It's Time to Get Off the Ride - Opinion
We've created a monster. Colleges, players, coaches, fans, the NCAA. Everybody has played a part. It is a never-ending cycle of what has become a microcosm of our mobile society.
Coaches leaving for greener pastures. Then, a few years later, fired from those lush fields of green.
Players recruited to a university and signing. Then, the player seeing what seems like a land of promise just beyond the other side of that hill, leaving for another program, only to find it was a mirage and instead of opportunity, sitting a bench.
Penn State is the Latest
Over the weekend, the "what have you done for me lately" gang had everyone in Happy Valley worked up enough to have James Franklin fired. Heck, fans and opinion pieces have been hollering for his dismissal since right after the Penn State loss to UCLA, when PennLive columnist Johnny McGonigal wrote, "James Franklin and Penn State’s brass should use their long plane ride from Los Angeles to State College to figure out the best exit strategy."
The man who was an overtime possession away from defeating then 8th ranked Oregon just three weeks ago, then losing to UCLA, then Northwestern.
The same man who has lead the Nittany Lions to FIVE Top-10 finishes in the last decade. Let that sink in: five Top-10 finishes in the last 10 years. And James Franklin is fired.
Some have pointed back to the embarrassingly gigantic buyout of Jimbo Fisher by Texas A&M as the start of it all. Nah. Buyouts have been a part of college sports as long as any of us can remember.
Even Tulane Has Had Its Buyouts
Tulane had one of its own, a former player who quarterbacked the Green Wave in the late 1940s who came in to coach the Wave in 1971. Five seasons later, Bennie Ellender was canned. A man who was voted AFCA College Division Coach of the Year while at Arkansas State in 1970. The same man who lead Tulane to the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl in 1973.
Solutions?
Agreed, the Fisher buyout at A&M was over the top, but the needle keeps skipping on the turntable of coaching carousels. Will it ever stop?
Self-policing by the NCAA and colleges hasn't worked. That's what got us to where we are.
Some are saying we should make sure Congress has a say so in this or all that has to happen is for colleges to say "No" to those reps who negotiate the huge contracts. I don't believe either of these options are viable. Our U.S. Representatives and Senators are a little busy right now trying to get the government back up and running. And it is rare for any college or university to say "No" to more money.
Time for a Different Strategy
Instead, I think it's time for fans to speak out. Fans are the ones that support the teams, the coaches, the players, the universities. Sure, money talks, but a fan's seat in the seat speaks volumes. If a fan doesn't like the way things are going, they can let the school know with an email and not going to a game.
Did the fans speak up at Penn State in this way? That last game in Happy Valley, the loss to Northwestern, had 108,000 fans in attendance. Those 108K folks have a voice, a strong one.
So, how do fans voice those opinions? Fans have the most powerful medium ever created at our fingertips. They don't even have to hold an actual physical rally with the Internet. Social media, emails to those in power and various media including newspapers, not buying those TV packages, all make a dent. Online rallies work. Even the aforementioned U.S. Representatives and Senators are finding that out.
I am sure there are other ways to get this under control before there is a total collapse of college football. Make no mistake, that will happen. I am open to listening to new thoughts, but this is something that cannot start at the top. This is truly something that needs to be from the ground, up.
And until fans speak with one voice, this coaching carousel and the downward spiral of college football will continue. I hate to think where this might end.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.