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Win big-now-or-else mentality is the norm in college football
By John Hollis
Published:
Georgia’s stunning decision to fire Mark Richt and the failed coup at LSU involving coach Les Miles were undeniable shots across the bow to every major college football coach.
Win big now or we’ll find somebody who will.
“The message it delivers is championships matter – that’s just how it goes,” Bulldogs wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell said in Atlanta this week, before the Home Depot 25th Annual College Football Awards Show at the College Football Hall of Fame.
It’s a sign of the times, said ESPN on-air personality Chris Fowler.
“There’s very little patience and very little tolerance for sustained excellence,” he said.
Fowler, who helped host this week’s Home Depot 25th Annual College Football Awards Show at the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, noted that Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz will be the longest-tenured coaches in major college football following the upcoming retirement of Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer.
But all three successful coaches have drawn fire in recent years from disgruntled fan bases looking for change.
“Nothing surprises me with the comings and goings of coaches anymore,” Fowler said.
Georgia’s decision to part ways with Richt after 15 years surprised most college football observers. The Dawgs entered the season as the prohibitive favorites to win the SEC East, but muddled to a somewhat disappointing 9-3 campaign after losing star tailback Nick Chubb to a season-ending knee injury in early October.
Richt leaves Athens with 145 career wins, two SEC Championships and 15 bowl appearances. He won 74 percent of his games, but was ultimately done in by his inability to bring home an SEC title in 10 years.
Championship-starved boosters lusting for the kind of annual success enjoyed by coach Nick Saban at nearby Alabama had desperately sought the move and finally engineered the revolt that brought in former Crimson Tide defensive coordinator and alum Kirby Smart to succeed Richt.
Richt, however, didn’t stay unemployed long, as he needed just a few scant days to come to terms with his alma mater and assume the head coaching vacancy at Miami.
“It’s a business,” Mitchell said, “and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.”
All Miles has done is win 77 percent of his games during his 11-year tenure in Baton Rouge, including winning the national championships in 2007 and playing for another in 2011. He’s won at least 10 games in seven of his 10 seasons at LSU.
But the Tigers finished a disappointing 8-3 this year after suffering three consecutive losses, including another disappointing one to Saban and the Crimson Tide. In the past five seasons, LSU is 1-5 against ‘Bama and 47-8 against everyone else.
That was enough for disgruntled boosters to round up the $15 million needed to buy out his contract and make him go away. In doing so, they intentionally left Miles hanging in the wind for weeks before ultimately backing down when public sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the beloved coach.
Tigers All-American tailback Leonard Fournette said that he was surprised to see his coach treated in such an ugly fashion.
The reality, however, is Saban has single-handedly changed the face of the entire SEC coaching tree by consistently beating all of his peers.
But is that reason enough to try to fire a guy of Miles’ considerable skills and accomplishments?
Maybe it is these days. Both Richt and Miles were making roughly $4 million annually.
“Everybody knows it’s a business,” Fournette said.
But if they didn’t before, they do now.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
