I would have to say you are a little naive to think the only reason KF's name gets thrown into "the mix" is because of his agent. KF is a well respected coach amongst his peers. KF was Loyd Carr's choice to take the MU job and I am guessing when the Penn State job opens up he will be mentioned as a candidate there as well. AD's always have a shortlist of coaches filed away in case they have to fire a coach or the coach leaves for another job. Every coach you mentioned is a 'proven' coach and their resume's speak for themselves. Your crazy saying AD's do not know how to deal with agents, It is their business to know how to talk to an agent, plus most universities will hire a headhunting firm to seek out a candidate. Contracts are not set up in the coaches favor...they are set up in the schools favor to make sure the school gets compensated if the caoch leaves. This is called a "buy out clause." Some coaches get killed because of a high buy out clause. I am betting MU is having to pay WVU a few million for the buy out alone...
The advent of these coaches having an agent is a relatively new thing and most ADs do
not really know how to handle a negotiation with an agent because they haven't typically done it in the past.
Headhunting firms do
not negotiate contracts for the schools...they just find a list of candidates. If you think these agents aren't in contact with the headhunting firms you are just ignorant of the facts.
If the contracts were set up in favor of the schools then you would see far less coaching turnover and far less inflation in the going rate of what the salaries of coaches are. The reality is that these buyouts have not been any deterrant to coaches changing jobs because they are a pittance relative to the budgets of the schools and the value of the coaches contracts.
A great example is Alabama...Saban is guaranteed $4 million per year for 8 years and has
no buyout clause. I believe Miles' buyout with LSU is $1.25 million which is "chump change" for any big FB school to pay out to get him on board (the dirty little secret is that the coaches leaving typically don't foot this bill...their new employer does in one way or another...they are not getting "killed" as you say). That buyout would almost certainly go directly from LSU to the new coach they would have to hire due to the rapid escalation of salaries. Rodriguez apparently had a $4 million buyout with WVA if he left prior to 8/08...that is one of the larger buyouts I've heard of but it really kept him in Morgantown didn't it?! WVA will get the $4 million but now they have to find a head coach and he will likely cost more than Rodriguez did due to salary inflation.
The ADs at these schools better become a little more savvy with respect to these contract negotiations or it won't be long until the agents for the coaches drive the salaries up close to NFL money.
