Moving the Chains: Coaching Stiffs

It’s a known fact that the coaching staff for college football teams are paid less than the head coach.  Before his departure, Florida’s Billy Napier was paid $7.4 million a year.  None of his 14(!) assistants were making over a million.  In fact, the total coaching payroll was $14.8 million, meaning everyone on his staff divvied up the half that didn’t end up in Napier’s pocket. 

It’s also a known fact that when a head coach leaves the team for one reason or another, the status of those on the coaching staff are usually in limbo.  

So not only are assistant coaches getting stiffed in their wallets, they’re also getting stiffed with their job security.

Thus begins this Tale of Two Coaches: Billy Napier and Lane Kiffin.

I’ll begin with Napier, who was relieved of his duties in the midst of his 4^th season with the University of Florida.  In the 21^st century, if you’re the Gators’ head coach – unless you win a National Championship or two – you’re only going to hold onto it for 3 or 4 years.  Just ask Ron Zook, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen, and now Billy Napier who all eventually heard these words from the administration: ‘see you later, alligator.’ 

Meanwhile, the university is stiffed paying for the departing coach’s buyout: $21 million in Billy Napier’s case.  

The exception is  Urban Meyer, who won two championships and quit after five seasons.  Then he changed his mind and returned for a 6^th.  Then he quit again, which is another story for another day.    

So with Napier gone, the 14 on staff left behind are on their own to find a job.  (Playing devil’s advocate, it’s not like they didn’t deserve it.  After all, they each played a part in putting together a team that lost 8 of 12 games this season.)

The Gators lured Jon Sumrall away from Tulane to replace Napier.  He’s already signed a six-year contract – boy, someone sure is optimistic – paying about what Napier was making.  A post on social media said ‘I would rather have Steve Spurrier coaching and recruiting via Zoom in a nursing home than Sumrall or any Group of Five (GOF) coach for that matter.’

As for me, I’d rather have Pat Summerall than Jon Sumrall, and he’s been dead for 12 years.  Sumrall, who coached two GOF teams, posted a four-year record of 42 – 11.  Napier was plucked from a GOF team as well; his four-year record was 40 – 12.  For all intents and purposes, Florida might have just hired Napier 2.0.  But as I’ve been with every coach since Spurrier, I have hope.  Fool me once, etc.    

Let’s move on to Kiffin, who jumped the Ole Miss ship right after winning the Egg Bowl, finishing the season 11 – 1, and assured of a spot in the college football playoffs – the latter an oversight that Kiffin vociferously objected to a year ago. 

Lane Kiffin had it made in Oxford, the same way that Steve Spurrier had it made in Gainesville, coaching the Gators.  Spurrier posted a 12-year record of 122-27-1 and won the SEC 7 times as well as the 1996 National Championship.  Then he left to join the Washington Redskins, where he was dismissed after 2 seasons after compiling an NFL record of 12 – 20.  

Charlie Strong and Scott Frost suffered similar fates.  They both walked on water – at Louisville and UCF, respectively.  Then they left for what they thought were greener pastures – which proved to be anything but. 

• Strong was 37 – 15 in 4 seasons at Louisville.  He left to coach the Texas Longhorns, and was fired after compiling a 16 – 21 record in three seasons.

• Frost was 19 – 7 in 2 seasons at UCF, including a perfect 13 – 0 season in 2017.  He left to coach the at Nebraska – his alma mater – and was fired in his fifth year with a record of 16 – 31.  

Lane Kiffin had everyone fooled.  People thought he was going to remain in Oxford and stick with Ole Miss for the long haul.  Instead, he took the money and ran.  To Baton Rouge, of all places, where even winning a National Championship doesn’t ensure job security.   Just ask Les Miles or Ed Orgeron.

From all reports, the parting-of-the-ways meeting between Kiffin and Keith Carter, the Ole Miss athletic director, wasn’t exactly amicable.  Kiffin tried to poach players and staff on his way out.  Kiffin threw a temper tantrum when Carter wouldn’t allow him to coach the team through the playoffs.  Kiffin asked to talk to his players at a team meeting, but Carter asked him not to.  

Some say that Kiffin burned his bridge while he was still standing on it.    

Time will tell how things will play out for him.  No doubt LSU will pay him lots of money.  But in return they’ll expect a National Championship – sooner rather than later.  And if they get one, then they’ll want two.  

Maybe that’s what he deserves for courting Ole Miss for six years and leaving them at the altar.

And who gets stiffed worst of all?  The fans.