Sometimes the grass is greener
PITTSBURGH-There are sure signs of spring in western Pennsylvania: Potholes swallow compact cars … Ryan Vogelsong remains a work in progress for the Pirates … Pitt has a disappointing finish in the NCAA basketball tournament, followed by some school lusting for the Panthers coach. This year is no exception, with Arizona State panting over coach Jamie Dixon, never mind Pitt’s loss to a No. 13 seed in their second tournament game.
The same thing happened in the previous regime, when it seemed everyone wanted Dixon’s old boss, Ben Howland.
When Howland’s dream job at UCLA finally materialized, it was nothing but tail lights as he headed west.
People get upset about this, and they have some justification. How do you build stability when a coach, usually under a new-and-improved contract, bails out for an even better opportunity elsewhere?
But this isn’t a new problem and it isn’t exclusive to Pitt. Given what little value written agreements have these days, you wonder how verbal commitments ever hold up and suspect that handshake deals are a quaint relic.
Pitt had an undefeated season in football in 1976 and won the national championship behind Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett.
Dorsett wasn’t the only one leaving when the season ended. Coach Johnny Majors answered his hometown call and headed to Tennessee. His successor, Jackie Sherrill, compiled a sparkling 50-9-1 record over five seasons. But when Texas A & M came calling, Sherrill was gone in a blink.
Coaching salaries have never been higher, so most coaches keep one eye on what’s happening around them.
Nearly every coach has an agent, and those agents are smart enough to get escape clauses built into every contract.
You don’t have to like it, but it’s the way business is conducted today, in a world where “forever” is usually about two years, tops.
Success breeds opportunity and coaches know it.
Administrators should know that just as well, and always keep a list of possible successors in the top drawer.
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Word is the Penguins asked John LeClair to reclaim the alternate captain’s “A” after Mark Recchi was traded.
Word is he declined with words that can’t be printed here.
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Funny, isn’t it, that people who wanted to run Bill Cowher out of town before this past postseason are now concerned he might not stay with the Steelers that much longer?
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On page 72 of Ice Time, the Penguins’ official game program, there’s an ad for a moving and storage company that is “The official mover of the Pittsburgh Penguins.”
It features a color photo of an 18-wheeler bearing the Penguins logo driving past the blank marquee at Mellon Arena.
Just a coincidence or a subliminal message?