Paul Daugherty: hosing your players

Monday, December 04, 2006

hosing your players

I just heard on the radio that new UC football coach Brian Kelly will not be coaching his "old'' team, Central Michigan, in the Motor City Bowl. That makes him as honorable as Mark Dantonio, who couldnt leave Clifton fast enough. Not only will Dantonio not coach his "old'' team in the International Bowl, he has already taken most of his staff with him to Michigan State. You wanna coach the Bearcats in the game? Apply today.

This is wrong on so many levels, I dont know where to begin. Let's start and end with this: Coaches preach loyalty to impressionable kids, then bolt when the bolting's good. Nice life lesson there. Congrats to Kelly and Dantonio. I hope they got what they wanted. Their next move? Checking their consciences at the door.

22 Comments:

at 9:38 AM

Anonymous said...

UC should have declined the invitation to the the prestige-laden International Bowl, and laid responsibility for that decision at the feet of its pious former coach. A lot of teams show up for these late bowl games ill-prepared. This one is being sent to Toronto without any meaningful preparation.

At the very least, we should have insisted that our new guy honor his existing commitments before undertaking any duties related to his new job.

The NCAA should be legislating against this sort of behavior. But, hey, what can we reasonably expect from that outfit?

at 12:07 PM

Anonymous said...

What stinks even more is while players that transfer schools must sit out an entire year, coaches can move at will. At the very least, the NCAA should give players at schools where the coach leaves the chance to transfer without penalty. At best, coaches should have to sit out a season if they just up and leave in the middle of a contract.

at 3:08 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul you stated last week you did'nt blame him for leaving. Which is it?

at 5:52 PM

Paul Daugherty said...

to 3:08... i made that comment before it was known he was hijacking his coaching staff, leaving his players high and dry for the bowl game... you know,the players he "loved.'' if you havent read bill koch's story in monday's enquirer, you should... what a beauty of disingenuousness MD turned out to be...

at 6:01 PM

Anonymous said...

If Dantonio was such a great guy, why did he negotiate such a low buyout for his contract? Sounds to me like he always knew he was leaving.

at 8:11 PM

Anonymous said...

Yes, he left his former players high and dry for the bowl game so he could recruit for the Spartans.
Shame on Dantonio.

Chip Lapp
Kenwood

at 3:44 AM

Anonymous said...

Blame the NCAA Paul, not the coaches. If we want to be competitive with recruits, we need to have a coach now. MSU needed that, we need that. If the NCAA didn't allow coaches to recruit now, neither of these coaches would have been put in such a bind. Until it changes its policy, this is how it has to be for major institutions to remain competitive.

That said, Coach Kelly has not hijacked his staff (yet) which was true for Dantonio when you said you couldn't blame him. Based on the desire he had to take this job, how can you rant on Coach Kelly when he, by your own definition, was just doing the logical thing? If he raids his coaching staff, call him a disingenuous punk. But we aren't there yet, his associate head coach has taken the reigns of CMU ( without an ultamatum.) From all i've read, as well, coach Kelly was all about getting his players to the next level, something he accomplished, without the interference of "loving" them. He is a city guy with midwest connections who has an impressive track record for winning. The only logical step was to leave the farm to come to UC. Don't demonize him yet.

at 4:44 AM

Anonymous said...

You set a double standard and haven't even given the guy a chance. Coach Kelly hasn't hijacked his staff, in fact his associate head coach has taken over the team, without an ultimatum for coming to clifton. That said, coaches cannot be held accountable for an ncaa glitch, namely the time they should be preparing their teams for bowls (the product of success) is also a major recruiting period. If they are successful, it follows they may get a job offer somewhere else they enjoy. For Coach Kelly, Clifton is a step up. Until he takes his staff on a midnight plane from Michigan, he will be just as admirable as coach dantonio was to you last week.

I don't know what part of town you live in sir, but this is a pretty fine city - and a heck lot better than a cornfield.

If only Coach Kelly could get past naysayers like you who seem determined to make UC move to Westchester, drop its div 1 status, and have paddy cake contests on a big green lawn with brick buildings around it. If you want that, start posting positives about Oxford instead of negatives about UC, it's gotta be better for your heart.

at 7:00 AM

Anonymous said...

