Why do ADs resign while coaches are fired?
I was talking about this with my wife and I saw that Brian tweeted about it:
It is backwards that Brandon gets to pretend he resigned and Hoke just gets plain fired.
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) December 2, 2014
I get why ADs get to pretend that they retire resign even when they have manifestly been fired: they are execs, and that is how it generally goes in the CEO/business exec mode.
On the other hand, assistant coaches are sometimes allowed to seek employment elsewhere rather than get fired; but head coaches never do that. Brandon didn't tell Rich Rod that it would be best for him to seek employment elsewhere.
So head coaches are always fired or take another job voluntarily (or retire from coaching). Why is that? Is it because football teams (at least non-professional ones) are like families that compete together, so no head of that kind of organization would voluntarily leave it? What is it about the position of head coach that means that they are fired rather than retire resign?
EDIT: changed the title from retire to resign to be more precise in my language.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
Most coaches I would assume are looking to stay in coaching, I doubt very much Brandon will ever be an athletic director again.
Thus, Brandon retired and Hoke was fired.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
Weren't there more substantial contract obligations for firing Brandon as opposed to what we ended off putting him off to pasture with?
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:35 PM ^
A) Brandon resigned, not retired.
B) I feel like it was an understanding that Brandon would have been fired if he didn't resign
C) Hoke never would have resigned, he would have continued coaching until forever, even with an even more terrible record
D) Lloyd retired, he wasn't fired.
I think the difference, in this case, is semantics. Coaches resign, retire, and are fired all the time. AD's are the same. In the end it's a business and personel are delt with in the same way as any other area of business.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
If they said Brady resigned, would anyone believe it? You can't have a coach quit on his team, then try to get a job someplace else and ave opposing recruiters saying he quit on his last team, he will quit on you.
I'm sure they could have asked him if he wants to resign and still get his payout, but that would serve no purpose for either party.
Brandon, however, was about saving face. Does anyone think he will get another AD gig? But it allows him to save face for a CEO interview.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
that a head coach can't "quit on his team" -- resigning doesn't save him face, it makes him look worse -- whereas an AD doesn't participate in that discourse. It's a little strange to me that it works that way, but I guess being a head coach is ideally honorable whereas ADs don't need to have any honor...
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
There are analogues to this in the corporate world too - we've actually had instances of people whose overall aptitude for a position simply did not match up to the position itself in the end, and as they were close to the end of their career anyway, they were simply allowed to "retire" from the company, which basically translates to "resign or be fired" in certain situations. It serves the same purpose - it clears the air officially in the event they seek employment elsewhere.
December 3rd, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^
I just assume that it's always a "face-saving" move to quit than be fired in almost any situation. But coaches have a different standard and would be seen as "quitters" and "hypocrites" who don't adhere to what they teach. Thus, a coach who never wants to coach again can "retire," but it's almost a badge of honor for a coach who plans on staying in the business to be fired as opposed to "quitting."
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
If Hoke resigned, would he still get his buyout? If it's $3 mil we're talking about, I would let myself get fired rather than "save face" and resign.
December 3rd, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
They could structure it so that he did. Brandon was allowed to "resign" and still get his payoff. It depends on what you put in the departure agreement, which serves as a new contract between the parties, setting out their rights and obligations.
December 3rd, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^
It makes sense that those with agents and attorneys would put that in a contract, if the employer would agree to it. Regular people without contracts (like myself) have to weigh the consequences of quitting if the writing is on the wall vs. getting fired. If you're fired, you get some kind of severance. But then you have to explain to any prospective employers why you got fired. If you quit, you get no compensation, but then don't have the burden of explaining why you got fired.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^
I don't know that such absolute terms are the truth of it. Will Muschamp "stepped down." Jim Tressel "resigned." Quite a few coaches are told "resign or be fired."
But the main answer to the question is probably this: Most coaches have loyalty bonuses of some kind, and they usually get to keep them if they're fired. If he just leaves, he doesn't get the bonus. With a contract like that, "leave or we're firing you" provides every incentive in the world to say "fine then, fire me."
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
I'd imagine it's contract-related, but there's also a believability side in our case. There's no way that Hoke would voluntarily leave this job right now. For DB, though, it's conceivable that life got so unpleasant for him at the end that he would say, "Okay, my being here isn't good for anyone, including myself."
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
That's the way it works in life..little guys get stepped on (well, if I can characterize a D-1 football coach as a little guy for a moment). CEOs are protected from the worst scenarios. Get sued? Go to prison? It'll be a country club.
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:41 PM ^
Matt Millen was fired.
It's hard to generalize, but coaches get fired far more often. Perhaps they have less reason to negotiate a resignation to save face.
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^
December 3rd, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:01 PM ^
as both are paid their remaining contractual compensation, which begs the question why is that?
December 3rd, 2014 at 4:01 PM ^
...in that word "contractual".
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^
People who resign see the writing on the wall. Some outliers do exist though.
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
David Brandon is a former CEO of a public company that happens to be based in Ann Arbor and served as a University regent for eight years. During his time in those roles, he built a network of powerful friends in the UofM community whose influence is strong and well-entrenched. In short, he's a member of the good ol' boy network. Hoke, on the other hand, is just a football coach. He made more money than Brandon, but Brandon had more power.
It illustrates the difference between power and money that Frank Underwood talked about in 'House of Cards'.
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^
For someone like Hoke, it seems to me he would rather have his pride take a hit by being fired than have his players think he quit on them.
December 3rd, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^
And why do we drive on parkways but park in driveways?
December 3rd, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^
If man evolved from apes, why are there still apes?
December 3rd, 2014 at 2:07 PM ^
If a coach resigns because of a record he is basically admitting that he is not good enough to do the job. If he is admitting that by himself then who would want to give him a chance later on?
December 3rd, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
The reason for the distinction is simple; coaches work on a "perform or else" basis, and if they don't perform, for whatever reason, they get fired. There is no particular shame in being fired as a coach; lots of coaches get fired all the time for things that are basically beyond their control. Coaches are supposed to be fighters, not quitters, so you have to ring the bell to end their round.
Athletic directors, on the other hand, have no performance-based job success criteria. If they are fired, it could only be for personal shortcomings that led to job failure. Nobody wants to put another person in the position of having to swallow the "you are simply personally deficient" pill, so you let them resign if they will.
Firing says "better luck next time" to a coach, and "GTFO" to an AD.