For a Bowl game, etc. The question is, why doesn't VT hire a bunch of ex-power 5 head coaches to help our team prepare for games? Is it a budget thing? Is it something that Whit and Fuente don't feel will help? I would think that hiring a former P5 head coach to an "analyst" position might help the staff prepare to win the Military Bowl for example. Why doesn't VT- or other teams for that matter- do this?
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Because the head coaches of schools not named Alabama don't need to feast on the souls of failed P5 coaches to revive them and allow them to coach forever. Also on a more serious note, Saban has a pretty good coaches rehab thing going on down there where he can take a failed coach, give him a post for a couple of years, and allow him to jump back into the coaching ranks at a higher level than they otherwise would.
He is also a pretty adamant believer in rehabilitation for all people, and he is quite open about it. He and his wife have invested a lot of money into rehabilitation programs at local prisons to help prisoners get an education, or acquire skills for once they get back out in society. He is on record of believing punishment without rehabilitation is completely pointless. So him taking all these coaches in makes a lot of sense with how he lives his life outside of football as well.
Did you just say that coaches are like prisoners, and can be rehabilitated?
Seems to me it's more that Alabama has money to burn, and can afford to have "analysts", that might prove useful, particularly ones who are successful recruiters.
Inasmuch as people are like people, yes, he said coaches are like prisoners. Also: like you or me or anyone else, and deserving of an opportunity to improve ourselves.
So sending a guy with an ethics issue to Alabama is going to "rehabilitate" him?
Or just his career?
The problem Durkin had at Maryland was that he lost his perspective on the student athlete vs winning. Not sure Alabama is where you go to get that cleared up.
Sounds to me like:
1) He isn't saying that explicitly, he's just saying he has the right to take an opportunity where he can better himself.
2) I don't think that is objectively the problem he had at Maryland. I would posit it was moreso allowing a negative culture to function, and not properly controlling his employee Rick Court. That said, they were running a normal amount of a common running exercise when the kid had an atypical reaction and his body temperature rose to a dangerous level. From that point on, it was a grave error in the protocols they didn't correctly follow to properly treat it. The issue is that it could have been handled differently and possibly saved his life. He was rightly fired because all of this happened under his watch, regardless of how many levels of separation were between him and what happened.
2) Your last point makes me think you don't know very much about Saban. Running a great football team and caring about the student athlete are not mutually exclusive.
I'm just saying that Durkin could have used a time out from college football. It's pretty clear that he lost his perspective at Maryland. I never saw any contrition from Durkin. Only that he STILL thought Maryland could beat Ohio State and Penn State when he met with the Board of Regents in October.
Rick Court was acting as a representative of Durkin, and with his full knowledge. Throwing him under the bus doesn't relieve Durkin of responsibility.
Working at a place that clearly focuses on winning at all costs is not likely the answer for someone without perspective.
Not commenting on Saban one way or the otherOK, I guess I will comment on Saban. Though it's fun to give him grief, I think he cares quite a bit about his students.Running a great football program over the long term DEPENDS on caring about the student athlete. Which is why I believe Fuente will do well at VT.
Which number 2 is the real number 2?
One word? Here you go: $$$$$$$$
Frank is on campus.
And being an analyst at VT isn't the resume builder that being an analyst at Bammer is...
Let HCJF do his thing. No need to have 85 coaches for 85 kids.
Answer:
Is that the same model Rick Pitino had?
Pfft... those are $1 bills.
Here's why: http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
is this that "support staff" we talked about all off season last season and we are picking up were we left off?
another reason VT doesn't need an analysis is because were playing in the military bowl. would you really be ok with spending money (that as has been pointed out by fireman "we aint got") on bringing in a coach to help analyze for a "meaningless bowl game"? I would bring in anyone and everyone if we were preparing for the CFB playoff and national championship game.
Bama is looking to win a national championship.
But aside from that, they hire excellent recruiters.
...and sometimes coaches of dubious character
I don't think money is a big reason keeping Tech from pulling a move like this. Both Butch Jones and Steve Sarkisian made $35k during their yearlong stints as full-time analysts at Bama (SOURCE). I'd imagine Durkin is making nowhere close to that for his consulting services for at most two games...
But those 2 games are A LOT different than the one that we are playing.
Agreed, meaning it would be even less expensive for us to do this. I'm not advocating that we should, just saying that people above claiming Bama had the deep pockets to do this should understand that their analysts aren't making a ton of money.
To put this into perspective, during the 2016 regular season, Sarkisian was a full-time consultant for less than $3k/game (12 games at $35k). Only when he was promoted to OC was he (I imagine) paid a butt-ton more to lose to Clemson in the Natty.
We also have something special in Blacksburg...
That I'm sure will help out as long as you provide dog treats and water for his walking companion.
Why would Frank want dog treats and water?
finishing the sentence will get after ya...
w o o o o o o o s h
Ah.......I got it now........ such a stupid I am.
Saban released a statement that Durkin is not at Alabama in any paid capacity. He was allowed to observe some practices and operational methods as Alabama allows many coaches to do both in season and out of season depending on their current employment status.
I don't know if Fuente has this set up but I do remember Beamer allowing other programs, specifically special teams coaches to come in back in the Beamerball heyday. Is it a poor optic, given what had just happened with Durkin? Sure, but its not like Durkin is at a point where he has a lot of other jobs he can pursue outside of football, so getting to spend a week learning from Saban cant hurt him much.
That seems odd.
In the past, it was coaches representing other programs. Durkin is there representing himself, so more of a networking opportunity.
But I suppose Maryland is still paying him, right?
technically Maryland is still paying him but its not uncommon for "networking opportunities" to happen, but most are not usually in season.
Mike Locksley was under a severance agreement. Alabama was only paying him 35K, so they were getting some pretty cheap help.
In the mean time, I looked up Durkin's severance. SI had an interesting article. (Durkin Firing) Looks like Maryland owes him about $5 million.
They have to it was a perception issue on why they had to get rid of him. Hard to fire for cause when both of the investigations cleared him.
Those investigations were somewhat rigged by the choice of participants to get the conclusions the Maryland leadership wanted, and the Maryland leadership wanted to keep Durkin.
Yeah, they were rigged...Loh wanted Durkin to be the scapegoat. So they wouldn't have to pay the $5mil. Didn't turn out the way they intended.
The Board of Regents wanted to keep him.
Loh had the grounds to fire him without commissioning any report. The investigation was about as vanilla as it could be. Did it really come down to whether the report embraced the word "toxic" to describe their program?
Which explains the trainwreck of how the decision ended up happening.
I don't think you can say Durkin was the direct cause of McNair's death, but that culture wasn't good for the student athletes, or making young men into productive, positive members of society.
The Board of Regents had next to nothing to do with the report...that's why they were upset and wanted Loh gone.
The trainwreck can be explained by looking at Loh and Evans. Period.
The Board of Regents took over the investigation, and decided to retain Durkin. They instructed Loh not to fire him.
The community protested (including the governor of Maryland, who was up for re-election the next week) and Loh fired Durkin anyway.
They were very much a part of the trainwreck, which is why their chairman resigned the next day.
Ok, you take away what you want from it...
The Board didn't alter the investigation.
The Board wanted Loh gone for some time.
Loh and Evans botched the entire thing, and Loh got what he deserved out it.
It's not what I want, it's what happened.
Durkin must have failed the car washing part of his interview.
He must not have had any recruits in his back pocket.