Texas' Steve Sarkisian questions programs with 'win or else' mentality

Jason Jones

•
Texas' Steve Sarkisian questions programs with 'win or else' mentality image

The biggest question in college football after who makes the college football playoff, is who is going to fill each of the 12 head coaching vacancies. Despite the eagerness for fans and media to go window shopping, there are more available coaching jobs than there seems to be top candidates to fill those jobs.

The most predictable aspect of these open jobs was always going to be the teams at the top, assuming that their brand and standing within college football affords them the ability to hire any coach they want. Including coaches performing well in good situations.

After some early conversations about Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule having ties to Penn State, Nebraska extended him. Indiana didn’t wait that long. Seemingly at the first mention of Curt Cignetti’s name to open jobs, Indiana gave him an eight-year extension.

Lane Kiffin, the latest target for media and fans, is mentioned for multiple jobs. Despite Ole Miss publicly declaring they will do “everything financial to keep Kiffin in Oxford”. Even though there are reasons for Kiffin to want to stay at Ole Miss, the Kiffin rumors keep coming. On this week's Ryen Russilo Show, Kirk Herbstreit gave his opinion on Lane Kiffin and why he should consider staying at Ole Miss. 

There is an arrogance that comes with big programs firing head coaches. It’s become fantasy front office football. The issue with that is the landscape has changed. There was a time when an LSU or a Florida could lean on their history, traditions and previous success. Those factors just simply don’t carry the weight they did in the pre-NIL era.

Tradition and winning ways are no longer the currency they once were. To quote an old movie line, “currency is new currency of the realm”. A Power 4 program with resources and money no longer takes a back seat to teams with a tradition of winning. There is no guarantee anymore that the reputation of an LSU, Florida or Penn State carries any more weight than the resources and money of an Ole Miss.

Sarkisian has important questions for hiring programs

According to Sports Illustrated, Sarkisian was asked about coaching vacancies, and he had some interesting factors to address. There has been a shift to what other sports refer to as “ring culture”. A certain portion of college football, its teams, its fans and its financial supporters have decided the only acceptable outcome is to be the last team standing. The problem is, there’s only one winner and the math doesn’t support the “win or else” mentality adopted by many programs.

“Somewhere in here, somebody's gotta be willing to say hey, let's see if this can work itself out. Not every year, not all teams in the SEC are going to make the playoff”, Sarkisian said. “It’s just not reality. We're trying to get four or five teams in the playoff. Last year we had three. What do we have? Like three or four teams in the top 10 in the country right now. It’s difficult, and I know everyone's fighting for it.”

In the current model twelve teams get in. As of today, an argument could be made for as many as 20 teams worthy of making a 12-team playoff field. The realistic math doesn’t support the subjective idea that ‘we should win because we’re us’. If all storied programs believe they should adopt a ‘win or else’ mentality, what we’re seeing today could become more commonplace. Sarkisian poses an interesting question to those programs who are quick to fire a coach, deal with buyouts and how that might affect the next hire.

“This is a lucrative industry that we're part of. If you're not willing to pay a coach what his contract is, you're probably not going to get one of the coaches you thought you might get. Everybody wants to fire their coach. Who you gonna hire? There's all these jobs out there right now. Who's everybody going to hire? I don't know. Well, somebody's gotta be the head coach. Well, let's see who they're gonna hire now.”

The new world of college football has leveled the playing field from 'what you’ve always been' to 'what can you do now'? Today, if Boston College or UCF could compete with Ohio State and Geogia from a resource standpoint, they would have just as much ability to compete as those traditionally more successful programs.

No dynasty lasts forever. No team will always win. With 68 teams in just the Power 4 the ‘win or else’ mentality just doesn’t add up. The SEC alone has nine nationally ranked teams and half of those won’t make the playoff. That number doesn’t include LSU, Florida, Auburn or Arkansas. Demanding excellence is a good thing. Looking to greener grass any time ‘our team’ isn’t a title favorite is a bad thing. If Lane Kiffin, Eliah Drinkwitz, Clark Lea, Marcus Freeman and a handful of others decide they are fine right where they are, a number of historically good programs are about to have a big issue on their hands.

More college football news: 

Contributing Writer