With the firing of Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame as inevitable as him having a 2nd dessert at Thanksgiving next week, this opens up a coaching carousel frenzy, the likes we haven't seen since the Alabama job became vacant a few years ago.
Coaches are competitive people by nature. They seek out challenges and want to win at the highest level and, the dirtiest little secret --be in the spotlight while doing it all. How many coaches have left a quality job that provided them a solid foundation, for greener pa$tures and more exposure?
Rich Rodriguez comes to mind. He had it pretty good in quiet, serene Morgantown, West Virginia. He gave it all up for a program where winning a national title is the expectation every year.
George O'Leary...remember him? Georgia Tech fans do. He had things cookin' for the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. He knew how to beat Georgia, he won National Coach of the Year in 2000, was scooping up talented kids in the fertile Atlanta recruiting landscape, but success and stability wasn't enough. He wanted more and that led him to chase a dream of coaching at Notre Dame. If not for that "typo" on his resume about his experience, he would have landed in South Bend. Now he's on the hot seat in Orlando at Central Florida. I didn't know there was a hot seat at Central Florida.
How about the guy who won a six SEC titles and a national championship down in Gainesville? The ol' ball coach, Steve Spurrier, resigned abruptly in 2002 from the Florida Gators. It was only a matter of time before he caught the NFL carrot dangling in front of his face all those years. Of course, it didn't hurt to have Daniel Snyder's deep pockets holding the stick at the other end.
My advice to Brian Kelly, who is the King of Cincinnati right now...Don't Do It! What's wrong with winning the BigEast every year and playing in a BCS bowl game? Expectations are high, but manageable.
College coaches get bored with success in one place too long apparently. We see it all the time in college basketball as well. Mike Montgomery made Stanford basketball a perennial top25 program every year. He recruited smart, talented California kids who bought into his system. Yet for reasons unknown, he left this stable, consistent program for......get ready........the Golden State Warriors! Fortunately for Montgomery he had a mulligan in his back pocket and was able to jump at the job opening across the bay at Cal-Berkley, where he now has the Golden Bears in the top20.
We all know the Rick Pitino mess with the Knicks and Celtics and Bill Donovan's 15 minutes of fame with the Orlando Magic.
Bottom line, there is no shame in getting comfortable with quality of life or managed expectations by a fan base (which more often than not, these coaches set) . Sometimes the dream job many of these coaches are looking for is right in front of them...it's the one they currently occupy.
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