I hope Kelly's new contract has an astronomical buyout amount in it. If he does love these "kids" so much, he'd be more than happy to sign it.

That and other contractual measures should be put in place in advance to make sure that Kelly can't do what Dantonio did. Major college coaches are going to jump...we all know that, but to plunder your old school the way Dantonio did doesn't happen every time a coach moves. If there are things the A.D. can do to prevent it, I hope Thomas does them.

at 7:21 AM

Anonymous said...

Doc,

The issue here is recruiting. The NCAA needs to move the dates when football coaches can visit recruits. No visits until after the last bowl game, which I guess is UC's International Bowl the same weekend NFL playoffs begin.

Along with the new dates, coaches with teams playing bowl games would have to stay at their schools until the season ended (last bowl date).

With roughly half the D-1 schools in bowl games we will see the UC/CMU dilemma rears its ugly head again, unless something is done.

Big schools with bad teams will be hiring away successful coaches from smaller schools and the dominoes will keep falling, affecting only the kids along the way.

The NCAA can stop the merry-go-round by changing recruiting windows. But, that's a lot to ask from the same organization that did away with "volunteer" assistant basketball coaches in a "budget-cutting" move.

at 8:05 AM

Anonymous said...

Couple thoughts. One, we call them "kids" and "student" athletes, but in reality almost all of them are men 18 years and older. Men learn to handle times of change, adversity, and uncertainty. Your column does those young men a disservice by creating another expectation that they are the victims and nothing bad should ever happen to them, that they are entitled to people staying in the roles they want them to for as long as they need them to. This pervasive attitude of delayed childhood is NOT the real world, and it's good for young men to learn to adjust and survive sweeps of change in their lives. They'll all be fine. Heck, some of the UC players may be better off.

Paul, at what point does a coach make a move? Whenever a coach goes, he leaves behind four classes of student-athletes.

We all have bosses who leave, and this is a great analogy of that. What is, to me, completely unreasonable is our request - no, our demand - that coaches who come here profess their undying love for our institution and vow they will never leave. Can you imagine the firestorm among the fans if the new coach didn't seem excited to be a part of a new family? It's a JOB that is emotional and leads to emotional ties to young men that are hard to break. I think Dantonio was being completely honest when he said it was hard and he loved those kids. It doesn't mean it was the wrong thing for him to move on to what he hopes is a better place for his family.

How can Kelly predict today how he'll feel in three or four years? How could Dantonio? It's unreasonable to expect them to tell you today that in four years they'll love their boss and the athletic environment, or that there aren't places they would move on to. Or some people decide they want bigger cities, some change their minds and want small college towns. Some love the Big Ten, some the SEC, and yes, some the Big East and the ACC.

Sometimes people get new job opportunities and leave their bosses and their underlings. The only thing different here is that we feel betrayed, like little children. I think we all just need a big dose of Grow Up. How can we ask these 100+ young men to mature and grow when we aren't willing to do it ourselves?

at 10:33 AM

Anonymous said...

Paul - as a two time graduate of Central Michigan University - I greatly appreciated your thoughtful column about how - amind all the talk of loyalty and commitment and pride - 210 kids got the ultimate hose job.

Thanks for having the guts to say and print the plain truth -both coaches are full of BS inthe way they handled these moves.

at 11:03 AM

Anonymous said...

It’s amazing the omniscience you possess. You know the heart of Mark Dantonio and the heart of Brian Kelly. What’s even more amazing is that someone in this world has given you the platform to influence people, and you choose to use it in destructive ways. I’ve been a close friend of Mark’s during his time at UC. I saw him struggle with this decision for the last month. What is not being written is the fact that the “close to matching offer” that UC offered him was going to come at the cost of other UC programs and positions.

Every time I see comments like yours today in the Enquirer, I feel the need to try to educate those involved. It reality, that is not possible because your opinion is just that, your opinion. In my opinion, it’s wrong, in so many ways. But again, that is just my opinion.

In the long run, I don’t see any losers here. Everyone is going to go though changes in life. Though this is painful, it is not the worst thing these players will deal with in life. If it is, then God has blessed them beyond belief.

at 11:25 AM

Anonymous said...

