OT: School Permission to Interview Coaches
After reading about how Nebraska did not give Miami (YTM) permission to interview Pelini, I was curious about what factors go into play when making that decision. You rarely see schools refuse permission and those instances (not surprisingly) happen with the bigger programs.
Of course, the Nebraska story is a bit different because I believe Nebraska denies that it was even approached by Miami to interview Pelini (thus it did not have to grant permission). But I know there are other circumstances where programs do receive those requests and, once in a while, refuses.
My question is, what is exactly the politics that go behind this decision? Is it something that is negotiated by contract when that coach first signs on to a school? Is it a money leverage factor and how exactly does that impact a school's decision. I'm curious if anyone with knowledge (or TheKnowledge) has any input on this. The whole official "permission" step seems a bit formal, although i understand the implications when you are trying to hire another school's employee.
December 9th, 2010 at 8:31 PM ^
... any top-tier (or top-tier wannabe) school views a coach asking for permission to talk as "Dead Man Walking."
Sort of "If you don't want to be here until we don't want you then leave."
The Pelini thing is interesting; clearly there is some fallout from his performance against A&M. This "JUCO Bo" is some massively tightly wound mofo, that's for sure...
December 9th, 2010 at 8:44 PM ^
As I recall, Jeff Jagodinzki (Matt Ryan's college coach!) over at BU lost his job just for interviewing with the Jets. BU hasn't really done well since, but I suppose it's the principle of the thing for the schools.
December 9th, 2010 at 9:08 PM ^
I think you mean BC as in Boston College. I am not even sure if Boston University has a football team. If they do they must not be in the FBS.
December 9th, 2010 at 8:37 PM ^
There was an article or series of articles a while back which detailed what kind of cloak-and-dagger stuff went into coaching searches. It was more basketball-centric, but the point was, at least as far as the question here is concerned, that once it's gotten to "permission to talk" stage, most of the work has already been done behind the scenes through intermediaries and the permission thing is basically a formality.
Imagine if Pelini received "permission to talk" to Miami and it fell through. Very bad for everyone involved. So usually, once "permission" is granted, the coach is already out the door, it's just a matter of closing it.
December 9th, 2010 at 8:42 PM ^
Right, reminds me of the BC coaching situation a couple years ago.
December 9th, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^
act work on South Beach? I think he would be best to stay by the stalks rather than the sand.
December 9th, 2010 at 9:09 PM ^
December 9th, 2010 at 9:39 PM ^
December 10th, 2010 at 3:40 AM ^
Your summary of Brian's view appears to be a bit off base......
Quote:
To reiterate, I've run everything I've heard through filters of reliability and making a damn lick of sense and come up with this:
- There is a nonzero chance Rodriguez is not brought back or Brandon would have/should have already announced it.
- There is a nonzero chance Rodriguez is brought back or ditto.
- One game is probably not the deciding factor.
- Harbaugh exists. No other candidate strong enough to make a move compelling does.
- You cannot start a real coaching search that takes two to four weeks a month before Signing Day.
The conclusion is that on January second Harbaugh or Rodriguez will be Michigan's coach and that person will be the coach in 2011. No one peddling a story other than that is credible unless their name is Dave Brandon, and even then he's probably just having you on.
I don't know which is more likely. If I get anything that changes my opinion I'll mention it.
UNQUOTE
December 9th, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^
December 9th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
Unless you actually read the whole contract, you can't tell exactly what either party has to do. For the most part, you cannot force a person to perform a personal services contract, although, depending once again on the terms of the contract, you may be able to have the person enjoined from performing the same services for someone else. From what I have read, it seems as if many of these coaches negotiate provisions into their contracts that give them the right to talk to at least certain identified teams or that enable them to buy out the contract for a certain sum, as RR had in his WVU contract.
December 10th, 2010 at 7:04 AM ^
Unfortunately for college football fans, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished involuntary servitude. So you can't use a contract to "bind" a coach in a way that forces him to coach your football team. Contacts are really just used to cover your ass financially and, as another poster pointed out, sometimes to enjoin a party from performing similar personal services for another party.
December 10th, 2010 at 8:07 AM ^
Ignoring all the court cases which preceeded it for the moment, it took a court case in the 1970's to establish free agancy in the nfl. Go back and check it out, prior to that, a players worth was strictly determine by the club for whom they played, and, when trades took place, the salaries were determined by collusion. Don't be fooled, involuntary servitude still exists, we just don't always call it by that name.
December 10th, 2010 at 8:58 AM ^
You haven't described involuntary servitude. You described a situation where a person is contractually prohibitefd from performing similar personal services for another.
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<br>Involuntary servitude would be where a person is somehow obligated to perform personal services even if decide they no longer want to work. You can't contract for something like that.
December 10th, 2010 at 8:48 AM ^
...can be broken by either party. Depending on the industry, a contract will typically require one party to give notice before terminating the contract (e.g., two weeks), or there will be a financial penalty (e.g., one of the parties will pay a penalty). For instance, Rordriguez paid $4 million to West Virginia after leaving that school. In some industries companies have non-compete clauses.
My wife helps manage contractors for a medium-sized business. Each contractor and her company sign a contract. The contract allows either the company or the contractor to withdraw from the contract after giving two weeks notice. Somebody in management wanted to put in financial penalties in their standard contract, but she and her boss talked them out of it. This is a Canadian company, but this is pretty common in the US as well. She's contracted in the US and I've done it in Canada.
I'm sure there are exceptions, and I'm sure somebody on this board knows about them, but they are pretty rare.
December 10th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
Interestingly, I remember reading that Bo would merely shake hands with the AD at the time to confirm an agreement, no written contract was needed by either party. I think this practice was fairly common amongst high profile coaches and their respective universities in days long past.