Expectations come with the paycheck: who here wants to make millions bucks and get only three years to prove himself? Yeah, I though so

Sporting News, The, Dec 13, 2004 by Matt Hayes

The longtime coach led his team to unprecedented heights. He won more games than any coach in school history, won bowl games and--at one point--was considered one of the top coaches in his profession before it all began to unravel. He was fired after the 2002 season, and his replacement lasted two years before resigning under pressure.

The university recently introduced its third coach in four years, and there now is hope for a brighter, more prosperous future. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to big-time football--at East Carolina.

Yep, East-flippin' Carolina.

That monster of a program in Greenville, N.C., will have three coaches on its payroll next season: Steve Logan, John Thompson and the recently hired Skip Holtz.

Looking for a poster team for the win-now-or-else attitude? Look no further than the pesky ECU Pirates. They fall right in line with Notre Dame, Nebraska, Florida or any other school that realizes there's too much at stake in the financially fluid college football world to wait and wonder with some ridiculous five-year plan.

Want to coach big-time college football? You've got three years to prove your worth, or we'll move on to the next guy. Tyrone Willingham, Ron Zook, Buddy Teevens and Gerry DiNardo each failed to make it past Year 3. Keith Gilbertson and Thompson were pushed out after Year 2. Win or walk; it's that simple.

And why shouldn't it be? Spare me the sad songs for those poor, misunderstood coaches who make 95 percent of Americans believe it's the coaches' right to have at least five years to get "their" players into the programs. If you're making at least $1 million per year--as Willingham and Zook were--the leash is short and there are no excuses.

Now, more than ever, the right coach can make the difference between a championship season and a useless bowl. Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and Jim Tressel at Ohio State won national titles in their second seasons, and Pete Carroll won a national title in his third season at Southern California. Nick Saban won an SEC championship in his second season at LSU and a national title in his fourth. Jeff Tedford took a pathetic California team and transformed it into a national title contender in three seasons. Don't tell me it can't be done--and don't think every athletics director doesn't demand it.

Washington is going after Tedford and Louisville's Bobby Petrino and likely will pay upward of $2 million per year to land either coach. The Huskies still are paying off Gilbertson ($750,000) and could be paying millions to Rick Neuheisel if he wins a wrongful-termination lawsuit. If the Huskies land Tedford, toss at least another $500,000 onto that pile to cover his buyout clause.

Florida still owes $1.8 million to Zook and $250,000 to Utah for hiring Urban Meyer, who signed for $14 million over seven years. That's a $16 million investment for a coach who had better win now.

Here's the three-year plan: one year to clear out malcontents and to get players to embrace your philosophy, one year to turn the corner and one year to show significant improvement.

Notre Dame lost to BYU, Boston College and Pittsburgh this season and had five losses to Big East teams in Willingham's tenure. Florida lost twice to Mississippi and once to Mississippi State under Zook and had a 17-14 record without six gimme putts against directional schools. Those are trends that can't be overlooked--especially with $14 million bowl games dangling in the balance.

It wasn't so long ago that Georgia fired Jim Donnan and the coaching fraternity was outraged because Donnan led the Bulldogs to 40 wins and four bowl victories in five seasons. When Mark Richt was hired, Georgia still wasn't finished paying off Donnan and former coach Ray Golf. Two years later, Richt led the Bulldogs to their first SEC championship since 1982.

Take heart, ECU. Maybe this will be the one.

speed reads

The Downtown Athletic Club should include a note when it mails out next year's Heisman Trophy ballots. Attention voters: It's not against the rules to vote for a freshman or sophomore--especially if that freshman or sophomore is the most exciting player in the country.

OK, what if Oklahoma squeaks by Southern California and Auburn routs Virginia Tech? Can any AP voter worth his weight in free pregame meal tickets honestly vote the Sooners ahead of Auburn in the final poll?

If talented and enigmatic quarterback Marcus Vick can stay away from dope and reckless driving, imagine how good a fast young Virginia Tech team will be next season. Vick is more dynamic than current Tech quarterback Bryan Randall and has a stronger, more accurate arm. Maybe older brother Mike can give Marcus a few words of advice. That, or show him his recent bank statement, with a not-so-subtle reminder that this could be all yours, kid.

INSIDE DISH

BYU could pay as much as $1 million to coach Gary Crowton, who was asked to resign, and his assistants. Crowton still had two years left on his contract, and the assistants are under contract through August 2005. Those payoffs could impact the coaching search. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is high on BYU's wish list, but the university would have to break tradition with a significant increase in salary structure to lure Leach, who already makes more than $1 million per season. * One reason Urban Meyer chose Florida over Notre Dame was the considerably smaller financial package the Irish offered. According to sources close to the situation, Meyer was offered a five-year deal at $1.3 million per year, compared with Florida's seven-year deal at $2 million per year. Moreover, Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley has a track record of proactively restructuring coaching contracts. * One fortunate benefactor of the glut of bowls and shortage of teams to fill the spots: Marshall, which is 6-5 and shouldn't have been penalized for loading up with tough nonconference games (Ohio State, Georgia, Troy). When Clemson and South Carolina pulled out of bowl consideration, a chain of movement began within the lower-tier bowls and concluded with the Herd's invitation to the Fort Worth Bowl to play Cincinnati. The extra practice time before the bowl game will allow the Herd to get more practice reps for young QBs Jimmy Skinner and Bernard Morris, who will compete for the starting job next season. * A university task force likely will recommend Temple either should drop football or stay in Division I-A as an independent. If Temple stays in I-A, there will be four independents next season: Temple, Army, Navy and Notre Dame. Temple also could move to the MAC for football only. The task force was asked to look into the possibility of moving to I-AA, but that doesn't look like a viable option. * Pittsburgh QB Tyler Palko is making coach Walt Harris look better each week. Harris was criticized earlier this season for not benching Palko when he was playing badly. Now, Palko has led the Panthers to six wins in seven games. In those games, Palko has thrown for 1,892 yards, 17 touchdowns and two interceptions and has the Panthers in a BCS bowl for the first time. * Mississippi A.D. Pete Boone is interested in former Washington coach Rick Neuheisel, but there are concerns Neuheisel might not make it past the university screening committee--even though he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the investigation of his participation in an NCAA tournament pool. This scenario is what Neuheisel calls the "residual effect" of the two-year NCAA investigation that turned up no formal charges. His lawsuits against Washington and the NCAA get stronger with each passing month. * Tennessee OT Michael Munoz's shoulder injury is worse than originally thought and likely will affect his draft status in April. Munoz had surgery on a torn rotator cuff last week, and rehab could take up to six months. NFL teams already were concerned about Munoz's history of injuries, including a serious knee injury in 2001.