NCAA Needs To Stop Coaches from Jumping Ship

The business of college football is starting to become a huge monster that is getting out of control and the NCAA needs to get off their collective butts and put a stop to the coaching carousel.

Do I blame college coaches for jumping ship on their respective universities and running for the money and prestige of another big-time program? Certainly not, but lost in the shuffle is the impact that it's having on the student-athletes as well as the university that has invested its time and money in their coach.

If you have never played college football, then you probably wont understand fully what I am talking about. I hear those talking heads whom have never played the game say, "Oh, they will get over it, change is inevitable." True, but what you don't realize is that in many instances a head coach is a father figure to some players who have come from single-parent homes.

A head coach is also key to many recruits making their mind up to attend a university because they want to play for a particular coach. One who sat in their living rooms and wowed and dazzled them and their parents to convince them that he would be around to guide their son's academic and athletic career.

Of course, no coach is going to promise in recruiting that he will stay for the long haul, but his speech definitely doesn't involve his ideas of possibly wanting a higher paying job in the very near future.

So what's the answer? Here are two ideas that I think should be enacted by the NCAA. One, I think that the NCAA should adopt the "no tampering" rule that the NFL currently has in place. Basically, it states that universities cannot talk to a coaching candidate until his season is officially over and that includes the bowl game.

What this will do is allow teams to finish off a successful season in a bowl with its coach without the distraction of being coachless and naming an interim coach. I know people are going to throw the recruiting angle at me and I say keep some coaches from the current staff in place to keep recruiting going until the new coach is named.

Two, if a coach has more than two years on his current deal left with his school, he should have to sign a non-compete clause that states that he has to sit out a year from coaching if he tries to leave the school to take another job. He could waive the one-year sit out rule if he decides to forfeit the remaining years owed on his contract. 

This would allow universities not to be on the hook to buy out the coaches remaining years. What this rule would do is force coaches to stay longer on their jobs for fear that they wont get any future compensation if they leave early.

For those of you that say that's unfair, think of what the student-athletes go through. If they want to transfer within the same subdivision, they have to sit out one year. The real reason why this is in place is to prevent players from jumping ship and moving on to different schools at the drop of a hat.

So if we have something in place for the players, why not the coaches? Without the players, coaches wouldn't have any jobs and without players performing, a coach wouldn't have his job either.

The main problem that coaches leaving causes is the destruction of successful programs. I'll give you an example. Louisville was rolling under Bobby Petrino; they were coming off of a BCS win in the Orange Bowl and an 11-win season. Everything was going great until Petrino unexpectedly jumped ship for the big money to be coach for the Atlanta Falcons. 

While Petrino was celebrating his bank account being doubled in size, UL was left scrambling for answers and a new coach. The program has seen a serious decline since his departure and even though Charlie Strong seems to be a great head coaching pick, it remains to be seen if he can dig UL out of the hole. 

College coaches have families yes, they also have young amateur athletes who admire them and believe every word that they say. I hate to say it,but for the most part, college coaches are just like attorneys; that only focus on their client while working on a particular case and after its over, they move onto the next client.

Is there no loyalty in college football? There is if you can find a coach that is satisfied with where he is at;good luck finding him!