The regional fair is something a town can look forward too.
The unlikelihood of winning the carnival games, the chance to eat funnel cakes and of course those cheap but stomach-twisting rides.
In what is considered the country’s most powerful football conference, there is such a ride that has grown men in power positions shaking in their boots before frantically running to the exits.
It’s called the coaching carousel, and it gives me motion sickness just looking at it.
Already, three notable Southeastern Conference head coaches have “resigned†from their post: Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer, who won the SEC Eastern Division five times and captured a National Title in 1998; Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom, who became the conference’s first African-American head coach in 2004 and won the Associated Press’s SEC Coach of the Year last season and now Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville, who lead the Tigers to an undefeated season in 2004, but was left out of the BCS title game.
“What have you done for me lately?†That seems to come out of the mouths of athletic directors around the conference. Fortunately for Rich Brooks, that question is not being tossed around at UK — yet.
But the debate these coaching changes raise is whether an athletic department’s release of coaches after a stretch of rocky seasons is justified.
In the last four years, where Tennessee and Auburn have slumped, they had excellent recruiting classes. According to the College Sports Network, Tennessee has landed three top-10 recruiting classes. Auburn has landed two.
The consensus is that the combination of the right crop of players on the field with the right coaching will result in more wins than losses at season’s end. A look at USC proves that. They landed the top recruiting class four straight years and have a record of 44-6 during that time.
But SEC coaches have a disclaimer: other schools in the conference bring in just as many good players too.
UK, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State or Ole Miss don’t always get five-star recruits. For that reason, Croom’s exit from MSU is different. Coaches at historic cellar-dweller schools have to work with what they’ve got, and Croom worked well, but still announced a shocking resignation on Nov 29.
Coaches that struggle with some of the best athletes in the nation should move on. It’s that simple. It’s not just the question of “What have you done for me lately?†but a question of “what have you done with all you have at your disposal?â€
The answer should determine whether struggling coaches go for the carousel ride or not.
J.D. Williams is a journalism senior. E-mail jwilliams@kykernel.com.
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