Sports Rant: Coaching Carousel
It’s that time of year again. That time when college football coaches forget they’re under contract and athletic directors fail to say “Hey Coach! See this? This is the contract you signed not more than 12 months ago to be the coach here for the next 5 years!”
I don’t get it. I can’t think of any other profession that allows employees under contract (and very large ones at that) to talk to direct competitors so openly. And they can do it with no fear of punishment or consequence, other than a briefly perturbed fan base. In fact, coaches are more incentivized to leave while they’re still under contract than not. Why? Buyouts. If you’re going to be let go from your current position, wouldn’t it be nice for the company you work for to pay you a large sum to go away? In the meantime, go get yourself another high-paying job with another multi-million dollar buyout. If you don’t perform there either, who cares? You got cash.
Some coaches flirt with other schools for the sole reason of getting an extension and a raise from their current school. Not only is this completely transparent, but it doesn’t exactly inspire loyalty and support from fans and players.
Smaller schools better hope they don’t have a good year or two. It’s almost a certainty that a successful small school coach will jump to a bigger university. And it’s simple to figure out why: Money. They can earn more money at a bigger school that has a bigger budget. They have a bigger assistant coach pool to attract and keep good assistants to build a winning program. But those assistants are much like the small school coaches. If some school offers them a head coaching position, they’re out the door to begin their own version of “Who’s Gonna Pay Me Next?”
It’s a game of poach or be poached. Coach A leaves school #1 for school #2. School #1 must hire Coach B away from school #3. School #3 must hire Coach C away from school #4. And on down the line it goes in an ironic attempt to employ a coach that will stay long enough to “build a program.”
This is the same institution that punishes student athletes for doing the very same thing, albeit with no money involved, supposedly. A kid that transfers has to sit out a year unless strict guidelines are met concerning family illness, etc. If that kid transfers within the same conference, he or she has to sit out 2 years in some conferences. Even more ridiculous is the coaches that don’t approve a transfer, leaving the kid eligible to attend (read: pay for) classes at another institution but ineligible to play.
It just seems a bit hypocritical to me to see coaches, men that are tasked with the responsibility of instilling desirable qualities into youths through sports including loyalty, trust and character, able to jump from job to job while yelling through a downpour of cash to former players, “Don’t follow me! It’s against the rules!”
It’s Idiocracy at its finest.