The Winning Coach is a Pro-Player Coach
Why Clemson’s Dabo Swinney wins and Tennessee doesn’t.
In hindsight, the reasoning for East Tennessee State head coach Randy Sanders not naming a starting quarterback against Chattanooga until game time last Saturday is obvious.
If Austin Herink was named the starting quarterback on Monday, Sept. 24 instead of at game time, Sept. 29, Logan Marchi could have quit the team and transferred away from ETSU and not lost a year of eligibility, a la Kelly Bryant.
Not that Marchi would have. After losing your starting position at both Temple and ETSU, what would Marchi’s options realistically be for transfer?
Hope Marcus Satterfield, Marchi’s former offensive coordinator at Temple who lured the Owls’ former quarterback to Johnson City during Satterfield’s brief stint as Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator before departing to Baylor, would take him in Waco? The Bears are starting a sophomore quarterback. Marchi likely wouldn’t beat him out if he did transfer.
But the option to transfer without losing a year of eligibility would have been there for Marchi if Sanders had named Herink the starter prior to the game, like everyone knew he would be.
Come on! Former starter comes off the bench for a struggling starter and leads ETSU to a three touchdown comeback? Herink takes the snaps first in practice? I’m sure Marchi could see the writing on the wall.
In the short term, the strategy worked. How can one argue with victories?
And the new redshirt rule is a positive for college football. It’s high time some rules be made for the player in college football, rather than the program.
It’s just that at a crucial point in a player’s career, that player wasn’t given an answer on his future.
Compare that to how Dabo Swinney handled Bryant. He made a quarterback change at a time when Bryant could transfer to another school and become a starter and possibly even a pro, instead of at a time when it would have quite possibly ended Bryant’s career.
Swinney was fully aware of his quarterback situation and was even open with it, telling reporters they’d “be crazy not to ask” about it earlier.
Swinney will continue to have the upper hand on in-state rival South Carolina because of this move, especially after Will Muschamp publicly showed his support of D.J. Durkin, the Maryland coach who had a player die under his closed door watch.
If you’re a college prospect, do you want to play for a coach who will allow you such freedom in your college career, or one who will play games with you on your future?
Or just compare Swinney’s actions to Tennessee athletic director Phil Fulmer’s laments of the new redshirt rule, calling it a “mess” to the Knoxville Touchdown Club on Monday.
I think we understand now why Clemson hired Swinney instead of Fulmer, who publicly applied for the Tigers’ head coaching position in 2009. One is pro-player, the other is pro-program.
And the coaches who are pro-player will shine in the future.
Granted, in all probability Marchi’s best option is to stay at ETSU. He’ll have a chance to start next year and perhaps even this season, as even in victory Herink didn’t set the world on fire in ETSU’s 17–14 triumph against Chattanooga.
But lest we remind you who Sanders’ boss was at Tennessee for more than a decade?
The first thing Sanders did after becoming ETSU’s head coach was get suspended for slapping one of his best defensive players on the helmet. Then he benched a long time starting quarterback, only to sheepishly return to him, while playing games with the future of his newly chosen starter.
That’s not exactly pro-player.
Marky Billson hosts Tri-Cities Sports NOW 12–2 p.m. ET weekdays on 1420 NBC Sports Radio Tri-Cities. Watch his archives here and here.
