Brian Curtis, Senior writer over at CSTV has produced an excellent six-part series this week called "The Kingmakers". 'Kingmakers' is about today's coaching searches and the players involved in making them happen.
The series is made up of the following parts:
- The West Virginia Saga
- The Agents
- The Donors
- The Search Consultants
- The Media
- The Executives
- Conclusion
Our top dog, Chancellor Harvey Perlman and super hero Dr. Tom Osborne play a key part in the series, obviously representing "The Executives". Trev Alberts chimes in as part of "The Media". There's plenty of interesting bits in the series on which to comment, but I'd rather you read it and post any comments you have about it here.
A couple of exceptions...
From 'The Executives":
And at Nebraska, Chancellor Harvey Perlman adds, "More and more high profile coaches have agents. It makes the process more difficult, longer and not to the advantage of the program."
From "The Agents":
As for the process, agent Gary O'Hagan says, "I don't see the process becoming more simple anytime soon."
You remember Gary, don't you - Callahan's agent who told us to go count socks or study soil content? He's right. It won't. It's not in his best interest for it to become simple. If 'The Executives" were able to directly meet and deal with coaches, they wouldn't need Gary.
I can understand the concept that coaches need legal representation due to the amount of legalese contained in contract negotiations, but it's hard to see "The Agents" as anything but bad guys in this process as they drive salaries toward the ceiling. We pay for those salaries as ticket prices increase and more demands are made.
In any case, like I said, a great series. Check it out.