a query about how secure his job is and the president reminds him of how important success on the field is to the alumni base, the boosters, student population, and to recruiting of students even. You may think this is absurd, but let me assure you that conversation takes place at many institutions of higher learning each year.
Should it happen that way? In a perfect world, no way! However, it does exist and thus the constant need to succeed drives many good coaches to either seek fame and fortune elsewhere, take more secure/less flashy jobs or out of the business altogether.
So if we expect coaches to change their job-hopping ways, institutions must show more fortitude, vision, and faith in the direction of programs. Otherwise, prepare yourself for the endless merry-go-round of coaches and programs each season.
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.