The Notre Dame position is currently open and is considering to be a high profiled position at an elite and prestigious school. The school has already created many rumors of potential coaches that could be hired to fill the vacancy. These names include Florida's Urban Meyer, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, and Cincinnati's Brian Kelly. Meyer and Stoops have already publicly announced they are not interested in the Notre Dame coaching job. However, Brian Kelly has not made such a bold statement. Now, the question is, should schools be allowed to "recruit" coaches of other schools, while their school's teams are still playing? I don't think they should. With the example of Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, the Bearcats are creating school history this season by being 11-0, with possibly the school's biggest game coming up against Pittsburgh with BCS bowl implications on the line. So, is it fair for Kelly and Cincinnati to be tied up in this during such an important time? No. I was at the Cincy-Illinois game last weekend and Cincy seemed to struggle a bit against the Illini. I don't know the reason, whether they were looking ahead at Pitt or if it was caused by all the media distractions surrounding Kelly and Notre Dame, but I don't feel it's fair. I think Kelly should stay at Cincy. He has built a great program there and the university and community fully support and are committed to him, and the school would be devastated if he decided to leave.
As for Florida State, their position has already been filled by Jimbo Fisher, the "coach-in-waiting" once Bowden left. This makes me want to touch a bit about the whole "coaches-in-waiting" situations and whether they are good for college football programs. I can only think of 3 school that have these "coaches-in-waiting", Jimbo Fisher at Florida State, Will Muschamp at Texas, and Joker Phillips at Kentucky. Now, does naming these coaches of the future have an impact on the program? I think it does for two of these three programs, with the exception of Texas. At both FSU and UK, the teams have struggled in the past couple years. Now, UK was good a few years ago, but Phillips was named the future coach in January 2008, just after their remarkable season. I think these coaches have an impact on recruiting, as incoming recruits may not know who they will be playing for within the next year or two, possibly turning them away to more stable programs. I think these future coaches also adds more pressure to the current coaches to win now. Bowden and Florida State had been struggling since the turn of the decade and being 80 years old, maybe it was Bowden's time to go and the future coach may not have had much of an impact. But, with the struggles at Kentucky lately, has naming Joker Phillips the "coach-in-waiting" put too much pressure on and possibly running current coach Rich Brooks out of Lexington? The only exception I have is at Texas, where the program has been a powerhouse over the past 5-6 years and that decision doesn't to seem to have had an effect on the program. We will see as time goes on. Overall, I think these "coaches-in-waiting" and premature coaching rumors are bad for coaches and programs. It has them worrying too much on the future and not on the present.
While I think the "coaches-in-waiting" can provide stability to a program, it also keeps from allowing diversity to be part of a program. For a long time, the NCAA has had one of the lowest percentages of coaches of color among their ranks. Some have suggested that the NCAA needs to adopt something like the NFL has with the Rooney Rule.
ReplyDeleteAs for Brian Kelly, I really feel badly for his players at Cincinnati, because I feel that he abandoned them. Bruce Drennan has spoken out vehemently about what Kelly did as well. I think there should be a rule against that!
Yeah I feel bad for Cincy as well. I wrote this before Kelly committed to Notre Dame. I was at the the UC game against Illinois over Thanksgiving break and I just felt that school was committed to keeping Kelly there. He wanted new facilities and they are currently in the works building this giant new sports complex, granting his wish. Then he up and leaves them after the best season and before one of the biggest games in school history. I no longer have much respect for Brian Kelly. He sold out his team and school, after he boldly stated he had no reason to leave Cincinnati.
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