Head-Coach-In-Waiting: A Concept Whose Time Has Come And Gone

Even though Texas will get just about anyone they want in that area, I think the fact that Muschamp was the HCIW, with no date set in stone, upset their rivals and they were the motivation for the NCAA coming up with the new rules.

As much as I would like to give Jimbo credit, I think Texas.

I think our plan worked, somewhat. Our main goal was to have Jimbo Fisher be the future coach and like you said Ed without the HCIW it wouldn’t have happened. However, the end/retirement and the 08, 09 seasons were not very pretty. Thank God its over, we had a solid year and our guy is now the coach, but I think we can all agree that Wisconsin did it best. Any chance UT tries again at a nother “successor?”

I am sure there have been many head coaches who hand picked their successors. We even had one here at FSU when Bowden picked Mickey Andrews to succeed him years ago. So yes, I do agree that there were earlier precedents for what is now known as the HCIW.

But as far as having making a official school public announcement, having a contract drawn up naming an individual as the next head coach, with or without a buyout if it doesn’t happen or by a certain date, from my research back in 2009 Wisconsin was the first.

However, I am always willing to learn about things I may not know about, so if you have an earlier HCIW situation, I’m all ears and please do share.

Totally agree. After the promises TK made to Bowden (never dreaming that Bobby would reverse his early position and cling to the job as the program tumbled downhill) the sorry path we took was the best available. The buy-out put immediate pressure on Bowden to do what was best for FSU. I’m sure TK realized that If it did not work the terms of the agreement would force him and the Boosters to shelve Bowden and JUSTIFY (to some) that action. Given the circumstances, the HCIW package was a good tactical move in a grim strategic scenario.

Joe Tiller publicly announced at the end of the 2008 season that 2009 would be his last season as coach, and they hired Eastern Kentucky assistant Danny Hope to become his successor.

But as I wrote in the story, Oregon transition was not so clear cut. The deal was for him to coach through the 2009 season, but Kelly became a very hot commodity when during his 2nd season as the OC, he turned the Oregon offense into the nations 7th ranked offensive team despite losing their top 2 QB’s, and other teams took notice and came-a-calling. That is why in the beginning of December of 2008, before their bowl game and during the time when other teams are searching for new coaches, Kelly was signed as the HCIW agreement to take effect at the end of 2009.

“It could be a year, it could be more. I don’t know,” Bellotti said during the HCIW announcement. “I feel like I’ve been put in a great situation. Basically a lot of this was at my suggestion, because of Chip’s popularity and the job he’s done for us.”

The “succession plan” released by the university come amid reports that the 45-year-old Kelly was to be interviewed by Syracuse for its head coaching position.

Bellotti would replace Pat Kilkenny (another prominent booster) as AD, who took over in February 2007 and said at the time he planned to serve in that position for two years.

So everything was in place for both transitions to take place at the end of the 2009 season, and right after their bowl game Bellotti is quoted as saying,

"When you spend a couple of weeks after the season doing the things you do as coach, there is a lot of excitement. We have a chance to be a real good football team next season."

Supposedly, the pressure started to mount on Bellotti to make the move even before their bowl game, but he continued to think he would be coaching the next season and he took credit for the HCIW deal, thinking this would buy him another year, despite publicly stating that he would decide when he would move to AD. He even presided over Oregon’s national letter-of-intent signing day, which Kelly would have done if he was already planning to move, and was gearing up for spring practice when all of sudden 2 weeks before the start of spring practice, he announced his resignation and became the AD one year earlier than plan. His resignation came right after two members of Bellotti’s coaching staff were relieved of their duties, because they didn’t fit with Kelly’s plans for the future.

Also, a few weeks before spring practice, Bellotti was asked if is being forced out. Bellotti had no choice but to say,

"I would move over because it’s what I want to do. This whole idea was mine. Chip Kelly would be the head coach at Syracuse or Mississippi State or several other places if we hadn’t moved on this."

A few days later he resigns.

one of the few luminaries I can think of who knew exactly when to get off the train, there are at least twenty like Willie Mays. Bowden was committed to the Mays route and it was as sad as it was destructive. I’m rooting for Joe Pa to wake up one morning and call in retired.

I was actually working on this for about a day before I posted it, but since I have other obligations other than writing it took me longer than expected to publish.

As far as Maryland is concerned, the contract was with the university, not the AD. So the contract is binding even if the AD leaves and goes to NC. If others had not turned down the Vandy job before him, Franklin probably would not have gotten another coaching job in a major (if that’s what we want to call Vandy) program. Maryland would have still been on the hook for $1million at the end of next season if Franklin was not named head coach. It is possible Ralphie boy would still be at Maryland, especially since the new AD previously said he was willing to discuss giving Friedgen the extension he was asking for past 2011, but then changed his mind and fired bought him out when Franklin left and the money became available.