DOK Blog: OSU staff turnover troubling

[snuffy]

OSU staff turnover troubling
Posted by berrytramel
January 16, 2009
http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2009/01/16/osu-staff-turnover-troubling/?custom_click=lead_story_title

The Oklahoma State football staff upheaval can’t be a good thing for the Cowboys and can’t be pleasing to Boone Pickens, because it’s exactly what he didn’t want.

The Cowboys have lost defensive coordinator Tim Beckman (Toledo head coach), offensive assistants Trooper Taylor and Curtis Luper (Auburn assistants) and director of football operations Jimmy Gonzales (fired). Plus, offensive assistant Gunter Brewer has been reported to be interviewing at Minnesota U. for its offensive coordinator job.

Staff changeover is not a good thing for any program, and OSU recognizes that. Here’s a quote Boone Pickens gave me during football season:

“I think (Mike) Gundy’s done a good job. I told him, ‘I don’t want to lose any coaches off the staff, unless it’s either by Gundy’s determination or they went to a head job. That’s been exactly what’s happened. No lateral moves anywhere. They (in the past) came in for a cup of coffee. That doesn’t happen anymore.”

Except now it is. The departures of Beckman and Gonzales fit Pickens’ acceptability parameters, though staff firings always are troubling. But the losses of Taylor and Luper do not fit, and neither would the loss of Brewer.

Auburn ranks higher on the football food chain than does OSU, but Minnesota ranks below. And the whole reason Pickens got involved in money for football salaries was to keep the likes of Taylor and Luper from leaving Stillwater for a place like Auburn.

Yes, Auburn apparently upped the ante. OSU was paying well, over $200,000 a year for quality assistants, but that price tag has gone up as Auburn and Tennessee have revamped coaching staffs.

How much money is enough, Pickens must wonder. Pickens and Gundy and frankly everyone in college football. But that’s an abstract discussion. On the concrete level, OSU has lost the staff stability it correctly desired.

[wood911]

How times change. It wasn't but a couple of years ago where our assistants were among the highest paid in the country. It just shows how important winning football is to most schools/alumni. OSU may have been one of the schools that started the escalation of salaries. I understand some of the logic about winning programs bringing alumni and their money back to the university but it all seems to be out of control.
The haves are not going to allow the others to catch them competitively without a fight. I remember when Auburn was the little sister to Alabama and I guess they are willing to do whatever it takes to not allow that to happen again. I'm not sure they can stop it, tho. What would happen here if we beat OU 3-4 years in a row?

[CaliforniaCowboy]

Don't listen to Barry Turmoil.

When have any of you ever heard about this?

And the whole reason Pickens got involved in money for football salaries was to keep the likes of Taylor and Luper from leaving Stillwater for a place like Auburn.

Miles gave up some of his salary to increase his coaches pay, not Mr. Pickens. Gundy did the same thing originally, but the school (Holder) stepped up with better packages for our assistants... when did Mr Pickens get involved except to yap about it?

He does poney up annually for aminities, and did make enoumous facility donations, but coaches salaries? Has anyone heard that one before?

Does anybody know what Barry Turmoil is talking about?

[OSUFan]

OSU doesn't have the money to up coaches salaries and there's no way what Miles or Gundy gave up of their salaries boosted assistant coaches salaries to $200,000+. I think Boone's money is very much a part of the current salaries.

[OSUFan]

What's troubling for me about all these departures is that OSU looked like a team to make a run at a national title. Why would you want to leave now? Why not wait until the end of next season and use the success of the team as a bargaining chip for a higher salary or a job at another school? 9-4 is great and all but not something that I think would make as big of an impression as what could happen this coming season.

[Inky29]

Actually Berry is one of the best in the state. He routinely pisses of both OSU and OU fans and is one of the few media folks I know that will 1) carry on a conversation with you and 2) admit he made a mistake.

Actually from the story I heard, Miles never gave up anything; you can't give up what you were never offered. It made for a nice story but from my understanding at the time Miles wasn't offered more money and actually deferred the money to his assistants. It was a very good PR move.

Replacing coaches is part of the business but Berry is right about there being a bit of instability right now within the coaching staff. I primarily only hear one side of the story so I'm not going to say it's all Mike's fault, just like I'm not going to be someone that acts like the guys that are leaving are just selfish/bad people and Mike is some angel. I mean we are talking about a profession full of alpha males with big egos and big paychecks. There's bound to be drama.

