Post by Aggie One on Jan 31, 2009 9:55:08 GMT -5
www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt_hucolumn0131jan31,0,4910629.column
Another HU firing seems ill-timed
Dave Fairbank
January 31, 2009
If you like your athletics with a side order of intrigue, controversy and good, old-fashioned palace politics, then Hampton University is the place for you.
Hampton abruptly canned football coach Jerry Holmes earlier this week after one unsatisfying season, which may or may not have had something to do with the move.
At first blush, Holmes appeared to be Jagodzinski'd — the new term inspired by Boston College's dismissal of football coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing for another job outside of the boss's preferred timetable.
That's the reason HU athletic director Lonza Hardy gave, anyway, for sacking Holmes.
Hardy said that Holmes, a former NFL player and assistant coach who still has ties around the league, was talking to NFL people at last week's Senior Bowl about a job. Opponents, Hardy said he was told, were using that fact against HU in recruiting.
Holmes interviewing for other jobs, Hardy said, was detrimental to the program, particularly so close to next week's national signing day for high school recruits. Therefore, Hardy felt compelled to act in the best interests of the program.
Holmes has not yet offered his side of events, telling Comrade Melinda Waldrop that he might speak at some later date.
Regardless of the details, the Pirates' football program, once a model of stability, dignity and success under Joe Taylor, suddenly needs a revolving door and a giant fan to clear the smoke.
Holmes' successor, longtime HU assistant Donovan Rose, is the Pirates' third head coach in 13 months.
Both transitions were remarkably similar. Sudden departure or dismissal that shakes the program. Swift replacement by an assistant. Official remarks that the new head coach is the right person to provide stability and continuity. Zero explanation from the departed.
Indeed, Taylor has said nary a word publicly about the details of leaving a Division I program he nurtured and built into a perennial title contender in order to take over a conference rival, Florida A&M, plagued by scandal and instability, in the twilight of his career.
Truly, one of the more bizarre athletic episodes these parts have seen.
Except for a college basketball coach resigning just days after taking his team to his first NCAA tournament, which HU officials said that Bobby Collins did following the Pirates' opening-round loss in 2006.
Or a school's successful women's basketball coach resigning just weeks before the start of practice and the school not bothering to tell anyone outside the inner circle for weeks, as occurred with HU's Patricia Cage-Bibbs in 2004.
Or a school firing its football coach in late January because he might have harmed recruiting by perhaps speaking to friends and colleagues about another job, as Holmes' case was presented.
Recruiting damage is a somewhat specious justification here. No one offered proof that Holmes' supposed job-sniffing had hurt recruiting, only that it could have.
Besides, everybody recruits negatively to some degree. Opposing coaches are too young or they're too old or they're looking for another job or they're about to be fired or they've grown stale or they're just not the right fit for a kid's skills.
It's part of the price of doing business, and it's up to the assistants, and the head coach, to sell the school and the program as much as the man in charge.
Timing makes Holmes' dismissal as peculiar as understandable.
If the HU honchos decided that Holmes wasn't the right guy, they could have made a move well before the new year, thus getting a jump on the transition and minimizing the perceived damage to recruiting.
And if Holmes decided that being the Big Whistle at HU wasn't his cup of tea, he certainly would have known before now. Nor did he have to wait until the Senior Bowl, i.e., late January, to extend feelers and discuss other jobs.
Holmes made no secrets that he was unhappy with last season, which saw the Pirates stumble to a second consecutive 6-5 finish, this time after a 5-1 start. They lost four in a row for the first time since the program went Division I.
Holmes intimated that he planned to make staff changes in the off-season, either in terms of personnel or delegation of duties.
The model that worked so well under Taylor, that produced three straight MEAC titles from 2004-06 and 10 consecutive seasons of at least seven wins (1997-2006), obviously wasn't duplicated to Holmes' satisfaction.
Holmes said after the season, point blank, that Year Two was going to be what he wanted.
Instead, the Pirates enter Year One of the Donovan Rose Era. He's the right man for the job, we're told, the man who will continue the tradition.
Just like we were told last year.
Here we go again
HU has its third head coach in 13 months.
• Dec. 29, 2007: Joe Taylor leaves HU for Florida A&M. Jerry Holmes is promoted from defensive coordinator.
• Jan. 26, 2009: Holmes is fired after one season. Longtime assistant Donovan Rose takes over.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or at dfairbank@dailypress.com. For more from Fairbank, see his blog at dailypress.com/fromthetarpit.
