G5 schools poaching FCS coaches.

[Milktruck74]

As an FCS football school, we are going to have to deal with our share of G5 poaching of our football coaches. The last one worked out pretty nicely for My Mocs (I still owe Larry Williams at Akron a handwritten thank you card for taking TA off our hands after 2 seasons). I know this isn't FCS, but the point is the same.....I was having a conversation with my father (who much to my chagrin, became an App State fan after retiring to Boone) about Eli Drinkowitz headed to Mizzou. He said Drink lied to everyone when he said he was solid and was not going anywhere...then he packs his bags in the middle of the night and heads out of town before their season ends. He wasn't even at ASU for an entire season. They took a chance on him, and he had NO LOYALTY. Money is always going to trump Loyalty at our level....I guess Loyalty has a price, and it is usually 2 times your present salary.....I get it, you have to take off when you are making $250k and you get a shot at $750k or more. But, it does real damage to the program you are leaving behind. As much as I was glad to see TA go, I remember our new staff didn't have any time to evaluate and offer their first class because of it. Almost every player that verbally committed to UTC jetted as soon as TA took off...and a bunch went to Akron (I guess they really didn't value winning). Anyway, why can't FCS schools start structuring their contracts to keep G5 programs from poaching their coaches? "So you say you are committed to being here for the long term, Here is your contract with a $20MM buyout that reduces $2.5MM/year." Do that and they won't even get a post-it note from a big program until year 7 or 8. I just hate that money and the pursuit of it is hurting the student-athletes. If all FCS schools step up and do this together (G5s too), it might cool the "stepping stone" mentality of coaches.

And while I'm on my rant, any NCAA violation (recruiting, APR, etc) that occurs on a HCs watch should follow that coach to his next destination. If a school and athletes have to stay and face the music, a coach should have to also.

[Professor]

Money talks, can't be mad at the coach

[Milktruck74]

I get that...It is the system that is failing. Why not structure contracts to penalize those that do it?

[PantherRob82]

I love my current job. If someone called and offered me more resources and double pay I would be stupid not to listen.

[walliver]

I get that...It is the system that is failing. Why not structure contracts to penalize those that do it?

You can structure a contract like that, but how many up-and-coming young coaches would sign such a contract? The days of coaches like Mike Ayers and Jerry Moore are gone.

The situation will get worse. When our basketball coach left last year, he also took our top "commitment" and one of our existing players. With the current graduate transfer rule, we may see more of this going on with football.

I don't blame Drinkowitz for taking a big pay increase and a job in the SEC. Although, to be honest, the Mizzou job probably isn't that great (I still remember the player's threatened "strike").

[TheKingpin28]

I love my current job. If someone called and offered me more resources and double pay I would be stupid not to listen.This

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[Catbooster]

You can structure your contract that way. But the coach might choose not to sign it. It's a negotiation.

[Professor Chaos]

The biggest complaint I have with coaching moves is the timing usually ****s with teams that are in the middle of the playoffs. I think the biggest driver of this is the early signing period in December. Schools know that they need a new coach in place before the early signing period to give that coach some chance at a putting a recruiting class together. This leads to everything getting rushed this time of year.

FCS coaches are always going to be jumping ship for G5 (and P5) opportunities... it's just the nature of the business. But IMO they could really calm things down a lot if they made the early signing period actually early (like in August).

[WestCoastAggie]

In the event of these MVFC, Big Sky, CAA or OVC coaches getting plucked, there are at least 3 good coaches that deserve looks in the MEAC and SWAC.

[GAD]

I love my current job. If someone called and offered me more resources and double pay I would be stupid not to listen.xthumbsupx

[cx500d]

I love my current job. If someone called and offered me more resources and double pay I would be stupid not to listen.

You are secretly hoping Farley gets "poached'

[Professor]

I get that...It is the system that is failing. Why not structure contracts to penalize those that do it?

All you can do is put a good buyout on it , but again it's a negotiation. Who is going to sign a contract that can hinder your future move

[dewey]

I love my current job. If someone called and offered me more resources and double pay I would be stupid not to listen.

Absolutely. Plus it is probably higher than a factor of two and if the coach wins at the G5 level that can be parlayed into a P5 job that may be 10 times the salary as the FCS coach.

Dewey

[Professor Chaos]

All you can do is put a good buyout on it , but again it's a negotiation. Who is going to sign a contract that can hinder your future move
Yep, if coaches are going to accept a big buyout number in the contract then they're going to negotiate a higher annual salary. It's a give and take and both sides will leverage what they can to get the best deal for themselves.

