What Kind Of Situation Is Left Behind When A Coach Is Fired Midseason?

A fact of life: Power struggles do not put into account the underlings.

We see it with families when parents divorce. The kids must fall in line, although many are adversely affected for years to come.

We see it in politics. Candidates wage a bitter war with negative television ads and the general public is expected to stomach them. Division occurs among the masses.

We see it in sports. A college coach is fired midseason, hastily from a battle with administrators and, perhaps, boosters. Those on the outside looking in? The young student-athletes, many of them recruited by the disposed coach, are now asked to exert effort and put on the pads in practice and on Saturdays for a situation they did not count on when signing their national letter of intent.

That’s irony in itself. The student-athlete Is required to sign a letter of “intent”. Intent is committing to an aim or purpose. The administrators who fire coaches in midseason, such as those at LSU (Les Miles) and Florida International (Ron Turner) last Sunday, do not put the student-athlete’s aim or purpose into consideration.

The student-athlete must abide by the decision. Their intent binds them to a university that made a non-binding move with the coach. The administrators were unable to wait until the end of the season to make such a decision. Not only are the players robbed of the opportunity to play for the coach for four years – their intent when they signed with the coach – they are denied the chance to play more than four games under him for a season.

To the younger players (freshmen and sophomores): That’s your tough luck, the school is essentially saying. They could transfer if they want but their careers will be put on hold for one season, an option that restricts the student-athlete, making their situation worse. The firings undoubtedly also affect juniors and seniors, but their careers are far along and they have acclimated themselves to college life.

The younger players starting out, and their families, are in a whole new world, probably viewing it as a forest with the head coach gone so suddenly (and most of his staff to follow at the end of the season). What’s the difference between now and a firing at the end of the season? At least the 25 or more true freshmen at LSU and Florida International can go through the entire normal process for one season.

But the players are the underlings. They are expected to fall in line. They became spectators to LSU athletic director Joe Alleva, feeling mounting pressure from boosters, essentially telling Miles that if he did not fire offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, he would be shown the door along with Cameron.

 “He was a players’ coach,” LSU senior wide receiver Travin Dural told ESPN of Miles. “He taught me a lot of things and I experienced a lot of things with him, and I’m going to miss him. Everybody’s going to miss him — the whole program, the whole state of Louisiana, all LSU fans — we’re going to miss him.”

Player turnover will likely occur after this season at LSU, which had 11 players transfer after last season with Miles still employed.

The unsettling situation is one that could break down the confidence of a young student-athlete in LSU and the program’s immediate future while they are eligible. That places more of an uncertainty on the student-athlete’s future.

Meanwhile, Miles will move on certainly to another head coaching job, financially not at risk with his future still intact. Alleva will either remain as LSU’s athletic director or take another high-paid position. LSU’s young student-athletes do not have such a rosy immediate future. They are expected to move on with the new coaching staff.

For some, that may be an exciting proposition if a young and promising coach like Houston’s Tom Herman is hired. But what if Herman rejects LSU if Houston is projected to join the Big 12? What if LSU must hire its third or fourth option? Art Briles has already been mentioned as a candidate, which is peculiar because of the mess he left behind after his firing at Baylor. Where does that leave the young LSU student-athletes and their parents if Briles is brought on board?

Essentially, LSU’s move to fire Miles, especially in midseason, is telling those players: Deal with it. They are an afterthought.

We’re in a day and age of the NCAA being more of an advocate for student-athletes with the graduate-transfer rule, stipends, and free nourishment, etc. What about the welfare of LSU and Florida International student-athletes in this situation with a coach fired midway through the season? What’s fair in this situation for the student-athletes?

The student-athletes sign with a university and not the head coach. This is true. LSU and Florida International have executed a business decision, however, to relieve their coach before the season. One business decision should allow for another: A player should be allowed to transfer to another institution as a personal business decision for their future without the penalty of having to sit a season to play because he was affected by the school’s decision to remove the coach he wanted to prosper under.

If a general student attends a school because of a program administered by a dean or professors they respect, only to find out the dean and/or professors have relocated, that student is allowed freedom of movement to another institution. When their coach is fired, student-athletes should be allowed freedom of movement, without recourse, as well.

But, then again, the student-athletes are the underlings, so they must expect to live by what those in power have in mind, no matter how unfair it may seem.