December 13, 2006

It often amazes me when I hear stories about coaches going through the hiring process in college athletics.

Look at what happened down in Alabama. Think about the Crimson Tide and the Rich Rodriguez situation. It is posted everywhere that the school offered a six-year deal worth $12 million.

Let me tell you, when a guy is in a great environment and he is happy, the dollars and years being thrown around by another school are interesting for a while. Then the place where the coach is comfortable suddenly gets an offer to stay, he gets more perks and a bump in salary and there you go, he returns after all!

That is basically what happened when West Virginia kept their football coach.

I felt Alabama handled the situation very poorly. How embarrassing is it to get rejected? Now the person who gets hired will be the number two choice, or maybe even lower the original chart of candidates. Then again, I was probably not number two, three or four on my wife's list and we have been married over 35 happy years, baby!

I don't think school administrators should ever make public an offer to a coach. Behind the scenes they can make that offer, but once it is out there, it sets a bad precedent if the coach doesn't take the position. Now you set the stage for negotiations with the next person because the terms were floated out there for the other guy. He will want the same dollars as the top choice.

The hiring process sometimes gets a bit crazy, my friends.

Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in 1979. Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.