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We need more life-long coaches in football
Today as soon as a coach shows the slightest bit of success, someone is coming along, offering more money and other perks in an attempt to lure them away. In effect that happened with Bryant all those years ago when he left Texas A & M. But for him the "monetary gain" was the fact he was going to get to coach his alma mater and turn the program around. Remember those great days of college football? Back when Osborne was at Nebraska, Darrell Royal was at Texas, Frank Broyles was at Arkansas, Paterno was (and still is) at Penn State. Michigan had Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes was at Ohio State. They had their "10-year War" and all was right with college football. Schools found a good assistant or they hired a young go-getter and gave them time to build a program. It happened in Tallahassee when Florida State hired Bobby Bowden. That has worked out pretty well for the Seminoles. But not anymore. It is all about who can get the highest-profile coach out there. They may not be on the market, but if they have a pulse then someone will offer them a huge chunk of change to come and coach. Contracts mean nothing. Buyout clauses are laughable, because no one has enforced a contract in years. See, the whole purpose of a contract is job security for the coach and security for the school, knowing they have a coach to patrol the sidelines. Why not just hire someone on a seasonal basis, that way when the season is over the coach can be fired and another one can be found. Of course that would make recruiting a little dicey. But most schools get their players based on the school itself. It really doesn't matter who the coach is. The kids who are not recruited by the national powers are the ones who have been at the "lesser" schools. These same schools are the ones who have beaten the traditional powers each and every week. Take Rich Rodriquez at West Virginia. He had offers to leave his school but in the end he spurned those offers, and, using players no one else wanted (Pat White and Steve Slaton). He has his program one game away from playing for a national championship. It is a prefect case of a home grown coach doing good. Maybe we are too quick to pull the plug on a coach when they have a down year. Maybe not. You can always go out and buy a new one each and every year. That could be what some school administrators ask for each year from Santa Claus- a coach who lasts longer than four seasons and who at least wins the rivalry games. I just wonder where the lifelong coaches have gone. We need them now more than ever. Cold night in Calera It was a cold, hard night in Calera last Friday night. The Clarke County Bulldogs had put together one of those seasons you usually just dream about. They had rolled to 12-straight wins and had hopes of making a trip to Birmingham. That ended in a 20-7 loss. It is always hard after a loss, but you could tell these young men, the coaches and their fans had a tough pill to swallow. Looking back, as a graduate of CCHS, and someone who has followed the program for many years since, I can say that this is the greatest team to ever wear the uniform at that school. They have nothing to hang their head about. They did what no other team did, and for that they will always be the measuring stick others are weighed against. Congratulations on a fine season.
That's all folks........
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