As you may have heard, BC head coach Jeff Jagodzinski is on the Jets list of coaches they'd like to speak to about their vacant head coaching position. You may have also heard that Jags is going to be canned if he goes through with the interview, as per BC's AD, according to sources.If this is true, it's kind of ridiculous and really bad for BC football. In recent years, when Purdue football has continued the downward trend of mediocrity and I, on one or two occasions, got so mad I uttered something about firing Coach Tiller, Boilerdowd often calmed me by pointing out that the University just can't do that. You can't bring on a guy who does a good job and then, before he can leave on his own terms, boot him out. And the reason you can't do that is because of how other coaches will look at the job. If you're an up-and-coming coach who has a couple of decent options, and one of the programs has a history of firing coaches for interviewing for jobs in the offseason, well, that's not exactly an appealing place to be.
What is Jags supposed to do? Be BC head coach for life? Or until BC fires him or forces him to "resign"? I'm all for guys honoring contracts but I don't have a huge problem with coaches jumping to new jobs because there's nowhere that says the school has to honor the contract (yes, I realize you get paid but you know what I mean).
And now, assuming this threat is true, no matter what happens, the damage is done. Whether Jagodzinski winds up as the head coach of the Jets, stays at BC, or gets canned -- the word is out that BC is willing to threaten their head coaches in this manner. Not a good thing for your program.
8 comments:
I actually like it. Why? Because most real jobs treat interviews the same way...employers don't want to hear about their peeps testing the waters and neither do athletic departments.
This isn't firing a guy because he stinks, this is firing a guy because his heart's not in the job.
I like Jags (he's a good coach) and am a fan of BC because:
A. I went to two seasons of BC football back when a friend of mine played there
B. They're not Notre Dame, they own UND, yet the press acts like their Catholic affiliation matters not...while UND's is all the rage.
My guess is there's more to this as boosters got sick of hearing that he might go back to the pros...That said Jags could've done this quietly, but probably chose not to.
Just read that Jags also had been negotiating a contract extension...so, the loyalty should only run one way?
This comes across to me as an overzealous version of what Bo Schembechler did as AD when Michigan's basketball coach was leaving for Arizona while Michigan was in the tournament.
BC is trying to make sure they have a BC Man coaching their program.
I'd also say that BC should take care of this on their terms, since it's the middle of recruiting season, not exactly the same thing as an off season. BC needs their recruits to know who the coach is, that's not something you want left to doubt.
I'm all for what BC is doing. I'm so sick of coaches and athletes nowadays that get to bail on contracts whenever something better comes their way. That's not how it should work folks. You sign a contract for a reason. Otherwise, what's the point?
Yes, it will make it tough for BC in the future to sign a big name coach but I totally respect what they are doing.
I read something yesterday that indicated Jags has specifically committed to not pursue any NFL job when he signed with BC. If he is going back on a commitment like that then I am all for what BC is doing.
Fair points, all.
As much as it pains me to point this out, it's only fair to note that the "Michigan man" that met Bo's criteria ended up costing Michigan more than three full years of wins.
Not that Frieder was a saint or anything either.
boston.com suggests that there isn't actually a clause in Jags' contract, but rather an "understanding" instead. (BC sources quoted, so I'm a little more inclined to believe that than if they were non-BC sources ...) If it's just an understanding, and the only difference would be that he could look next season and not this season (he was supposed to wait three seasons), then I'm not sure I follow what BC is doing.
fun fact: frieder's daughter was my finance professor at purdue.
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