It’s a football coach. There will always be more of them.
How much are these college coaches worth? How much you got?
But as crazy as the college football coaching carousel might be, one thing needs to stop right here, right now.
Athletic directors, STOP FALLING FOR THE AGENT TRICK of getting you to unnecessarily extend the contracts of college football coaches.
No, it doesn’t promote stability. A college football coach’s job status is only as stable as the next loss allows. No, it doesn’t lock him in. If there’s a better job out there, the agent will figure out a way to make it happen.
No, it doesn’t work if you’re looking ahead five years and thinking you’re getting a deal, because 1) if the coach wins, he’s going to renegotiate for more money, and 2) if he loses, you’re hamstrung for years with a whole lot of bad paper.
So on the flip side of all of this …
Just remember, Norman Dale isn’t Norman Dale – the most overrated coach of all-time, but I digress – without Jimmy Chitwood
Coaches get paid way too much and they have too much of an outsized importance. However, it’s one of the most insanely pressure-packed gigs possible.
You can never, ever, ever, ever, ever lose if you’re a head coach at a big program, and bless your heart if you have a bad month like Dan Mullen did in 2021.
Wisconsin turned it over late against Washington State, it went on the road to play the best team in college football right now (Ohio State), and it had a very, very bad day against a solid Illinois squad. If one of those three things is different, Paul Chryst is still the head coach right now (even though the place wanted to make sure Jim Leonhard didn’t bolt to some place like Nebraska).
But this is a business and these are business deals. They’re just wrapped up in the fun world of college football, which goes hand-in-hand with …
The Jerry Jones 3 rules of business: ask for the money, ask for the money, ask for the money
Before I start, USC’s Caleb Williams is doing a slew of wonderful things, he’s helping out a bunch of causes, and he really is what you’d want your starting quarterback to be.
On the USC-Arizona State broadcast, the announcers extolled the virtues of Williams and how he’s handling his NIL deals. He gave away a slew of Beats headphones to the women’s basketball team, and he’s spreading the wealth around, and …
This needs to stop.
First of all, if Williams actually paid for those headphones he needs to fire his agent/marketing company immediately. EVERYONE knows Beats gives headphones out to cool people as part of its promotional plan, because it wants everyone to be on social media doing what they do wearing the product.
Second, yeah, do whatever you want to do with your money, but a player shouldn’t have to feel like he needs to give it away. You know who doesn’t give away their money? Rich people.
NIL is code for a job. It makes it sound more official and palatable, but Name, Image, and Likeness deals are nothing more than money being paid to do a job, and that job might be to simply be Caleb Williams.
It’s not like anyone is doing these players a favor. They’re not getting NIL deals/jobs just because.
No, the player shouldn’t feel guilty if he’s not giving away things to other athletes who aren’t as talented. No, the player isn’t a bad guy if he doesn’t give away his earned money to various causes.
Hey, locker room, are you grouchy because some of the players are getting theirs and others aren’t? Welcome to the world, son. If you want to get paid, go get paid.
But enough of this delightful theoretical banter. On to some real sportsy sport college football things …
Cavalcade of Whimsy
The silly world of college football coaching
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