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January 2012, CSBN Columnists
In Search of Stability and Sanity Surrounding the Coaching Carousel
The recent departure of Todd Graham as head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh to take the same job at Arizona State – just one year into his Panther tenure – prompted Pittsburgh officials to call his actions unprofessional. Pitt executive vice chancellor and general counsel Jerry Cochran said, "Obviously this is not the way we would have expected Mr. Graham to handle any possible departure. Beyond normal expectations with respect to professional conduct, he has failed to comply with the terms of his contract." Although that observation is right on the money, it still seems somewhat hypocritical following several actions by the institution and its administrative leadership over the last year. Let’s review the record.
For reasons that seemed unclear to impartial observers, Pitt decided to dump former head coach and alumnus Dave Wannstedt after a fairly successful six-year tenure in which he compiled a solid 42-31 overall record and a Big East record of 24-18. He seemed to have the program heading in the right direction, albeit slowly; therefore the decision to pull the plug on the Wannstedt era seemed premature and perhaps a little unprofessional.
That decision led to the hiring of former Miami of Ohio head football coach, Mike Haywood. However, within 17 days Haywood was dismissed due to charges of domestic abuse filed against him by the mother of his child. According to the legal complaint filed by Haywood, the mother told the court that Haywood was not a danger to their child.
In a lawsuit filed by Haywood against Pitt, it asserts that despite requests on his part he was not given a chance by Pitt officials to present his side of the events before his dismissal, which he claims was in conflict with his contract terms as well as simple due process and fairness practices. He is seeking approximately $4 million from Pitt. While we will have to wait and see what actually occurred and if the handling of the Haywood matter was unlawful, it nevertheless would hardly seem professional to have denied him the opportunity to explain what had happened.
Following the dismissal of Haywood, Pitt quickly moved to appoint Graham as coach. Graham came to Pitt after four years as head coach at Tulsa which followed a one year stint as head coach at Rice. His track record of jumping on the coaching carousel certainly should have been obvious to Pitt. In some ways, in hiring Graham it seems like Pitt got exactly what should have been obvious – a coach with ants in his pants. One year later Graham is on the move again. It has been reported that he used the same press conference speech at ASU as he had used at Pitt last year. Perhaps even worse, Graham didn’t have the courage to address his Pitt team directly, opting instead to inform them by text message. In presumably seeking coaching stability for the Panther program, the hiring of an obviously commitment-challenged coach could be viewed as unprofessional.
Additionally, over the last year the University of Pittsburgh announced that it would be leaving the Big East Conference to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. During the time period when Pitt was researching its options and having conversations with the ACC, Pitt’s chancellor, Mark Nordenberg, continued to serve as the chairman of the Big East executive committee; which must have presented significant moments of severe conflicts of interest between his obligations to the Big East and his institution’s own best interests that seemed better served by a move to the ACC. Nordenberg did not resign from this position until announcing Pitt’s move to the ACC. Observers could say that Pitt’s handling of this type of conflict hardly seemed professional.
In the end, and without absolving Graham for his inexcusable behavior, an old adage seems appropriate to sum up this unfortunate period for Pitt – and that is that we most often reap what we sow. Indeed, unprofessional conduct often begets unprofessional conduct.
Note: Interestingly, in the press release announcing Graham’s hiring at Arizona State, President Michael Crow was quoted: "What we sought in a football coach was someone who would be in it for the long term at Arizona State…” I wonder whether President Crow actually looked at Graham’s track record of employment.
Dave O'Brien J.D. has been a college sports executive and educator for over 25 years. He served as a Division I athletic director at Long Beach State University, Temple University and Northeastern University for 16 years (1991-2007).
O'Brien is currently the Director of the Sports Management Program at Drexel University where he also teaches at the undergraduate, graduate and law school levels. In addition to his academic position, O'Brien is the managing partner of the O'Brien Sports Group which provides a wide range of consulting services to the college sports industry, including NCAA rules compliance, risk management audits, business support services, executive recruitment, training workshops and more. He is also an editor of College Sports Business News.
O'Brien is active nationally in sports law matters as co-author of a monthly column on college sports law issues published in College Athletics and the Law and as a consultant on sports topics including pay equity, retaliation, harassment, Title IX, and coaching contracts.
Prior to becoming an athletic administrator, O'Brien served in a variety of roles in higher education, which included assistant to the president for legal and legislative affairs at Montclair State University and the assistant vice president for administration and finance at Long Beach State. He also served on the legislative staff of the New Jersey Senate and practiced law in New Jersey.
O'Brien is a graduate of Moravian College and Seton Hall Law School, and has also attained certification from the Sports Management Institute as part of its inaugural class. He can be reached at dobrien@collegesportsbusinessnews.com