Dan Enos: smart or slimy?

Submitted by philidor's legacy on

Dan Enos was officially hired as Alabama QB coach. I don't know Mr. Enos. Never met him. He might be an upstanding guy. But something doesn't smell right. His contract at Arkansas had a no-compete clause with other SEC schools + a large buyout. So after 17 days in Ann Arbor as WR coach, he jumps to Tuscaloosa. This short term move cleared the way for him to avoid a buyout agreement he had with Arkansas and void the non-compete clause regarding joing another SEC staff. Maybe he and Mr. Harbaugh are great personal friends and Jim did him a favor? Does not seem logical. The move seems slimy. Thoughts? 

ak47

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:42 PM ^

Why not both? It’s slimy and smart. Arkansas should get better lawyers that know a non compete should be a length of time not based on a direct move. He found a work around and did what was best for him. As is often the case when people look out solely for themselves with no consideration of impact it was shitty for another group making him slimy. Both things are true

CalifExile

February 23rd, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^

I thought the same thing about Arkansas' lawyers, but then I started to wonder what the actual provision says. Was Enos let go when Bielema got the axe? If so, a non-compete clause probably wouldn't even have effect. I have read elsewhere that his jumping around was unrelated to that clause but I haven't investigated.

bacon

February 22nd, 2018 at 9:35 PM ^

Dude. Fuck Dan Enos. Let him go to Bama like all the position coaches before him, and sure go ahead, win a couple of national championships there. But then he’ll get hired as a head coach somewhere like Colorado St. And he’ll do ok at a small school, but when the big time SEC school comes calling, watch him take a head coaching job somewhere like Florida. And then watch out because he’s going to suck there and then he’ll fuck a shark and come begging to us for a job and we’ll be like fine, but you’re only coaching WRs.

That will teach him.

SFBlue

February 22nd, 2018 at 5:57 PM ^

Don't want to provide no legal advice, but that course of conduct may be in violation of certain legal duties owed to Arkansas. But my personal view on non-compete clauses is that they are, themselves, an unfair and often anticompetitive burden on commerce and the professional livelihoods of hard-working Americans. 

massblue

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:33 PM ^

discussing his contract and the fact that there was no restriction on him.  As to the why? I have no clue, you have to ask him.

Regardless, I am happy with what we have JM is a WR coach and that is what we needed. We did not need another QB coach.

ThatTCGuy

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^

It's shady as fuck that Enos had a backdoor deal with Alabama and used it to get out of his SEC non-compete. I know there probably aren't any NCAA punishment ramifications but it bugs me that the NCAA allows ADs/coaches to leave after one year or less, whilst simultaniously disincentivizing the athlete from doing the same thing.

DrMantisToboggan

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:01 PM ^

If you're partial to unsubstantiated internet rumors (and we pretty much all are at one point or another), there are those who believe that Michigan State folk relayed the message to Dan that if he has ideas of ever becoming the head man at MSU, that he'd better not work for Michigan. 

 

Do I believe this? Uh, I doubt that that alone would be able to cause him to leave a job he took just two weeks earlier. Now, he did recruit for Michigan in the short time he was here, which tells me that at one point he did intend to be here for some time. So...something happened. The job was attractive enough to him that he accepted it. Jim wanted him here because he contacted Enos the year before when Fisch left. Jim was surprised by Enos leaving. I'm not sure. 

 

Maybe he decided he loves the South and wanted to stay there. Maybe he wants the Alabama job one day (idk about that, Dan) or another SEC job. Maybe that one year that Saban and Enos overlapped at MSU was so magical that it forged a bond for life. Idk. But it was almost certainly not Jim doing Enos a favor.

Caesar

February 22nd, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^

Just to add a bit more, I could see plausible, legitimate reasons to jump ship if a 'Bama--at least a peer institution in football--offered a better path to Enos's desired goal or made for an easier move for his family. I could also see it as a penny-pinching, mean-spirited move intended to injure and humiliate Michigan.

MgoHillbilly

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:13 PM ^

I think he got too much hell from msu fans to feel comfortable with the position here. It's sad, because unlike the rest of spartan nation, he would have finally been able to fulfill that secret dream of every spartan - the dream to be a Michigan man. Oh well, too bad for him.

M Go Cue

February 22nd, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^

Enos was fired along with the entire staff. He didn’t cheat the system.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/articles.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/20…

This is from his Arkansas contract:
“You covenant and agree not to accept employment in any coaching capacity, except for a head coach position, with any other SEC institution, including any East or West Division institution, prior to the expiration date of the Term and any mutually agreed up on extensions of the Term."