At this level we should be wanting coaches who are ambitious, they tend to get the most out of their teams. There aren't very many guys in the Jimmye Laycock mold at this level who are willing to spend 30+ years at one place.

[dewey]

Yep, if coaches are going to accept a big buyout number in the contract then they're going to negotiate a higher annual salary. It's a give and take and both sides will leverage what they can to get the best deal for themselves.

At this level we should be wanting coaches who are ambitious, they tend to get the most out of their teams. There aren't very many guys in the Jimmye Laycock mold at this level who are willing to spend 30+ years at one place.

EXACTLY! I would much rather have a program that succeeds and the coach moves onto a 'bigger' job than fire the coach because their tenure was not good.

Plus if coaches are getting hired for 'bigger' jobs I would imagine that the level of interest in that program also goes up.

NDSU has seen Craig Bohl move onto Wyoming in 2013 and Chris Klieman to Kansas State in 2018 and each of them took a decent amount of coaches with them. However NDSU had good young coaches ready to backfill behind them.

Dewey

[PAllen]

Yep, if coaches are going to accept a big buyout number in the contract then they're going to negotiate a higher annual salary. It's a give and take and both sides will leverage what they can to get the best deal for themselves.

At this level we should be wanting coaches who are ambitious, they tend to get the most out of their teams. There aren't very many guys in the Jimmye Laycock mold at this level who are willing to spend 30+ years at one place.

Yup, bump that offer up to $2.5M per year over 8 years and we can talk about your $20M buyout.

[WestCoastAggie]

EXACTLY! I would much rather have a program that succeeds and the coach moves onto a 'bigger' job than fire the coach because their tenure was not good.

Plus if coaches are getting hired for 'bigger' jobs I would imagine that the level of interest in that program also goes up.

NDSU has seen Craig Bohl move onto Wyoming in 2013 and Chris Klieman to Kansas State in 2018 and each of them took a decent amount of coaches with them. However NDSU had good young coaches ready to backfill behind them.

Dewey

This is exactly what Murray State is on the Basketball side.

[JayJ79]

The biggest complaint I have with coaching moves is the timing usually ****s with teams that are in the middle of the playoffs. I think the biggest driver of this is the early signing period in December. Schools know that they need a new coach in place before the early signing period to give that coach some chance at a putting a recruiting class together. This leads to everything getting rushed this time of year.

FCS coaches are always going to be jumping ship for G5 (and P5) opportunities... it's just the nature of the business. But IMO they could really calm things down a lot if they made the early signing period actually early (like in August).

I don't follow recruiting, but I seem to remember there being announcements a month or so back about recruits signing. What would that have been?

[Professor Chaos]

I don't follow recruiting, but I seem to remember there being announcements a month or so back about recruits signing. What would that have been?
That was probably the early signing day for winter sports like basketball. IMO they've got it right for basketball with an early signing period in November and then a late signing period in April. I always assumed the early signing period in football only being moved up 6 weeks from the original signing period was to appease the Nick Sabans of the world at the top of the recruiting food chain who were the only ones opposed to the early signing period and that they'd eventually move it up further. It hasn't happened yet and we're 5 years into it or something like that. Can't happen soon enough in my opinion.

[JayJ79]

That was probably the early signing day for winter sports like basketball. IMO they've got it right for basketball with an early signing period in November and then a late signing period in April. I always assumed the early signing period in football only being moved up 6 weeks from the original signing period was to appease the Nick Sabans of the world at the top of the recruiting food chain who were the only ones opposed to the early signing period and that they'd eventually move it up further. It hasn't happened yet and we're 5 years into it or something like that. Can't happen soon enough in my opinion.
it was volleyball and other fall sports around mid-november. but I guess football wasn't included in that.

[whoanellie]

I feel I need to respond to the initial poster. I understand his families frustration of losing a coach like "Drink" but He will make more next year 4 Mil plus and that is what he is worth now in the market to Mizzou. Call him a traitor but that is pure B.S. In a profession where a winning coach is worth more than Gold I hope for him that he continues to win. Jerry Moore, (there are books written about him at ASU) actually was hired as a seasoned head coach so He was not looking around for another job. 35 plus years ago one Mack Brown stay at ASU was brief and jumped at the UNC job so there is that History of being a stepping stone school. My own Alma mater, Elon has dealt with the Good, Bad & the Ugly in head coaches. Hamilton to Lembo to Swepson to Shrosky to Cignetti to Trisciani. deserves another thread but change is inevitable.