The Method to the Madness of Midseason Coaching Changes

Florida did it back in 2004, SMU did it last year, and Clemson has done it this year.  What am I talking about?

Firing their coach midseason.

This is a relatively new thing.  Some consider it poor taste.  Some consider it punitive to the players.  But beneath it all, it's just business.

Pro teams have done a version of this for years.  When the season is going down like the Titanic, they start keeping the prize players from getting career-ending injuries by sitting them and losing with backups.  This is because they know that they aren't going to make the playoffs, so the next best consolation prize is the coveted first pick in the draft.

It appears that the college equivalent is now to secretly throw away this season and play for the future when it comes to coaches.  By firing (or retiring, or whatever they're calling it at Clemson) Bowden now, the Tigers set up to be the first to be able to interview any of the "hot prospects."

Of course, there are names being talked about that are specific to Clemson's program, such as Bobby Johnson, who played there and has managed to win some at Vandy, which means he should be able to put up Jim Grobe-type numbers in the easier ACC.

But beyond candidates with school ties, there is the list of candidates that seem to be on everyone's list.  This season's "flavor of the year" seems to be Will Muschamp.  Not far behind are Jim Leavitt and Brian Kelly, who have won at places that look to outsiders like they should be difficult places to win.

Charlie Strong at Florida and Brent Venables at Oklahoma also seem to come up a lot.  Greg Schiano used to but not anymore.

This is the list that everyone wants first crack at—and the sooner you fire your coach, the sooner you can put your hooks into one of these "hot prospects."

In fact, Ty Willingham's firing is a foregone conclusion at Washington.  However, they haven't wanted to announce that midseason, at least not yet.  They have been trying to make under the table contacts through agents and surrogates, though, so as to not get too far out of the loop in this race to land a "hot prospect."

Because Clemson now is not restrained by such measures of decorum and may move forward at a rapid pace to start securing their next coach, that may force some hands elsewhere such as at Syracuse, Washington, and Tennessee.

College football is like a pack of lemmings, and it always has been.  That's not because everyone is convinced that someone else is doing something better.  These guys are too arrogant for that kind of thinking.  It's because they don't want to be left behind or seen as not part of the cutting edge.

Various offenses have come and gone (triple option, wing-T, veer, run and shoot, etc.), and each time, they have swept the game like wildfire.  The "spread" is the latest iteration to do that.  Teams start to switch not because they think their former system was crap, but because they don't want to be perceived as behind the curve.

This same fear of getting left behind and being the kid that gets paired up with the ugly girl is going to make midseason firings more of a common thing.

That will only become truer as schools and their fans will push aside politeness and customary behavior in the future when they see that the candidate they wanted as their new coach got taken in November by someone else while their team was waiting until the end of the season to do it the "honorable" way.