3-Point Conversion

Released today, the frantic 911 call preceding Urban Meyer’s hospital visit has shed more light on Meyer’s recent career decision and subsequent reversal. It is obvious from the call, and Urban’s initial reaction to retire, that the health problems are serious. Meyer has lived at intolerably high stress levels for most of his adult life. This is a guy that, as an assistant at Notre Dame, destroyed a film session TV with his remote after watching a lineman miss a block. The fact that he routinely has chest pains at his young age (he’s only 45) is scary. But being rushed to the hospital when your wife finds you unable to wake, lying on the floor, moments after you complained of numbness in one side of your body, is a bona fide death scare, especially for Meyer’s family.

So Urban did the right thing, he decided to leave coaching, to take it easy and spend time with the kids. He had a health scare and he wanted to spend some time at home, after taking Florida from SEC power to National power. The response was overwhelming, the pundits were out in force, and the college football universe was shocked. As Meyer and Florida AD Jeremy Foley watched, SportsCenter decided to air a one-hour special on the Urban Meyer story. The response was titanic, and far greater than anticipated. This began to hurt the program, a program already searching to replace its Defensive Coordinator, and losing (potentially) quite a few top flight NFL draft picks off the defensive side of the ball, not to mention “the greatest leader to ever play” from the offense. Meyer has recruited extremely well to Gainesville in the time that he’s been there and there is no reason to expect the underclassmen won’t perform, but if he was going to walk away from that mess less than 6 weeks from signing day it would have left the program in a tough bind.

I believe that Meyer and Foley then reconsidered their plan, and determined that Meyer would be fit to continue as head coach, but more in the role of General Manager, rather than Head Coach. Meyer would begin to play the Bobby Bowden/Joe Paterno role, closing on big recruits, calling out generally impertinent tidbits on the sidelines, and answering media inquiries while the assistant coaches handle the day-to-day coaching of the football team. It is obvious that Meyer needs to tone down his on-the-job intensity a few ratchets, but can the super-competitive Meyer ever be satisfied turning over the keys to Ferrari he built? Especially the first time he sees a game, or even a call, he didn’t like? If Florida expects this transition to go smoothly, they need to bring in a very good defensive coordinator hire, a self-motivated hard working individual who Meyer will trust with his program. The only problem is, that guy just got hired at Louisville to be their HC and he’s not coming back to Florida for anything short of the head job. Same goes for Dan Mullen, who had an excellent first season at MSU, and is putting together an impressive recruiting class.

He’s already made his run at Bud Foster from Virginia Tech, who turned him down. Look for Meyer to go after more accomplished defensive coordinators who have been in the running for HC gigs at lesser schools. Brent Venables of OU would be an ideal choice and it will be interesting to see if UF will pull out its SEC pursestrings for this hire, which, for the record must be an absolute home-run.

According to numerous sources, Mike Leach has been handed his termination papers in the wake of the Adam James controversy. For those not familiar, James has accused Leach of locking him in a confined space twice over the span of a few days. This was a stunningly quick fall from the top for Leach, a coach who had been linked to so many job offerings last offseason that he was given a five year deal worth over 2.5m annually. What really happened to Adam James and is it really worth firing the most successful coach in TTU history?

Texas Tech will not hire a coach who can be as successful as Mike Leach. Lubbock, TX is a desert devoid of all hope and life; a recruiting nightmare for a college coach. Leach took an innovative system, coupled with a Big 12 membership and turned Texas Tech into an outside contender for the National Championship in 2008. If you were interested in the success and maintenance of the TTU football program, wouldn’t you take some time to investigate these claims before dismissing the greatest coach in your program’s history? There are several factors at work driving Leach’s immediate dismissal. Firstly, Leach and AD Gerald Myers have never gotten along, reportedly as far back as 2001 when Leach’s parking spot was reassigned to Bobby Knight. This has festered over the years and has turned into a full-blown feud. The second reason for the immediacy of the firing is the $800,000 bonus due Leach if he were the coach of the Red Raiders tomorrow. To me it seems like TTU made a rash decision based on short-sighted economics and personal feelings, without weighing the positives that Mike Leach has brought to the university.

If I were a fan of the Red Raiders, I would implore the President of the University to take a closer look at this situation. While it seems apparent that one of these men must go, perhaps the wrong one has been shown the door. Mike Leach has earned the right to remain the coach, until these accusations are proven to be more than that. Even if they are, Leach deserves some type of punishment, but it is a rash overreaction to fire the man. Amid the media turmoil, don’t be surprised if Leach sits out a season or two, while the controversy dies down. During his downtime, the Juris Doctorate holder can begin the courtroom battle with the university over the proper compensation due to him. In a couple of years, some new BCS caliber team will be happy to have the captain of the pirate ship patrolling their sidelines.

When Lane Kiffin was hired last January, he made waves nationally by assembling the highest paid team of assistants in college football, including his father Monte Kiffin (1.2m annually). However, lost to the public’s eye were the blows he dealt SEC rivals Auburn, Alabama, and South Carolina by stealing away their top recruiters, respectively Eddie Gran, Lance Thompson, and David Reaves. Kiffin’s willingness to sacrifice his own personal salary (his 2 million annual deal is a bargain compared to the SEC’s elite who are earning upwards of 4 million per year) coupled with the influx of revenue from the SEC’s new television deal with ESPN meant that Kiffin had a huge budget to bring in assistants. While this war chest was able to bring in the best that money could buy, Kiffin and UT have found out this offseason that money can’t buy loyalty.

Eddie Gran has already taken off to join Jimbo Fisher in Tallahassee, Thompson has been linked to the Louisville Defensive Coordinator position, and Ed Orgeron is rumored to be reuniting with his old boss Pete Carroll as USC’s DC. Despite their obvious impact on the program, assistant coaches have been relatively underpaid in comparison to coaching salaries until the last few years. Credit Kiffin for realizing the importance of a great staff, and utilizing resources to bring in the best money can buy. As other programs saw the success he had, however, they have become much more willing to pony up to bring in the talent.

Kiffin’s coaching rolodex is deep, and he’s already rumored to be reaching out to UGA’s Rodney Garner (another tremendous recruiter) to fill one of the staff vacancies. For the sake of Tennessee football, however, Kiffin needs to realize the importance of coaching stability. Around the country coaching staffs that remain successful over time are the ones with the fewest turnover. If you don’t believe me look at USC this year, the recruiting classes the past few years have been as loaded as ever, and Carroll remains the head coach, but losing Kiffin, Orgeron, and Sarkisian has been detrimental to his program’s success.

Kiffin has an obvious eye for talent in selecting his coaches, and I believe in the future he will focus his energy on finding great graduate assistants who will develop into great assistants. There is a certain amount of loyalty that can be developed by identifying young, talented coaches and giving them their first shot at BCS football. Instability amongst the coaching staff will ruin any great program, and unless Kiffin refrains from his mercenary hiring tactics, his program will be just the latest to fall victim to staff turnover.