I'm not celebrating Mark Stoops' firing. He can't be blamed for taking a 10-year, $86 million contract when it was offered. I'm sure he did his best, but his best revealed that he was a C- or D+ coach.
My real issue is with Mitch Barnhart. Hiring the wrong coach can happen anytime. A coach being not quite good enough, having bad luck or bad chemistry can happen. You can bounce back from relatively small mistakes. But rushing to ink a mediocre coach to a decade-long, ironclad deal was a colossal error, and those are very difficult to overcome. That $38 million buyout for Stoops won't just affect football. It will impact every other sport that relies on football revenue.
I'm kind of excited about the hiring of Will Stein as the new head coach. He could be very good, but a relatively exciting new hire shouldn't cloud the vision of the board of trustees, who need to scrutinize Barnhart's judgment. This isn't just about one or two bad contracts. It's about fiscal responsibility and the future competitiveness of the entire athletic program. The trustees may have to admit it's time for Barnhart to be the hero in some other university's story.
What are your thoughts on Stoops, Barnhart or Will Stein? Call and let us know.
I'm Bill Lamb, and that's my Point of View.
