Stricklin: Hiring a football coach more difficult than fans realize

[78]

The guy opens up about the process, which we all wanted, and makes no one happy....... Not surprising....

With what hasn't happened around here in eight years coupled with the subject being a noob at hiring SEC coaches, it's gonna take some convincing to get people on board.

Trust me when I say, he has Gator Nation pulling for him. We're all in this together.

 

[The Shady Grove Gator]

I'm jaded over Florida Football over our last 9 years, but I have some hope, which in contrast...Butters ground to the point of the oxymoron of apathetic hatred by the time he was fired.

 

[divits]

That article made perfect sense to me. In reading about the process and seeing that in the end we had little to no chance for Kelly or Frost due to Kelly's fear of the fishbowl and Frost's home calling, there really weren't a bunch of options.

It's true that the dynamics of college football has changed a ton in just the last ten years with TV money etc.. And the aspects of a coach's personal life do start to play an important role in their decision once they are set financially for the rest of their life. And that sure doesn't take long when you're making millions/year and have probably been making hundreds of thousands a year for many years prior. I think this quote is all too true and is why just throwing money at guys doesn't work like many here seem to think it will....

"A 50 percent raise to a person making $50,000 a year is more meaningful than a 50 percent raise to a person making $5,000,000 a year."

 

[Egor's Assistant]

Yeah, like you can just tell any man that you will take my job and like it. That's not the way the real world works. Especially the real world where the guy you are talking to likely already has more money in the bank than what you can offer him to change their mind.

I'm Italian... you make him an offer he can't refuse.

 

[Egor's Assistant]

Equals please dont fire me if this doesn't go well.

That's exactly how I interpreted the article. Please don't fire me if Mullen isn't the right guy. It was much more difficult to get Chip Kelly or Scott Frost to come to UF than most of you realize. Well, duh. Everything he mentioned was thoroughly discussed during the epic Chip Kelly thread which apparently he wasn't reading. Not reading GatorChatter is definitely a rookie mistake. Hopefully, Coach Mullen is the man we're looking for and CK was just an illusion of grandeur fueled by Fake News, Loose Lips and Oxbucks.

 

[Egor's Assistant]

It's no worse than whatever cheapazz hire Fooley would have made, probably whomever replaced his last pick at LaLa.

If he really wanted to think outside of the box, he could have taken bids from unemployed and lower-tier coaches. Make everyone bid on the job like contractors. Would have gotten some hilarious results. I'd bet Grass Eater and Zooker would of made some pretty kewl offers.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

That's exactly how I interpreted the article. Please don't fire me if Mullen isn't the right guy. It was much more difficult to get Chip Kelly or Scott Frost to come to UF than most of you realize. Well, duh. Everything he mentioned was thoroughly discussed during the epic Chip Kelly thread which apparently he wasn't reading. Not reading GatorChatter is definitely a rookie mistake. Hopefully, Coach Mullen is the man we're looking for and CK was just an illusion of grandeur fueled by Fake News, Loose Lips and Oxbucks.

We missed you, Nav.

 

[Egor's Assistant]

We missed you, Nav.

Shhhhh, quiet Swampass. Keep it under your hat.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Shhhhh, quiet Swampass. Keep it under your hat.

Your secret is safe with me. Why the name change though?

 

[divits]

If it is accurately reported, Stricklin made a number of bad mistakes in this interview:

1. He should NEVER have mentioned $50,000 or any other salary. When guys making a million a year start telling people making a fraction of that how it really is up their in the heights, they only make themselves sound elitist. UF's UAA has an elitist problem which is leading to fewer people in the stand whether they are making $50,000 a year or $75,000 a year.

2. He really should not have hinted that search firms are a home of leakers, even if they are. He may want a search firm to call him some day and someone with a long memory might decide why if he thinks we are a bunch of leakers.

3. He should not tie himself so much to Mullen. Sure they are linked because they both came from Mississippi State, but you don't enhance your ties to any new unproven hire unnecessarily. His complacency about Kelly in this interview just ties him to Mullen even more.

1. The salary quote was pertinent and made plenty of sense. How him talking factually about the realities of coaching salaries and the dynamics of such make him an elitist is beyond me.

2. I don't think this matters one iota. If you think some search firm is going to avoid possibly doing a search worth hundreds of thousands because they may be butthurt about some off the cuff and definitely true remark then you're nuts.

3. His job is to project a strong show of solidarity throughout the program. That's what you do as a leader and it's needed to build confidence throughout the program from the coaches,to the players, to the recruits, to the fans all the way down to the guy washing the sweaty jock straps. Until it becomes evident that a change is needed, that's what your do.
Not sure what you mean about complacent with Kelly. Kelly went to UCLA for less money because it's obviously a better fit for his personality.

4. More turn over means less good options available. Are you saying we should be hiring the fired guys?

 

[aka]

The info in the article seemed pretty obvious at the time and still now. I don't get what all the bleating is about.

