Edsall, Miles made smart decisions

By Robert Rousseau  |   Monday, December 03, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

Connecticut Huskies
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Michigan athletic director Bill Martin finally set the record straight for those of us wanting to know. Contrary to reports, he had made absolutely no direct contact with LSU head coach Les Miles about the Michigan coaching vacancy left by Lloyd Carr. Though Michigan did receive permission from LSU to speak with Miles, it was only extended for after last Saturday's SEC championship game.

"I did not talk to Les Miles or his agent this past week in accordance with the wishes of (LSU athletic director) Skip Bertman and the LSU Athletic Department," Martin said. "This morning I did speak with Les' agent [George Bass] and he reaffirmed what Les said during his press conference yesterday -- that he was staying at LSU."

Further, on Sunday Connecticut Huskies head coach Randy Edsall told his team that he had withdrawn his name from the Georgia Tech coaching search.

"I'll stay here as long as they would like me to stay," Edsall said. "There is still quite a bit of work to be done and I want to continue to do that."

Still, he's already led the team to a co-Big East championship in only its fourth year in the conference. Not bad for the work done so far.

In the end, you have to congratulate Miles and Edsall for making the right decisions. Said another way, there should be a rule for college football coaches to live by.

If you have a BCS job where the people you work with treat you well and you've had some success, strongly consider staying there. In other words, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Steve Spurrier -- one of the greatest college football coaches of all-time -- left Florida a few years ago, had a terrible time in the NFL, and then came back to coach South Carolina. Though he's done pretty well with the Gamecocks, it just hasn't been the same. Dennis Franchione left Alabama for Texas A&M, which ended poorly. Guy Morriss, recently fired as Baylor's head coach, was doing a very good job at Kentucky before deciding to leave after a 7-5 2002 season. He never had a winning record while at Baylor.

Sure, you can point to people who have had some success with the decision to leave for BCS jobs. In fact, Miles' decision to leave Oklahoma State for LSU is a perfect example. But you have to ask yourself: Does a little extra money warrant the upheaval of moving your family and taking on a job almost guaranteed to be more of a pressure cooker than what you're already involved in? What if it doesn't work out? What if you don't enjoy working with the people around you?

Soon, coaches like Greg Schiano and Jim Grobe, among others, will be asked to make that decision for themselves. It will be interesting to see what they decide.

The point is, changing jobs isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you're better off with the status quo.
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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or ...
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