The Inconsistencies of Coaching Marriages

By Josh Williams

With the current transgressions coming out about Jim Tressel and Ohio State University, it made me put my thinking cap on about the short marriages that end in such dreadful divorces for coaches and universities.

Some coaches leave for greener pastures, others don’t live up to expectations, and then there are the ones run out of town by the media and its fans. Very rarely do we see a happy separation between coach and college. Unless your name is Joe Paterno, it seems every coach is one measly slip away from the utter fall of coaching instability.

I compare it to marriages in today’s society. They say that 50% of wed locks end in divorce in the United States. It seems like an astounding number. And while I am one that likes to see consistency and stability within athletic programs, the never-ending desire for Win Now At All Costs has put a bad taste in the mouths for sports fans.

What happened to the days of reliability and trust? It’s all about What Have You Done For Me Lately, and it hurts me to say, but it has put a damper on college athletics. In this technological age of up-to-the-second tweeting, message boards and every-day call-in shows, WE are the ones at fault for this.

According to many bloggers out there, the majority of coaches are on the verge of failing Coaching 101, even though many of them have received grades of 3.0 or better. I don’t know if any of you have been to a job interview lately, but not every employer expects a perfect 4.0 from applicants. Now the curriculum of coaching seems to be more of a 500 level course, and only a few can manage the hard rigors that it provides. Many will fail, few will persevere.

It takes time to build success, and the best teachers are the ones who can learn from their mistakes. We must embrace misfortunes and burn it as fuel for our journey. Does anyone think newly acquired Lakers coach Mike Brown would have been hired if he had continued to tutor a Lebron-less Cavaliers team this past season? I can guarantee you he would have been thrown to the wolves after a heartless season in Cleveland. I’m happy to see him given that shot in L.A.

Adversity introduces a man to himself, and it is the hardships in life that bring out the best in you. Just last year LSU football coach Les Miles was talked about as a coach on the “Hot Seat.” Multiple analysts were placing an over-under on how many victories he needed to keep his CEO throne in Baton Rouge. And, only four short years before, he had won a National Championship.

The dexterity for a football coach in the present day is similar to a Swiss army knife. Their face is the footprint for organizing the most volatile budget for a university. Marketing and publically selling themselves, year in and year out, to current and prospective season-ticket holders, boosters, college students, high-school athletes and their families, university staff, assistant coaches, etc. They must present to the school that they are the right man for the job, and that truly they want to be there for the long haul, whether they mean it or not.

Take Iowa State Football for instance. In 1995 Dan McCarney was hired on as the new football coach. He was the right fit, in the right place, for the right team. He grew up in Iowa, created a rapport with university officials and gained the respect of coaches in the Midwest. And it took time. After 5 years and a despicable record of 13-42, he was thrown under the bus. His head was on the cutting board, and if that were the case today, he probably would have been fired. But we stuck with him, and in the next six years, Iowa State was represented on the sidelines in five bowl games by Mr. McCarney himself. It couldn’t have been sweeter. This was a man who would jump off a cliff for the Cyclones. But there was one problem, he couldn’t take our team to the next level.

Gene Chizik trailblazed his way up from Texas in 2007, and was thought to be one of the most prolific up-and-coming young coaches in the game. But he wasn’t the right fit. Born and bred in the south, his arrogant style didn’t click with the University. The professionalism and dependability of McCarney was gone, and all that was left was a high-risk high-reward dictator, who didn’t even unpack his cardboard boxes in his prosperous new manor. With a few games left, in what turned out to be his last season in Ames, Chizik proclaimed he was, “firmly entrenched” at ISU. Chizik’s nose couldn’t have grown faster than Pinnochio’s.

So what is the right fit for a coach? Is it the upstanding individual who cares about education and graduation rates? Or is it the recruiter, who will do anything, right or wrong to get HIS type of athlete. Maybe it’s the school’s former player and assistant coach, who bleeds loyalty and respect. Or is it the detailed X’s and O’s wizard who can draw anything up on paper?

You ask any fan, the tall and the small, and all they want, are Victories.

From the words of Al Davis, “Just Win, Baby.”

So how much winning is enough? John Cooper had an incessant winning style at Ohio State. But he was canned, because he couldn’t beat Michigan. Mike Shula went 10-2 at Alabama in 2005, leading the Crimson Tide to Number 8 in the country, only to falter to 6-6 the following year, then flung hopelessly into the unemployment line.

Jim Tressel was a highly respected man at Ohio State. He was looked up to by many in the coaching fraternity. But the man wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. His athletes were the ones who made the mistake, and they will pay for their wrongdoings. Based on the severity of the actions – selling OSU memorabilia and receiving tattoos - at a discount isn’t life-threatening. The fact was, Tressel couldn’t go on as CEO of Buckeye Nation with these clouds overhanging in his shadow.

The judge and jury has become the voice of the media. Sportscasters and analysts have all weighed in on this topic, (and many others) and with all that clout comes responsibility, they say. While I hope to see Mr. Tressel go on and prove these naysayers wrong, the past will never escape him.

So what is the moral of the story do you ask? I prefer to look at the glass half full. Everybody makes mistakes, no one is perfect. Our media has scrutinized and blown out of proportion too many instances that are commonalities in today’s society. Our standards may need to be lowered to a certain extent.

It makes any fan proud to see a coach on the sidelines who they can relate with, and who has been with them for the long haul. It’s similar to your local banker, family doctor, or insurance salesman. It’s OK to not always finish in first place. Oh how much sweeter it is, when the guy, who you’ve had his back for all those years, can step up and become great.

Nobody is perfect. Not everyone can live up to the expectations. Give our coaches the opportunities to build their programs up to their own potential.

The Field of Dreams says it best – “Build It and They Will Come.”