 

[Theologator]

The guy opens up about the process, which we all wanted, and makes no one happy....... Not surprising....

There should not be any surprises in that interview to anyone who closely followed the search on this board. Kelly wasn’t a fit. Kelly knew it & Strcklin knew it. Frost was only going to leave UCF for Nebraska. Set those two aside and Mullen checks way more boxes than the rest of the available pool.

The reality of that available pool is at the heart of extant angst re: Mullen. Who might have been available? For those who think this is a disaster, who is your alternative? Mine was Stoops - but I doubt he was available. Zero buzz about him with ANY job.

 

[T REX]

Strcklin knew it.

He did? Then why have the Prez take a plane ride up there. Gonna disagree with you a little. I think the article even backs this up.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

1. The salary quote was pertinent and made plenty of sense. How him talking factually about the realities of coaching salaries and the dynamics of such make him an elitist is beyond me.

2. I don't think this matters one iota. If you think some search firm is going to avoid possibly doing a search worth hundreds of thousands because they may be butthurt about some off the cuff and definitely true remark then you're nuts.

3. His job is to project a strong show of solidarity throughout the program. That's what you do as a leader and it's needed to build confidence throughout the program from the coaches,to the players, to the recruits, to the fans all the way down to the guy washing the sweaty jock straps. Until it becomes evident that a change is needed, that's what your do.
Not sure what you mean about complacent with Kelly. Kelly went to UCLA for less money because it's obviously a better fit for his personality.

4. More turn over means less good options available. Are you saying we should be hiring the fired guys?

1. No one said it was not pertinent, I just pointed out it makes him sound elitist, ie "you little people do not really understand salary increments to us big guys making in the millions." See point 3 of yours about his JOB.

2. No, I said a search team member might skip over him for a job, not that they might turn down money from UF.

3. He sounded complacent about missing on Kelly to me. That ties him more to Mullen in my view and is a mistake on HIS part in my view.

4. Belichick, Saban etc.

 

[gardnerwebbgator]

Strychnine is in over his head and a total dork. Nothing new here.

 

[Woodroe]

This thread is pretty much exactly what he means when he says it's harder than fans realize

Oh, I know, cuz da widdle fans wiv no knowin about nuffin so compwicated, dose widdle babies can't handle da big boy stuff, wight?

Gimme a break. Lots of fans are hiring and firing people regularly. Lots of fans know just how hard it is to run a business. And lots of fans don't want to hear anyone b1tch1n and moaning about doing the job our dollars pay him to do.

I still want to know if the article where Pat Tooley slipped up and wrote that Strick didn't immediately go after his #1 choice (Mullen) because Strick got an upset tummy thinking about taking Mullen from MSU is true or not. I'd like to know if it was true and Tooley accidentally let it slip trying to write an article like he had the inside info (and accidentally throwing Strick under the bus in the process) or if he just made the sh!t up. If there is an ounce of truth to it Strick needs to be gone and let someone else have a go at the overburdensome duty of being the Gator AD (not the MSU AD).

 

[-THE DUDE-]

1. No one said it was not pertinent, I just pointed out it makes him sound elitist, ie "you little people do not really understand salary increments to us big guys making in the millions." See point 3 of yours about his JOB.

I guess you can read into it however you want but seemed pretty clear he was addressing the differences in coaching salaries over the years. It wasn't that long ago that Spurrier made history with his 2 mil/season salary with UF and now we have coordinators getting that much (lsu). It's a lot different now that everyone has million dollar salaries than before when it was a select few and those few jobs that could pay that high were coveted...now you can make that elsewhere so jumping jobs isn't as necessary to be financially set.

 

[InstiGATOR1]

I guess you can read into it however you want but seemed pretty clear he was addressing the differences in coaching salaries over the years. It wasn't that long ago that Spurrier made history with his 2 mil/season salary with UF and now we have coordinators getting that much (lsu). It's a lot different now that everyone has million dollar salaries than before when it was a select few and those few jobs that could pay that high were coveted...now you can make that elsewhere so jumping jobs isn't as necessary to be financially set.

So? How is this germane to the point? I did not object to him pointing out the coaches salaries and that maybe someone might not move for a even a pretty high percentage increase. I objected to him picking any salary below his and saying you might not understand you little guys. It is poor form and a mistake on his part. I hope he learns from it.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I guess you can read into it however you want but seemed pretty clear he was addressing the differences in coaching salaries over the years. It wasn't that long ago that Spurrier made history with his 2 mil/season salary with UF and now we have coordinators getting that much (lsu). It's a lot different now that everyone has million dollar salaries than before when it was a select few and those few jobs that could pay that high were coveted...now you can make that elsewhere so jumping jobs isn't as necessary to be financially set.

We were once the highest paid. Seems like forever ago.

I don't think that would ever happen again until most of the leftover Foleyites are gone from the AD's office.