Bo's Words: Wait for the Right Opportunity

Submitted by Clarence Beeks on

Durkin would have been wise to heed Bo's advice:

"What did I do with all this knowledge I acquired from Doyt and Ara and Woody?

I didn't sell myself, that's for sure.  I used it to become the best assistant coach I could be.  I had no qualms about eing an assistant coach, and I thought i was the best offensive line coach there ever was!

I have never applied for a job in my entire life.  I have never, not once, prepared a resume.  I just figured if I worked hard and got really good at this, someone's going to say, "This guy is good," and I'd get plent yof opportunities.  And I was right.

Don't worry about marketing yourself.  Just be good at what you're doing now and enjoy it, and things will take care of themselves.  Yes, I know in some fields you have to get your resume out and all that, but I think it's overestimated.  In most businesses, word gets around pretty fast - and hey, that's what headhunters are for.

That was the final lesson I learned from my days as an assitant coac: Don't waste your time and energy looking for the next job.  Take care of the job you've got now.  If you're good at what you're doing now, they'll find you.  Trust me, word will get out there, and they'll find you.

They always do.

And when that happens, don't jump at the first offer, just because you think it's a promotion.  Being an assistant for a great organization is better than being the head honcho at a place where you're being set up for failure.  You've got to wait for the right opportunity, working for the right people - because if you're impatient, you're going to regret it."

Intro to Chapter 3 of Bo's Lasting Lessons (which, if you have not read it, you owe yourself to do so).  Sure, he's the boss now at Maryland, but this move makes no sense at all from a career trajectory perspective.  Total mistake and the fact that he made it, contrary to Bo's teaching, says to me that he wasn't the right fit for Michigan, anyway.  We'll look back on this in four or five years and this will be spot on.

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go16blue

December 2nd, 2015 at 8:47 PM ^

Good LORD people! Durkin has been a DC for three years at two very prestigious institutions, a coach for 14 years, and an interem HC at Florida. Maryland is an excellent opportunity for a first-time HC: a big school in a big-time conference, with great recruiting opportunities (relatively speaking of course). They interviewed Mark Richt for god sakes, and people are going to criticize DJ for jumping at the opportunity? Get a grip. 

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Germany_Schulz

December 2nd, 2015 at 8:58 PM ^

We likely all feel a bit 'betrayed' as I know, I hoped to see Durks last a good few seasons and build us a monster defense.  That's why it hurts some.  In the end, I have faith in Michigan.  

No coach, is more important than the team.

The Team, The Team, The Team -- Bo

 

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titanfan11

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:11 PM ^

and arguing that he is taking a bad job.  But it is a head coaching job at a school where football is secondary.  Yes, there is Under Armor money, but isn't Maryland similar to a job like Kentucky?  Get to a bowl and it is seen as a big success.  And, I can't imagine Durkin is thinking this, but if you get Maryland to say 3 bowls in 5 years, I would guess bigger opportunities would be available to a coach in his early 40s.  

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Clarence Beeks

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:11 PM ^

It's amazing how many people can't (or won't) comprehend the bolded part of the quote. It doesn't say don't pursue other jobs. It says don't pursue jobs that will set yourself up for failure. As many have rightly noted, this is at best the fifth best job in its own division. It just reeks of being an impulsive move to jump at the brass ring. A great counter example is Kirby Smart who could have easily had a job like Maryland five years ago. Instead he waited, further developed, and parlayed that into Georgia. A successful season at Maryland will have at least three losses. Think about that for a minute. The attitudes that say "this is a great move", "great opportunity" are very like the same folks who jump from employer to employer the first time more money is waved. Great way to make money, but not an ideal way to build a career (and a reputation).



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pescadero

December 3rd, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^

Hmmm....

 

1) Mullen couldn't do financially much better

2) Not knowing Mullen personally - we have no idea if any other situation would be more enjoyable for him to work in.

 

So your entire argument for "much better" rests on "higher likelihood of high level football success"

 

I took a 75% pay cut when I left Intel and moved back to Michigan - but I was doing "much better" AFTER the move than before.

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Wee-Bey Brice

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^

There's also another side of that coin. If Kirby Smart takes a job like Maryland and wins 8 games a year and throws a 9 win season in there, he's highly regarded. You go to Georgia and win 9 games for four straight years and now you're just Mark Richt. Durkin is like 37, there's no reason not to use a job like Maryland where expectations are reasonable to catapult yourself into better jobs. 

