Debacle in waiting

It can now be irrefutably concluded that the coach-in-waiting endeavor is simply not worth the wait.

So many innovations seemed like good ideas at the time but end up looking really silly in hindsight. Twenty years from now, we'll probably laugh at the coach-in-waiting thing the way we laugh at all those awful photos of women's big hair and momjeans in the 1980s and 1990s.

But this idea was sketchy to begin with, because it completely ignored the fact that coaches have big egos and get their feelings hurt easily.

Bobby Bowden got to hand pick his successor at Florida State, but the transition was messy and uncomfortable because the Seminoles weren't winning and everyone but Bowden was ready for him to walk off into the book-signing sunset.

Maryland's AD brought in James Franklin to resuscitate a slumbering offense and eventually succeed Ralph Friedgen, a proud Maryland grad who built his name on ... running an offense.

Apparently Will Muschamp went to Texas under the premise not only that he'd be the guy to succeed Mack Brown, but that Brown's retirement was imminent. Muschamp grew tired of waiting and ended up landing in Gainesville.

Winning can help a lot of problems and even prevent them, including strife among coaches. And the coach-in-waiting arrangement appears to have worked in some places (Oregon, Wisconsin, Purdue).

But the risks and the questions and the potential for debacles are just too numerous to consider it a smart move.

At Florida State and Maryland, clearly there were chain-of-command problems that came close to blowing up into embarrassing situations. If you're an assistant coach, do you take orders from a guy who is now an assistant but who will one day be your boss? What if the coach-in-waiting is an offensive guy who's trying to impose his ideas on the defensive side of the ball? Given the high-strung, high-pressure nature of coaches who are working in a cut-throat industry, introducing a coach-in-waiting variable is like pouring gasoline on a fire.

At West Virginia, we're presented with an example of the absolute worst way to do it. Not only does the AD bring in an old buddy to be the eventual guy, but the current guy is told exactly when the succession will take place.

It's a recipe for precisely what has befallen West Virginia in the circus that pushed Bill Stewart out and elevated Dana Holgorsen.

Let's hope athletics directors permanently shelve an idea that was ill-conceived from the start.

LW

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