We also know that coaches when they have even a little bit of success can work the system like no other. I truly believe when Les Miles retires he should start a Michigan scholarship fund for all the raises and contract extensions he has gotten from LSU due to "conversations" he has had with Michigan about their football openings.
We all know the Les examples, but let's take a look two other examples that involve coaches at Missouri. The first one was Purdue's head basketball coach Matt Painter who flirted with the opening at Missouri a couple of weeks ago. Was Matt really considering leaving Purdue for Mizzu? Of course not! He just wanted a raise from Purdue and got one. He was on vacation when this entire thing went down. Not too bad to be near the pool, get a couple of calls and end up getting a big raise. I hope he called the front desk and got his room upgraded.
The second comes from Gary Pinkel, Missouri's head football coach. He is quoted in this article (regarding why he didn't interview for the Michigan job) saying, “That was a really difficult situation just because I grew up in Ohio and my whole life I hear about Ohio State and Michigan. To have an opportunity like that is sort of a once-in-a-lifetime thing. For me it still boiled down to I just feel so much a part of Missouri now.”
“The reason I didn’t pursue it was because I feel so much a part of Missouri. I’m so committed personally to continue to build the opportunity I was given. And family, a combination of those things. So, I bowed out of it. I feel really good about it. I thought a lot about it. It got really close. But before I went to the interview, it was a matter of hours before when I decided I wasn’t going to pursue it and I wanted to stay at the University of Missouri. So, that’s kind of the conclusion I came to.”
Gary just signed a two year extension and is now under contract until 2017. Shocker! He didn't even talk to Brandon and still got an extension. We don't know any details of the search but I'm willing to bet Gary's "people" reached out to David Brandon about interviewing for the open position in Ann Arbor.
These coaches and agents have some special talent when it comes to getting more money and extensions when they names are linked with any other jobs. Bob Stoops should have Bill Gates money by now with all the jobs he has been linked to.
3 comments:
This post left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. I wasn't really comfortable with the unsupported presumption that just because these coaches given as examples stayed with their programs and received more money that it necessitates the primary motivation was raise negotiations. That's a pretty heavy accusation against character to levy upon someone without more than circumstantial evidence. I typically enjoy your blog, and I understand this is your blog and you can editorialize as you wish--this one just seemed particularly heavy on the opinion without enough presented to support it.
Hi Bob, I don't think it's a forgone conclusion that Miles and Pinkel were just playing the game to artificially increase their value based on false impressions of high demand. We may never know how strong their candidacies actually were.
And lets be frank, Brandon hasn't been completely honest with us. He'd said things like Hoke was the only person offered. Hoke was the first choice, etc.
Kid and Ricky, I think you both make valid points. I still don't think you can argue that coaches use the leverage of interviewing or being linked to other job openings for more money or years on their contracts.
I can't think of one example where a coach that was thinking about leaving (and the University wanted them to stay) where he didn't get a raise or years on his contract. It even happened at Butler and VCU (basketball coaches) the last 2 years.
I just thought of one - Chris Peterson at Boise State. Any others?
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