Coaches on the "Hot Seat"

I have a question for all of you Athletic Directors out there in the college football universe. Do you guys really believe that your team is going to win every year? Do you believe that your bad or mediocre team is suddenly going to be good by hiring a new coach? Do you honestly think that firing a new coach after two or three years is a good practice?

If you have been keeping up with the news then you know by now that Charlie Weis and Al Groh were fired today. Both still had years left on their contracts, meaning they will both be collecting checks from their former schools. Both coaches also had winning records overall. Let me clarify...two schools are going to have to continue paying winning coaches while searching for a new coach to take over a non-winning team.

This is a heads up to Athletic Directors thinking of firing your current coach and going in a "new direction." Don't do it without really stepping back and looking at the big picture. Take Virginia for example. They let a guy go who had taken the Cav's to 5 bowl games and was the ACC coach of the year in 2007. I admit that he had a couple of down years, but he was still a winning coach.

Now Virginia has to find a new guy to come in and take over a mediocre program that will never compete each and every year. They are not even the best school to play football in their own state, much less in the ACC. Groh did the best with what he had, and he had an established program going. What high school kid wants to come into a situation with a first year coach at a middling program? Are you going to fire the new guy after 3 losing seasons and start again?

I believe that if a coach is winning more games then he loses most seasons you should let him be. Don't get too trigger happy at the first sign of adversity. Not every team is going to win every year. Someone has to lose. You take your bad seasons along with the good. That is how you build a program, not by trying a new coach and system every 3-5 years because he isn't winning the national championship every year.

There is only one Champ every season. That means there are 118 teams that didn't win the championship. Do all 118 teams need to fire the coach they have in favor of some new guy? Will that new guy take your team to a national championship? No and probably not.

I am not saying that schools should never fire anyone because that isn't true. I am just saying that teams should use more logic and caution before making the change. Think about what the coach has done his whole time there, not just this season. Did the team compete? Has the team had more success than failure? Are good recruits coming to look at your program?

Take a look at Joe Paterno and Penn State. Folks up that way were calling for Paterno's head a few years ago after two losing seasons in '03 and '04. He kept his job and responded with an 11-1 regular season and a bowl victory. He then had two 8-4 seasons in '06 and '07. The last two years he has gone 11-1 and 10-2 respectively. I bet all those fans and boosters who called for his head are thanking their lucky stars that Paterno is still coaching at Penn State.

Take this advice to heart A.D.'s. Don't let a winner go. Don't let one bad season lead you to making a brash decision. If your current coach has proven to be good in the past, he is still good now. Players come and go, injuries occur, and sometimes the other teams are just better that year. Don't fire your guy today thinking that the next guy will do better. That is not always the case and you may find yourself wishing you had old reliable back.