Leaving aside for a moment the recent sexual abuse problems with college sports, there may be human resources problem with academic coaching.
According to an article by Jack Carey and David Leon Moore in USA Today:
College football’s win-now-or-else manner of doing business appears to be gaining steam as the 2011 regular season reaches its conclusion. Three coaches fired after last weekend’s games had been on the job two years, a development that leaves some observers wondering about fairness and finances.
“It’s a trend that’s very disturbing,” American Football Coaches Association executive director Grant Teaff says. “I took over a program (at Baylor) that wasn’t very good, and if they had let me go after two years, we would not have had the success we had.”
It’s perhaps difficult to generate much sympathy for college coaches lately, but observers explain in the article that two years just really isn’t enough time to make much difference in a sports team.
Plus, operating this way is expensive. Carey and Moore write that former coaches at Kansas and the University of Memphis will now be paid $6 million and $2.25 respectively to leave their contracts.
Hope it’s worth it.
