Ad Disclosure
While it never happened in my career, I’ve talked to some of my friends that have experienced a coaching change in the middle of the season.
While the majority said that they didn’t like it, there were a few that said it needed to be done. I don’t give out specific names or schools because I was a player in college and know the special bond we have with each other and I will never break that. But I can speculate based on the info that I have: a mid-season coaching change would be miserable, especially for a quarterback.
Lets start by giving you more relatable scenario. How would you like to have a new boss every year? In the middle of the fiscal year? A new boss with new strategies, new policies, new codes and more. You’d have to learn a new system and way of doing things after spending countless hours trying to perfect the previous boss’s concepts. How proficient do you think you’d be with such a sudden change?
Now obviously, you are a professional at what you do and you are expected to adapt, which you do. My question is, how fast? How long would it take you to learn new terminology? In a world where speed and “what have you done for me lately” is paramount, how long would your leash be?
In the college football landscape, “if you aint first, you’re last” is adopted by just about every SEC university. These coaches have to recruit the best talent, develop that talent into college-level ability, and win games. A lot of games, and quickly. You see time and time again that a new coach is expected to win right away and if not, he’s on the hot seat.
Even Mark Richt seems to be on the hot seat with Bulldogs fans at the beginning of every season.I remember distinctly after Boise State beat Georgia in Atlanta and then we beat them the following week (in 2011), Dawg Nation was calling for his replacement. The guy is one of the best coaches in the entire country. But since Georgia hasn’t won a SEC or national title in a while, he gets the hot seat treatment. How just is that? Who could replace such a landmark coach midseason?
I understand that coaches get paid millions of dollars to win games. I agree that if they aren’t winning, they should be on the hot seat. But I don’t agree with a sudden midseason firing.
If the team is struggling midway through the season, let it play out. Let these players try and rescue the season.
I’m thinking while I write this, and if a coaching change was inevitable, then maybe playing the last couple games with an interim coach wouldn’t be that bad. But firing a coach in the middle of the season is just not right.
I know the fans may disagree with me, but as a player, you wouldn’t want to try and learn an entirely new system in the middle of the season and academic school year.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
