musicman2343 wrote:hammb wrote:
We all wanna sit here and say we wouldn't do this or we wouldn't do that, but that's BS. Coaching is a volatile gig. VERY few coaches get to end their careers on their own terms...you're basically sitting around waiting to be fired in that business. If you go into it saying you're not going to interview for other jobs during bowl season then you're probably never going to move up.
I'm not going to say that a more prestigious job is bad, but what is the problem with sticking to a program and making it successful?
John Gagliardi did that at St. John's in DIII for nearly his entire career. He had no desire to move up though he easily could have. He was content where he was and amassed the winningest record of all head coaches in college football.
I don't see a viable reason why the same couldn't be true for an FBS school.
Sure that's an option, if you're willing to stay at a lower level and yet still be held to a similar level of scrutiny.
The way I look at it, in coaching there are no guarantees that you'll remain employed beyond the next year or so. That question of job security is going to follow you wherever you may go. Given that, I'd be trying to get as high as I could as quickly as I could to ensure I made as much money as possible. Eventually you're going to get canned, I'd like to bank as much as possible before that happens.
On top of that, if you coach at a place like BG for 7-8 years and then get canned, don't count on finding many job offers out there for ya. Again, look at Dakich. Had a great run at BG and was offered a big deal at WVU. Backed out and came back to BG only to struggle and eventually lose his job here. He was then an assistant (and interim HC) at IU, and has since been in broadcasting.
If you move up and get fired there will usually be that next lower tier job that will take a shot on you. That doesn't necessarily hold true at the MAC level...get canned from the MAC and your coaching career is gonna be in the pits.
I will never fault anybody for leaving for a higher paying and higher prestige job. I have no problems with somebody being content at the MAC level, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find a coach that has the drive and determination required to be a consistent winner that won't also want to step up to a higher profile job if the opportunity arises.
