Okay, Tennessee fans. Your coach has dumped you for the West Coast. You want to hire the best coach available to replace the bum and money is no object. So you target Will Muschamp over at Texas, offering to triple his salary. Everyone wants a raise, right? And Muschamp must be getting tired waiting for Mack Brown to retire, right?Well Vols Nation, I have something to explain to you. Tennessee has great college football traditions and is a wonderful place to work (I assume). But leave Texas? Are you crazy? There are elite programs in college football and then there are THE ELITE programs in college football. Texas, thanks to its ownership of a majority of superstar recruits from its fertile home state, great support and excellent tradition, is one of a select few. Ohio State, which rules the Buckeye State, is another. Florida, Alabama, Penn State and maybe LSU and USC are in the discussion. But not one of them--not even Florida or Alabama--presents such an ideal situation for a head coach. For one thing there is his eventual salary, if he proves to be successful in Austin. With help from the donations of some fatcat alumni, Texas will begin paying Mack Brown $5 million per year. Muschamp himself makes $1 million to be an assistant. Secondly, Texas pours a lot of money into facilities. If Muschamp wants something he will get it. Third, without lifting a finger Muschamp can lock up half of a top ten recruiting class by signing his pick of the best kids from the state. By September when the rest of the top programs are backstabbing each other to get an agreement from the latest hotshot linebacker, the Longhorns already have 24 kids signed and can focus on the actual football season. And how often do you think Mack Brown has to leave Texas to lock up a big recruit? Then there is the competition for media and other forms of publicity. The state is on board with that. And finally there is the schedule, which consists of Oklahoma at a neutral field plus a few other solid programs mixed in with some scraps. In the past five regular seasons, Texas was an underdog three times total, twice to Oklahoma. In other words, coaching Texas is the best job in all of football--pro or college.
As for Tennessee? The facilities and pay are there, of course. But of the 24 kids Kiffin et al signed for this year, only one was from in-state. Kiffin's staff had to work ten times as hard as Mack Brown's, with similar results. And competition? Florida and Georgia are annual guarantees and the SEC West powers come in and out of your schedule. Again, it is not even close. Tennessee was a dog more times last year than Texas has been for the past five years. To quote our favorite punching bag, Lane Kiffin, it is a no brainer for Muschamp to stay where he is in Austin.
Never mind about the coaching carousel. Let's talk about the athletes and the NCAA.
ReplyDeleteThis whole circus that Pete Carroll started has exposed the NCAA for its maltreatment of the same students they are ordered to protect.
Coaches come and go. It's a fact of life in the business. But the ridiculous signing period that's in place makes it impossible for a coach to leave at a good time.
I said this after Brian Kelly fled to ND. The signing period should be pushed back to April or May, just like it is for non-athlete students. This way, coaches and teams can explore changes after the bowl season and give athletes plenty of time to make a sound decision should a coach leave his school.
Also, I understand Kiffin's assistant Orgeron contacting Tennessee recruits is against the rules. But why shouldn't an athlete be able to go with a coach who recruits him? Athletes really sign on with a coach, not a school. So if a coach leaves before a recruit starts school, shouldn't he be allowed to follow the coach?
There are way too many restrictions on athletes. It's time for the NCAA to re-evaluate its rule book.
Interesting analysis of why Texas is such a great place to coach. Another aspect of that is that most of the "elite" programs are in towns where they dont have to compete for attention with pro football etc. Austin is a fairly major (and fun) media market to have to one's self. That is also why the USC job is such a "no brainer". USC is THE team in the second largest media market in America, and they also own their choice of recruits in one of the most fertile football fields in the country.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Kiffin deal, Kiffin may may as rotten a human as Tennessee fans have suddenly decided he is, or he may not be. He may be an offensive genious or just offensive. Dooley might be the best coach in the country for all we know. We'll see. But what we do know is that the SEC is no stranger to integrity-free coaches and that Tenn fans should not be shocked by anything they see in their conference or at their school. Tenn proved that they are not above "luring" a coach away from another school for an opportunity to move up the coaching food chain - just like SC did and Notre Dame did and 100 schools before them did. The system sucks but the schools who created it and perpetuate it are all the same. So lets lose the self righteous act and try to enjoy it for the semi-pro sport that college football has become.