Another HU firing seems ill-timed
Dave Fairbank
January 31, 2009
If you like your athletics with a side order of intrigue, controversy and good, old-fashioned palace politics, then Hampton University is the place for you.
Hampton abruptly canned football coach Jerry Holmes earlier this week after one unsatisfying season, which may or may not have had something to do with the move.
At first blush, Holmes appeared to be Jagodzinski'd — the new term inspired by Boston College's dismissal of football coach Jeff Jagodzinski for interviewing for another job outside of the boss's preferred timetable.
That's the reason HU athletic director Lonza Hardy gave, anyway, for sacking Holmes.
Hardy said that Holmes, a former NFL player and assistant coach who still has ties around the league, was talking to NFL people at last week's Senior Bowl about a job. Opponents, Hardy said he was told, were using that fact against HU in recruiting.
Holmes interviewing for other jobs, Hardy said, was detrimental to the program, particularly so close to next week's national signing day for high school recruits. Therefore, Hardy felt compelled to act in the best interests of the program.
Holmes has not yet offered his side of events, telling Comrade Melinda Waldrop that he might speak at some later date.
Regardless of the details, the Pirates' football program, once a model of stability, dignity and success under Joe Taylor, suddenly needs a revolving door and a giant fan to clear the smoke.
Holmes' successor, longtime HU assistant Donovan Rose, is the Pirates' third head coach in 13 months.
Both transitions were remarkably similar. Sudden departure or dismissal that shakes the program. Swift replacement by an assistant. Official remarks that the new head coach is the right person to provide stability and continuity. Zero explanation from the departed.
Indeed, Taylor has said nary a word publicly about the details of leaving a Division I program he nurtured and built into a perennial title contender in order to take over a conference rival, Florida A&M, plagued by scandal and instability, in the twilight of his career.
Truly, one of the more bizarre athletic episodes these parts have seen.
Except for a college basketball coach resigning just days after taking his team to his first NCAA tournament, which HU officials said that Bobby Collins did following the Pirates' opening-round loss in 2006.
Or a school's successful women's basketball coach resigning just weeks before the start of practice and the school not bothering to tell anyone outside the inner circle for weeks, as occurred with HU's Patricia Cage-Bibbs in 2004.
Or a school firing its football coach in late January because he might have harmed recruiting by perhaps speaking to friends and colleagues about another job, as Holmes' case was presented.
Recruiting damage is a somewhat specious justification here. No one offered proof that Holmes' supposed job-sniffing had hurt recruiting, only that it could have.
Besides, everybody recruits negatively to some degree. Opposing coaches are too young or they're too old or they're looking for another job or they're about to be fired or they've grown stale or they're just not the right fit for a kid's skills.
It's part of the price of doing business, and it's up to the assistants, and the head coach, to sell the school and the program as much as the man in charge.
Timing makes Holmes' dismissal as peculiar as understandable.
If the HU honchos decided that Holmes wasn't the right guy, they could have made a move well before the new year, thus getting a jump on the transition and minimizing the perceived damage to recruiting.
And if Holmes decided that being the Big Whistle at HU wasn't his cup of tea, he certainly would have known before now. Nor did he have to wait until the Senior Bowl, i.e., late January, to extend feelers and discuss other jobs.
Holmes made no secrets that he was unhappy with last season, which saw the Pirates stumble to a second consecutive 6-5 finish, this time after a 5-1 start. They lost four in a row for the first time since the program went Division I.
Holmes intimated that he planned to make staff changes in the off-season, either in terms of personnel or delegation of duties.
The model that worked so well under Taylor, that produced three straight MEAC titles from 2004-06 and 10 consecutive seasons of at least seven wins (1997-2006), obviously wasn't duplicated to Holmes' satisfaction.
Holmes said after the season, point blank, that Year Two was going to be what he wanted.
Instead, the Pirates enter Year One of the Donovan Rose Era. He's the right man for the job, we're told, the man who will continue the tradition.
Just like we were told last year.
Here we go again
HU has its third head coach in 13 months.
• Dec. 29, 2007: Joe Taylor leaves HU for Florida A&M. Jerry Holmes is promoted from defensive coordinator.
• Jan. 26, 2009: Holmes is fired after one season. Longtime assistant Donovan Rose takes over.
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or at dfairbank@dailypress.com. For more from Fairbank, see his blog at dailypress.com/fromthetarpit.
