In Reply to: Thank you both — quick comment posted by SehornBlew on October 24, 2024 at 06:08:59
remember the case of Rocky Long. He always held he was happiest working as a coordinator, still being able to work hands on with the players.
He left UCLA when his alma mater begged him to return to be the HC at UNM. The Lobos had a woeful program - iirc the third biggest state in the union with one of the smallest populations - mountains, desert - not what you'd call a rich recruiting area (to say the least). He got them up to at least breaking even every year, playing in a post season bowl game, And of course the fan base got excited - they began yapping about replacing him for "someone who could take the next step." Which was delusional. So he moved to SDSU and did okay there. But he left that job to be a DC again.
OTOH, Chip tanked our program by his failure to recruit and fund raise effectively. From his point of view, that was where the job changed. He hated that part of it and so he failed to do it. Okay, that was his point of view - just continue to do the job as he found it at Oregon (with Nike behind him all the way). And it failed, He had to be fully aware of that. And he knew the AD was talking about firing him, just failed to do it in a timely manner, saving significant money by doing so but crippling the subsequent hiring process by starting it much too late.
(I have always wondered if that was on Jarmond or if he couldn't sell his superiors on making the move at the end of the season because of the extra money involved OR if he couldn't raise the money from donors to cover the move at that time.)
Anyway, he saw the writing on the wall and he also was aware of the talent level on his team coming back for this year and he knew this year was going to be a disaster. So he starting looking for a soft place to land. And as you noted he found the softest of the soft spots, working for a former player of his on a team with one of the three or four richest talent laden squads in the nation,
My take on him anyway