San Diego State Still on the Hook for Chuck Long

The Doc makes a great analogy in comparing former San Diego State coach Chuck Long to the employee challenged George Costanza—from Seinfeld as if you did not all ready know that. The gist is that Costanza was fired for faking an injury and using an electronic cart, but since he had a contract with Play-Now he was offered six months pay to quit.

However the sneaky Costanza opted against that since he would be paid the entirety if he showed up everyday, so the company made it miserable for him as he did show up everyday.

On to the Chuck Long story. He was canned last year and received a buyout since he still had a few years left on his deal, but that is not the story here.

The difference here is that Long still has an office on campus, which is real odd, and doing who knows what. His contract states that he will be paid as long as he has works at the University:

"SDSU hired Kelley to mediate a way out of Long's contract, which ensures him $715,900 per year through Dec. 31, 2010. Long was fired as football coach in November, but his contract guarantees him his full salary while continuing work at the university. Since he was fired, Long has kept office hours on campus doing “projects and analysis.”

His contract is unusual in that it contains a clause saying he is entitled to no further compensation once he lands a new job. In effect, this creates an incentive for Long to stay at SDSU because no other likely job would pay him nearly as much.

That outside consultant is being paid $125 per hour to work out a settlement, but the real question is who made this deal. Somehow this clause that would only pay Long as long as he was not employed elsewhere was designed to save the school money.

Huh?!? The reason that Long is reporting each day is that their is no assistant coaching job—unless you are at Tennessee—that would pay him more then his $715,900.

Plus, there is no one going to hire Chuck Long as a head coach any time soon, so who can blame him to report each day and this is the reason San Diego has not been relevant since Marshall Faulk.