Jeff: Taking A Ride on the Coaching Carousel

Coaches are becoming as big a story as the teams or sports they coach, and money and loyalty are the two biggest reasons why. Nick Saban leaves the Miami Dolphins after just two seasons to sign an 8 year $38 million contract with Alabama. He was lambasted for not being honest about wanting the Bama job and for leaving the Fins high and dry after only two seasons. This only shows that both the media, and us the readers or watchers, can be very hypocritical.

Where was this venom the first 3 or 4 times Saban switched jobs? 1 year at Toledo, 4 years at Michigan State, 4 years at LSU (where he won a split National Title in 2003), then 2 years at Miami. Where were the loyalty questions then? Each time the man broke his contract to take a better position and a better paycheck. In any other profession, would this be questioned? Would he be called a traitor and worse for taking the opportunity for a better job? Would he be called a liar for not telling the media he was interested in the Bama job?

Puh-lease. I'm guessing all 6 of you that read us regularly have applied and accepted a new job while working at another place. Did you march into your bosses office and tell him or her that you in fact weren't going for lunch but instead to interview for another job? Of course not. If you played your cards right, I'm guessing your boss didn't know you were leaving until you gave your 2 weeks notice. So how can you expect Saban to give a straight answer to the media that would hurt his bargaining position? A "no comment" might as well be "I've already booked my plane ticket for Tuscaloosa." If it's anything but "I'm staying with the Dolphins for the rest of my freaking life" then everybody hammers him for looking around. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez parlayed the open position with the Crimson Tide into a raise and bigger paycheck. That's just as shrewd as what Saban did, but because he stayed, it's no big deal.

Why is it that it's ok for guys to show no loyalty to smaller schools as they work their way up the coaching ladder, or for coordinators to break contracts (like the guy who takes the U job will do) to take a better opportunity, but it's not ok for Saban or Steve Spurrier or Larry Brown or any number of coaches who reach the Big Time to do the same? Considering his track record, if I were an AD, would I give a huge long GUARANTEED contract to Saban? Absolutely not. But then again if I were an NFL GM I wouldn't put TO on my team if he were paying me millions of dollars, and yet WHEN the Cowboys cut him, I will guarantee you someone else will take a chance on the guy. It's a free market system of supply and demand, and just because you don't like someone or how they handle their business, if someone's willing to pay a guy, or pay him more than his current employer, I just don't understand why he gets lambasted as a traitor or liar for doing something that 99.9% of us would do if given the same opportunity.