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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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College Notebook No. 20
Monday, December 11, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Grobe, Wake are rare model
©2006 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
The most impressive detail about Wake
Forest's magical season isn't its surprising run to the ACC championship or
upcoming appearance in the Orange Bowl.
That Jim Grobe is a strong bet to remain in
Winston-Salem well into the foreseeable future ranks much higher than a
piece of hardware or a January visit to South Florida.
How a tiny school with little gridiron
tradition can retain one of the nation's finest coaches is hard to figure.
And why Grobe seems unimpressed by larger schools with fatter checkbooks and
more sparkling facilities seemingly lacks logic.
Perhaps it's because Grobe has determined
that his compensation is enough to maintain a healthy and happy existence in
the low-stress parameters that surround Wake Forest. If so, Grobe is the
exception to the rule that college coaches must remain on the lookout for
deep-pocketed suitors in search of the coach du jour.
Not that advancing one's career should be
viewed as a shameful act of greed. Almost any coach would jump at the
opportunity to fatten his nest egg at a school with a higher ceiling.
And he should, as long as integrity is part
of that path.
Coaching at a Division I-A school is a
pressure-packed position in which job security can change on a weekly basis.
So you can hardly fault a coach for striking while the iron is hot.
That's not the issue. Where a problem
exists is when coaches leverage the courtship of other schools to sweeten a
deal with their current one.
Especially when the message is delivered as
an all-out threat.
Unfortunately, strong-arming the
administration is an old practice for college coaches. Flirting with one
school to finagle a better deal at the current one has become an official
protocol in the sports agent's book on fattening a contract.
That was famously employed by Frank Beamer
when he played UNC-Chapel Hill AD Dick Baddour like a secondhand fiddle.
Rich Rodriguez strummed a similar power play when he left Alabama crimson
with embarrassment late last week.
In both cases, each held his current
employer hostage by demanding and receiving a king's ransom. And in doing
so, it soured many on a profession they once considered noble, while
embarrassing the institutions they convinced they would join.
Where's the nobility in that?
Where Grobe and Wake have avoided similar
scenarios is with a two-way extension of loyalty. AD Ron Wellman recognized
early on that he had a good thing in Grobe and awarded him with a ten-year
deal, which is unheard of in major college sports.
So is a coach like Grobe, who has had
opportunities to parlay success into a more high-profile position but has
decided not to jump ship.
Maybe they're onto something in
Winston-Salem.
Pack plays it safe
N.C. State didn't hit a home run when it
replaced Chuck Amato. In hiring Tom O'Brien, AD Lee Fowler slapped a ground
rule double.
It was obvious that State was seeking the
anti-Amato, a stable figure who brought discipline and a no-nonsense
approach to the game. O'Brien meets that objective with a stoic stare.
But if the Wolfpack was looking for someone
to permanently push it past rival North Carolina and into the upper half of
the ACC, O'Brien might not meet that criteria.
Consistent but unspectacular, O'Brien is a
solid bet to annually take State to bowls while keeping a clean image and
graduating players. Expect no less than six wins during lean years, and
perhaps no more than eight during peaks.
Had Fowler selected Navy's Paul Johnson,
the ceiling would have been higher.
Johnson has a stronger familiarity with the
region and has a proven ability for maximizing talent. He also has an
offensive philosophy that equalizes games in which the opponent possesses
more talent.
If there was any drawback to Johnson, it
would have to be the recent surfacing of a potential steroids issue in
Annapolis. And given the number of PR hits Fowler took courtesy of Amato,
you can understand why he played it safe.
Tide's troubles
Is there a more irrational fan base in
college sports than that associated with Alabama football? Let's hope not.
One year removed from a 10-win season, Tide
fans demanded that AD Mal Moore axe Mike Shula, and they now are discovering
that Alabama's vacant coaching post isn't the coveted position they thought
it was.
I guess the fact that Bama has employed
five coaches in the past decade wasn't proof enough.
Many figured Moore could wave a big check
and all the heavy hitters would come running. But Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier,
and Rich Rodriguez each said "no."
Reckon that two-year life expectancy had
anything to do with it?
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02/23/2007 02:03:39 AM |
