One coach insists he’s ready to sign a long-term extension to a contract with three years remaining. Less than a month later, and only a week before a critical recruiting deadline, he takes off for the NFL.
Another coach makes it known he’s interested in the UNLV job. Then, after the school dispatches a representative, he says he isn’t sure.
Still another coach whines about his former employer in a skin magazine.
In the last few weeks Butch Davis, Rick Pitino and Bob Knight–Mr. Knight to you and me–have provided lessons in what happens when institutions of higher learning, not to mention UNLV, put too much power in the hands of gym teachers. They have become the most talked-about trio in major-college coaching, although not one works for a college at the moment.
Let’s begin with Davis.
On the January day Miami finished No. 2 in both major football polls, Davis announced that only a few minor details needed to be worked out in a long-term contract extension the school had offered. Davis said he needed to be protected in case Miami unexpectedly decided to fire him, as Ohio State had done to John Cooper after the Outback Bowl. “I just don’t want to wake up two years from now and be John Cooper,” Davis said.
Instead, he woke up two weeks later and was Gary Barnett. Davis had decided to become the next coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Like Barnett, Davis left behind a horde of angry players, alumni and recruits. But there was one important difference between Davis and Barnett, who ditched Northwestern for Colorado with several years remaining on his contract.
Barnett sent his soon-to-be-former players an e-mail promising to lead them back to the Rose Bowl. Davis learned from Barnett’s error: Never put anything in writing.
Still, words such as “betrayal” and “liar” swirled like eddies in a Miami Beach swimming pool. Stung by criticism, Davis tried to set the record straight with Miami Herald columnist Edwin Pope. The Pontiff wanted to know who in his right mind would leave balmy South Florida for the Mistake by the Lake, and Davis provided a detailed account of the financial risks he would have assumed had he signed Miami’s proposed extension. I’m lousy with numbers, but if I understand correctly, the university desired compensation if Davis broke the contract. How dare they!
Of course, Davis may have left because the Browns offered him $15 million over five years, while Miami reportedly had offered $1.4 million per year.
“It is what it is right now,” Davis told Pope.
It is what it is? Bill Clinton’s speechwriters have a new client. “These kids are special to me and I love every one of them,” Davis said.
That’s amore!
Amazing. That’s what Pitino said about the Boston Celtics even as he was quitting on the organization in midseason. Heartbroken as he was, Pitino quickly moved on. When you’re one of the brightest minds in the history of coaching–just ask him–you can’t have people wondering whether you’ve slipped. And the Celtics didn’t slip under Pitino, they pulled a Titanic.
Pitino was so interested in the UNLV job that the university’s trustees dispatched Athletic Director Charles Cavagnaro to South Florida to meet with the coach. But Pitino, concerned about NCAA-mandated scholarship limitations, said he was “backing off a little bit.” Then he said he denied reports that he was backing off.
Pitino seems to change his mind by the day. It might not seem fair to UNLV, which approached him in good faith. But if the Rebels say “enough,” someone else will be happy to back a Brink’s truck into Pitino’s driveway.
This isn’t about UNLV. This is about Pitino. It’s always about Pitino.
Can’t blame Pitino for being a bit anxious about his next gig–not with Mr. Knight sitting out there.
Mr. Knight, ousted by Indiana last September, is so desperate to return to coaching he might turn up at the Final Four in Minneapolis wearing a sandwich board.
Mr. Knight apparently is concerned that he has begun to slip from public view. Why else would he sit for a lengthy, sometimes uncomfortable interview with Playboy?
Most out-of-work coaches quietly work the old-boy network until it’s safe to surface. If they have anything inflammatory to say about their last boss, they’ll say it to friends rather than national publications.
In the interview, Mr. Knight called IU officials “deceitful” and said he had never agreed to the university’s “zero-tolerance” behavior policy. He also clashed with his interviewer.
If the interview revealed anything, it’s that Mr. Knight hasn’t learned much from his painful experiences in Bloomington. But maybe his next employer has.
