By Rock Westfall
On October 29, I wrote about how athletic directors far too often handcuff themselves with absurd contracts that were needlessly given out of fear or hubris. Since that article was published, the situations of three programs, athletic directors, and coaches have gotten progressively worse. The problem is that there is not an immediate way out for the parties involved.
Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans, Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners, and Mike Norvell of the Florida State Seminoles have fallen into a crisis of significant credibility gaps. In the case of Venables and Norvell, the athletic directors who originally hired them gave them massive extensions and raises before the 2024 season. In the case of Riley, his athletic director inherited an insane contract from her predecessor.
Regardless, we are seeing a transformation in how the fallout of head coaching contracts may be handled in the future. This year, Oklahoma and Florida State changed coordinators in-season instead of struggling head coaches, which is a far more economical way to do business. USC set that tone when it changed its defensive coordinator last year.
But will coordinator trades really work when the true problem is at the top? Often, firing coordinators is a final desperation move before the head man eventually gets whacked, anyway.
However, Riley, Venables, and Norvell have contracts that make them too big to fail.
Or do they?
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I have a hard time envisioning FSU will move away from Mike this year, once you put in his buyout, coaches buy outs, new coach, attracting top of the line assistance, paying for almost 30 portal players which will needed, it's over $100 million. Mike gets another year to sort it
— RS MD (@rsmd2015) November 10, 2024
Lincoln Riley – USC’s $90 Million Man
Following a Week 1 win over the LSU Tigers, fans and media proclaimed that Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans were fixed. Instead, the Trojans have proven to be utterly ill-prepared for their first season as members of the Big Ten Conference.
USC is 2-5 in Big Ten games and 4-5 overall. Even more worrisome is that there is no guarantee that the Troy Boys can get two wins in their final three games to gain a bowl berth. USC hosts the wildly inconsistent but sometimes capable Nebraska Cornhuskers this week, then plays at the Rose Bowl against the rapidly improving UCLA Bruins, followed by the regular season and home finale against the powerful Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Because of his estimated $90 million buyout and the lack of enthusiasm among donors to pass the hat for a buyout, Riley is holding at least three aces. The situation is not AD Jennifer Cohen’s fault, as she inherited this mess from Mike Bohn.
Cohen is handcuffed. But when will the increasing number of empty seats at LA Memorial Coliseum be the cost justification for paying Riley to leave?
https://twitter.com/lookherebrother/status/1855464531197141021
Brent Venables – Has Joe Castiglione Has Lost His Fastball?
Brent Venables is in his third season as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, and he has a buyout of nearly $45 million. After a 10-3 record last year, athletic director Joe Castiglione, considered by many to be the best in the business, extended Venables in preparation for OU’s first season as a member of the SEC.
Previously, I praised Castiglione for making a strategic decision to extend Venables in case the season went awry. However, nobody expected Oklahoma to be 5-5 at this point, with the likelihood of missing a bowl game. Oklahoma hosts the Alabama Crimson Tide on November 23 before ending the season on the road against the LSU Tigers on November 30. They needs one more win to advance to the postseason.
It is now apparent that Castiglione should have waited to see how the 2024 season played out instead of rushing to extend Venables, who has now handcuffed his AD with an absurdly expensive buyout.
Mea Culpa.
Good news, Sooner fans!
Brent Venables contract buyout isn’t “that” bad!
They’d “only” owe him $800,000 a month through 2030, and if he were to find a new job, it would be “reduced by the amount guaranteed by his new school.”https://t.co/VZE11P1Yp6
— The Lost Ogle (@TheLostOgle) November 10, 2024
Mike Norvel – An Indefensible Blunder Becomes Nuclear Fallout
There is absolutely no excuse for Mike Norvell’s failure as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles this year. But after going 13-0 before losing his team and a blowout to Georgia in a meaningless bowl game in 2023, athletic director Michael Alford extended Norvell out of fear that Norvell would leave for Alabama. Alford handcuffed himself with a $63 buyout that is now impossible to make.
Norvell built his 2023 powerhouse largely through the transfer portal while not putting as much effort into recruiting. Now, that policy has come back to bite him in the most humiliating manner. Still, even with mass defections of key personnel, Florida State should never be 1-9 after ten games.
Meanwhile, Alford beclowned himself by ignorantly thinking that FSU was a property that the SEC or Big Ten would want. Both leagues laughed Alford out of the conference room, forcing him to crawl back begging for incentives from the ACC, a league Alford long said was beneath FSU.
Although he doesn’t deserve it, Norvell is safe.
Instead, Florida State should fire Alford by sundown.
There comes a point where keeping a head coach becomes more expensive, because of the loss of fan and donor revenue, than firing him. We are about to find out what the price point is.
LIKE and RT if you think Mike Norvell and Michael Alford should be fired for the destruction of FSU’s football program.
— rofl, Esq. (@NightmareAlt) November 10, 2024