Is it BS when Paul's editor leaves to take a job with another paper? No, it's just business. Life sucks, people move on.

at 11:37 AM

Anonymous said...

When Huggins "resigned," Thomas gave the returning scholarship players an option out of their commitments (granted with a one year layoff). I'm wondering how Thomas could not make that same offer to the football scholarship players at UC?

My bet is he won't and it is because Nanzy doesn't have an agenda to gut the football program as she did with basketball.

I could be proven wrong, all they have to do is release the footbal players from their commitments....

at 12:07 PM

Anonymous said...

Good article Doc.

The NCAA needs to fix this, and it's easy, they move the quite period in recruiting to between the end of the season and the bowl game and they ban coaching changes until after the 1st of the year.

at 2:17 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul, thanks for your reply about your earlier statement.You are right,the problem's not leaving,its the way he left.Anon8:05 did you ever think that maybe the "real world" doesn't have to be that way?

at 3:04 PM

Anonymous said...

Doc -

Unlike coach dantonio, coach kelly is the only one who left his former university - he didnt hijack his staff. The rest of his assistants will remain at CMU until after their bowl game, when they (if they are coming) will join him to coach UC.

Don't let one mask fit all. Kelly moved up, and thats just as logical as Dantonio moving up alone. It is wrong to gut a program. Dantonio did that, Kelly will not. (and he has to prepare for a Bowl game...not just a hopeless 4 year tour.)

at 11:49 PM

Anonymous said...

Paul-

I have to agree with 3:08. You flip flop as much as john kerry. I have been in Cincinnati for 3 LONG years and have been faithfully reading your columns trying to get a read on the Cincinnati sports scene and end up wonder more about why you are so angry.. It seems that you take the negative side in an effort to keep your trusty section of the sports in the town alive at the watercooler. Scary but very few of us read the paper anymore.

You want to know why Mark Dantonio left? He likes Mich St., Big ten football, the feeling that he is part of a special college environment good friends, a stadum that stands a chance of being filled... UC does not have that. Have you been there? Fans do not care, press (you) really do not care. It not the money although UC would go broke matching that salary. UC reminds me of a techical college...but why did UC want to keep him? Same reason Mich St. wanted him since the day they fired John L...he is a special kind of person who had a huge impact on the lives of UC players. He took the program forward and the players will always remember that. He took his coaches because he knows they will get fired. UC football players will servive just fine. I wish the new coach the best of luck As for you Paul- if you are going to poison pen the world don't flip flop. This town does not like John Kerry..In case you didn't know

at 10:06 AM

Anonymous said...

not a Doc supporter...he pisses me off a lot, BUT c'mon, Steve...do you really just want rose-colored-glasses all the time? I find it humorous that you accuse Doc of being "angry"...focusing on only the "negative"...

Did you read your own entry, Steve?

:)

at 1:55 AM

Anonymous said...

Maybe we can get Nanzi to dot the "i" in "Script Cincinnati" at halftime of next year's home opener.That way,an extra 5,000 or 10,000 fans might show up raising enough money, to pay for the new women's lacrosse team !

Big time football is no more or less hypocritical than big business, big media, or any other "big time" endeavor. Sadly, UC is "small time" in football compared to Big 10, if only in terms of revenue, fan interest, and prestige. Similarly, MAC is below Big East.

Hope Coach Kelly can bring 'Cats to level of U of L and West Virginia: would be great to see big games at Paul Brown Stadium due to ticket demand.

at 8:55 AM

Anonymous said...

I am a Cincinnati native that lives 10 miles from Grand Valley University. I for one am thrilled that Kelly has taken over the head caoch position at UC. Grand Valley is ranked #1 again this year in Div II and will probably win the title. It all started with Kelly going to the championship 3 times in a row. He would have won all three times, but the starting QB was injured and they barely lost. Then Kelly goes to a near dead program in Central Michigan and turns it around. In my opinion Michigan State should have hired Kelly and I mean that with no disrespect to our former coach. Kelly is just flat out a better coach and UC will be an exciting team to watch. The unfortunate thing is that we will probably lose him in about three years.

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Monday, December 04, 2006

hosing your players

22 Comments: