CollegeSportsInfo.com News: Enough with the Crowning of an Heir

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Enough with the Crowning of an Heir

There's been a disturbing trend of late in college sports and it has to do with coach hirings. You probably think I'm about to write about the lack of ethnic diversity in the hiring process, but I won't. I'll save that for someone else's agenda. Mine problem are the decisions being made to crown an heir to a program, sometimes years in advance.

This past week we saw Kentucky decide that offensive coordinator Joker Phillips will take over for Rich Brooks once he retires in 2011. Note that this is the same Kentucky football program that has suffered for years, finally getting a boost this past season under Brooks.

Last month we saw Jimbo Fisher named the future coach at Florida St. This was hardly news since Fisher unofficially had been promised the position when he left LSU for the same position at FSU, rather than take other head coaching jobs that were considering him.

In basketball, we've seen something even more disturbing: straight forward nepotism. At Drake we had Dr. Tom Davis announce he would retire and his son Keno would take over. At Washington St., we had the same with Dick Bennett and his son Tony. And at Texas Tech, Pat Knight has been named the successor to his father Bobby Knight.

So what's the problem?

Simple. Why lock yourself into a decision? If you have confidence in an employee that years down to road you would consider them for the head coach position, why not allow them to explore head coaching positions and let them know that you want them to be in your programs future. If they feel the same away about your school and program, simply urge them to include a single clause in their contract (if they did leave your program) that has an out clause to return to that single program.

With these delayed coronations we've been seeing, it's putting your future into an unknown entity. Two factors: 1) you don't know how they will perform as a head coach and 2) who knows what other options are out there.

At Kentucky, the program is locking into Rich Brooks for another 3 seasons and then handing off to Phillips. So much could happen between now and then. An up-an-comer with ties to the area could become available. Say there is a former Kentucky assistant who is from the area who leads a WAC, MWC, CUSA, MAC or Sunbelt team to consecutive BCS Bowls? and what if THAT COACH would be willing to bypass openings at the other SEC and Big XII schools because he simply wants to come home and take the Kentucky program to that next level? Too bad. You decided on Phillips 3 years too early.

At Florida St., Bowden is clearly in the twilight of his career. Florida St. is slowly becoming a non-factor in the ACC and a change will be coming. So here comes Fisher to save the day. He's been the offensive coordinator, but the head coaching and recruiting has taken a step back. So what happens if in a season or two, a guy like Steve Spurrier announces he's considering leaving South Carolina. Spurrier could be a home-run at Florida St., knowing the state inside and out for recruiting. Or what if an NFL coach from the area decided that he wants a college job in Florida. So Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden and Steve Spurrier all have interest, and you're set on Fisher.

On to basketball...

Billy Gillespie is struggling at Kentucky. Perhaps his long term plan is to return to the southwest and coach in the state of Texas. UTexas isn't an option, nor is his former job at Texas A&M. The CUSA , MWC and Sunbelt jobs might not have the prestige Gillespie wants. Texas Tech is the perfect option. Too bad. Texas Tech is handing the job to the kid.

Sometimes it works. Washington St. hasn't missed a beat, and perhaps even improved under Tony Bennett. Drake is looking strong as well. And perhaps all the scenarios I mentioned above will work out for the programs. But why lock yourself into a promise and a position? Coaching has a success rate even lower than marriage. Eventually your coach will fail, leave or retire. Why not line up the best options rather than settle?

Labels: coaching changes

posted by Matt Peloquin # 12:18 PM

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