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gremlin3

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:13 PM ^

...that was, like, you know, Bo's opinion, man.

There's been countless times coaches have been told, "Don't do it, you'll never win there."

  • Haden Fry, Iowa
  • Bill McCartney, Colorado
  • Bill Snyder, Kansas State

And that's just a sampling. There's probably some truth to the part about having administrative support, and I wouldn't want to take a job in the B1G East right now, but, you never know.

And if Durkin wants to climb the HC ladder, he'd better get started.

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Clarence Beeks

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:15 PM ^

Also, for the record, two things:
(1) I'm not someone who is butt hurt to see him go (as some of the comments seem to suggest). Quite the contrary - I think he could have done far better.
(2) this is the arena that I work in (i.e. professional development/recruiting). In other words, I get paid to be an expert in this subject matter and am way more than qualified to judge this objectively as a poor move.



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JBE

December 2nd, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^

I think he's saying he's way more than qualified to judge this as a bad move for Durkin. More qualified than what or whom I'm not sure. Go ahead and send Durkin an e-mail detailing your career expertise when it comes to finding football coaches successful jobs, and then outline a plan to ensure his bright future. C'mong, man.

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Clarence Beeks

December 2nd, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^

As a general matter, yes. I've seen professionals bungle situations quite analogous to this so much more often than they get it right it's not even remotely an even comparison. The beauty of the Bo quote is that it's right (was then and always will be). You can't short circuit success by just jumping for the paycheck and the title. Has to be the right fit and anyone objectively looking at this cannot say this is the right fit. Hell, just look at what their AD has publicly said they want their program to be. Nothing in Durkin's background fits that.



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pescadero

December 3rd, 2015 at 9:17 AM ^

You're assuming your definition of success is objective and matches that of Durkin.

 

Your definition of success is purely subjective, and you have no idea of Durkin's subjective valuations.

 

There are many, many, many things other than money and career advancement that can fall under ones personal subjective definition of success.

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Clarence Beeks

December 3rd, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^

The definition I'm working under is objective, but I'm not trying to match Durkin's subjective definition.  Only Durkin knows his subjective definition, so no one else can (really) utilize that.  Your point is right, though, in that the real divide here on many of these posts is a different between subjective evaluations.  On any objective measure, though, this is a bad fit for this particular coach, but you can't account for his own subjective considerations.

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Clarence Beeks

December 2nd, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

This post actually reminds me of something I've always thought was interesting about Internet message boards: because of the anonymity the presumption is that everyone is on an equal plane when it comes to personal experience and the validity of their opinion and that is just boils to simple logic of "opinion A sounds better than opinion B and so I'm going to go with opinion A even though I don't actually know if opinion A is right". Just interesting.



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pescadero

December 3rd, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^

Whether it is a good or bad move is an almost purely subjective analysis, and the only person who can do that analysis is the person in the job. It cannot be judged objectively, and no one other than the subject can judge it subjectively.

 

About ten years ago I took a job with much less pay AND way less chance of career advancement - it was a great move.

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wahooverine

December 3rd, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^

How can you objectively judge this situation? Your conclusion that it's a poor move is based on the speculative premise that he will not be successful at Maryland. Your professional training doesn't enable you to predict that. It's also clearly based on a premise that being a Michigan assistant for another year or two will lead to a better career path than taking a P5 coaching job in a great conference right now. Again impossible to predict. And clearly your stance is biased because you think this hurts Michigan or that because Durkin dumped Michigan after a year his decision is obviously wrong. While I share that same bias, it doesn't support the argument that he made a poor career move.

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mgoblue78

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:16 PM ^

It is generally not remembered that Millie was not Bo's first wife.

Bo's first wife left him rather than move from Columbus to Oxford when he took the Miami job.

Think about that for a minute.  It was more important for Bo to take that HC job than to remained married to his first wife. And it was more important to her to live in the state capitol with ~500K population rather than move to a town of 15K with her husband.   

http://spec.lib.miamioh.edu/cradleofcoaches/items/show/43

 

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Michigan4Harbaugh

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^

Yeah that Durkin wouldn't even wear a Michigan cap on the sideline. He was all about those Adidas caps.

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ford_428cj

December 2nd, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^

Durkin can gtfo. Him interviewing during osu week & then making us look like chumps with his weak ass plan...& hardly any worthwhile adjustments.

He smiled too much on the sideline too. 

We should have been crashing the line - like those heathen Spartans did. 

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