If we're that unsure of a coach that we only offer him 3 years on his contract, then heaven help us all!
This is a good thread. I think the contract provisions may be a little tricky in a couple of areas. First, is it realistic to expect a sitting coach to jump ship to LSU for only a 3 year deal? Urban Meyer's deal with Florida, for example, is seven years. I also firmly believe LSU will include a moderate to large buyout clause in the next deal, but that sort of thing goes both ways. If you lock in Petrino, say, for 6 years, $11.5 million dollars with a $1.5 mil buyout, then you're tacking $1.5 mil onto any settlement figure you reach to pay out the rest of his deal if he crashes and burns after, say, 3 or 4 years. I don't know all of the thinking that goes into coming up with these terms, but a 5 year contract sounds reasonable to me. The pay is set at around $2 mil a year, but you can always use a lower base and achievable incentives to move some of the money around. LSU will need to use the savings from the old Saban deal to hire a new basketball coach soon, you know. :wink:
I believe whoever LSU hires as the new coach should be given a contract for at minimum 5 years, with a moderate buyout because huge buy outs will scare the likes of Del Rio or Robiskie.
State law only allows for a maximum 5 year contract thats why we have had some coaches with an automatic one year extension every year. Basically length of contract doesnt mean squat because the coach can leave or be fired. What is important is the wording of the contract, how much does he get paid if he is fired or how big the buyout if he leaves. I say give the guy a 5 year with a huge buyout, anything less than 5 isn't making much of a commitment to your new coach. Make sure that if he is a dud it doesn't cost you millions to send him packing.
If we don't sign atleast a 5 year deal with the new head coach, that will worry me because it means Skip and whomever else isn't confident in that person. Skip mentioned he would like to sign somebody to a 5, 10 or even 20 year contract I believe. We are looking for somebody for the long haul. However, Tiger fans will be very insistent on the new coach winning and have every right to be. If the new coach isn't meeting some expectations in 3 years - he's gone regardless of the contract, even though I think we'll be able to tell after 2 maybe even 1. The pieces are in place to be GREAT next year and any good coach should be able to attain greatness with our team.
