Sports fan are fickle by nature. We love to love and love to hate, and that's just in the first half of a ballgame. The minute players stop performing, we have one of two options: blame the player or blame the guy coaching the player. Typically player blame is only good for a game or two. After that, it has to be the coach, and we demand change.
Fans love to launch websites that start with http://www.fire---------.com/. It's therapeutic. Somehow we feel like we are part of the process in getting a coach fired. We post angry comments on team message boards with the hopes of rallying a fan base. Some of us even send email after email to local sports talk radio hosts hoping their complaints make it over the airwaves. (Now who would do such a thing like that??)
We must ask ourselves as fans - do we think owners or athletic directors read those boards? Do they listen to those radio stations? Perhaps some might, but more often than not, firings become financial decisions. How much will it cost them to fire this coach? How much will it cost them to get a new guy in here? Will I lose my fan base if change isn't made? Afterall, if fans get so angry that change isn't made and don't show up and spend money, it can cost you down the road (see Dallas Cowboys).
In the Atlanta area alone there are plenty of case studies. Paul Hewitt at Georgia Tech (better known as Teflon Don, once details of his contract were exposed), can't get fired because his contract has a unique clause that automatically renews him for 6-years...every year! If the school wants to dump him, they will have to pay him 6-years worth of salary at $1.35 million per year! So basically Tech fans are stuck without change.
On the pro level, the Atlanta Hawks decided to fill their recent coaching vacancy by shopping at WalMart where they found Larry Drew on sale for about $1.2 Million. This makes him the lowest paid coach in the NBA. Good news for Hawks fans, it's only a 2-year deal and if they want to make a change, it's an easier pill to swallow than coach Hewitt's at GA Tech.
Over in Athens, Georgia, Bulldog fans don't know what to do with themselves. They aren't happy with Mark Richt...of late, but unless they know they can land a 'flavor of the month' replacement, they don't want to take a chance. Or it could just be the fact that the athletic department would have to stroke Richt a check for $5 million to make a change.
Just last week we saw across this great nation in the midterm elections, it's human nature to want change. When things don't feel good we expect it. We demand change. How did the GOP accomplish this change? Was it in the message or in the money?
They say sports often mirrors society. It's clear that change is en vogue right now. Coaches are no different then congressmen or senators. If we want change, it's going to cost us!
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