I think this is another thing Mike is having to learn on the job and it all goes back to my theory that part of Mike's struggles have to do with not having a successful mentor to fall back on. I think Mike is getting there but I think it's taking him longer simply because, as a coach prior to coming back to OSU, all he was around was losing. As Gary Ward used to say, practice doesn't make perfect it makes permanent. For the longest time all Mike got to practice was how not to win as a coach. Since being back at OSU though he's been able to learn how to coach as a winner. It's eventually going to pay off for him, I hope.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

Interesting comments Inky... but I'd add:

1) "He routinely pisses off"... that's why I referred to him as "Turmoil"

2) "you can't give up what you were never offered"... true, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't negotiated. Dick Cutter supposedly agreed to around $750K, and Miles agreed to $400K, reportedly "IF" the difference between the two would be used for assistant coach salaries


3) "replacing coaches & egos"... quite true, I'm sure... and having Gundy take over the OC duties and squelch any advancement opportunity for his assistants probably had more to do with the moves than many are willing to conceed.

It's all part of learning on the job, and Gundy isn't doing this part of his HC job very well. A big part of "being a leader" is trusting others to do their jobs, and droping your own ego of being able to do it better. Anybody remember how pissed Gundy reportedly got when Miles would over-rule him as OC? How about if Miles had taken over the OC duties and told Gundy to hold a clipboard; how would Gundy have reacted then?

Gundy had a decent mentor in Miles, he just wasn't listening. I would also contend that he had great mentors at both Baylor and Maryland; whether those programs won games or not in the short time those coaches were there.

[OSUFan]

I think this is another thing Mike is having to learn on the job and it all goes back to my theory that part of Mike's struggles have to do with not having a successful mentor to fall back on. I think Mike is getting there but I think it's taking him longer simply because, as a coach prior to coming back to OSU, all he was around was losing. As Gary Ward used to say, practice doesn't make perfect it makes permanent. For the longest time all Mike got to practice was how not to win as a coach. Since being back at OSU though he's been able to learn how to coach as a winner. It's eventually going to pay off for him, I hope.

I hope you are right. Next for me is Gundy learning on the job how to gloat after winning the South, Big 12 and national titles. :D

[OSU-DNA]

Don't know whether troubling is the way I would charactize this. Clearly losing two strong recruiters before signing day is not what we would have wanted. On the other hand, the salary scale for assistants has been redefined not only by Auburn, but Tennesse and Washington as well. You then have to make choices do you keep pace or go for younger less compensated assistants.

For Luper, I can see the potential for a move which would expand his resume and position him for an opportunity of being a Head Coach at a smaller school. For Taylor it would just now be for the money, a hired gun as a recruiter.

I can also see why Brewer could be interested in the position at Minnesota. It would be hard for another school to see the value of Brewer being the OC with us when the media spotlight is on Mike and the play sheet on the sideline. Brewer's father was once the HC at Ole Miss and he clearly would like to advance to that level himself. If he were to take the Minnesota job and they had success he would have that on his resume and be able to allude that he a good portion of our success was do to his efforts. Given his age, he probably has a window of the next 3-5 years to obtain a HC job. While I would prefer he stay, I can understand him looking seriously.

If Gunter were to leave, I could see Mike elevating Doug Meacham to OC and hiring another Black assistant to coach wide receivers.

Regarding Boone and the assistants, I have often wondered whether part of their fringe benefits was inclusion in the Pickens fund without having to meet the gate on the amount of the initial investment. If true, and the assistants participated, they could have been really wiped out over the last 3 months and this could generate an urgency for them to go for the high salary offers as well.

[CaliforniaCowboy]

Regarding Boone and the assistants, I have often wondered whether part of their fringe benefits was inclusion in the Pickens fund without having to meet the gate on the amount of the initial investment. If true, and the assistants participated, they could have been really wiped out over the last 3 months and this could generate an urgency for them to go for the high salary offers as well.

I'm pretty sure that it is an SEC limitation on investing in Hedge funds, not necessarialy a restriction by Mr Pickins on his fund (security & exchange commission).



Investor Characteristics
Mutual Funds
The only qualification for investing in a mutual fund is having the minimum investment to open an account with a fund company, which is typically around $1,000, but can be lower. After the account has been opened, there is generally no minimum additional investment required, and many fund investors contribute relatively small amounts to their mutual funds on a regular basis as part of a long-term investment strategy.

Hedge Funds
A significantly higher minimum investment is required from hedge fund investors. Under the Investment Company Act of 1940, certain hedge funds only may accept investments from individuals who hold at least $5 million in investments. This measure is intended to help limit participation in hedge funds and other types of unregulated pools to highly sophisticated individuals. Hedge funds can also accept other types of investors if they rely on other exemptions under the Investment Company Act or are operated outside the United States.