Discussion: Report: Oregon State Fires Michelle Obama's Brother As Basketball Coach

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Discussion for article #222381

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One of those few cases where politics and race probably did not play a part. A 16-16 record at a big school just doesn’t cut it. Neither does an overall losing record over 6 seasons.

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Add to that, coaches are fired all the time. Still, it will be fodder for RWNJs to attack.

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This is all because of Benghazi

(I had to say it)

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Oregon State is a tough gig. And it’s even tougher now that the University of Oregon has had so much success in both football and basketball. It’s truly a big-brother/little-brother dynamic in terms of college athletics in that state.

I hope he lands on his feet and gets another chance somewhere else.

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This has nothing to do with being ‘Michelle Obama’s Brother’ and more about having several losing seasons. It happens all the time.

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…"the university is likely to owe him $4 million. "

I don’t understand the economics of this. Are basketball coaches in such short supply that educational institutions must offer ironclad promises of payment, even after poor performance, just to get someone in that post?

I’m going to guess that the geology professor or the violin teacher don’t have such employment terms.

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It is called contract law. They signed a contract to pay the coach so much over x number of years. They want to break that contract therefore they must pay the balance due or keep him on. Pay or play.

And no professors do not have these types of contracts they have tenure.

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Regarding Head Coaches - it is “hired to be fired” as the saying goes just some sooner than others

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Jsfox beat me, but wth, I was already two thirds done.

An employee is either at-will or subject to a contract for a fixed number of years. An at-will employee can leave at anytime or can be fired at any time. An employee for a fixed number of years can’t leave before the contract is up and has to be paid damages if he’s fired before the term is up. In the latter case, most employment contracts simply state an amount that will be paid if the employee is terminated “without cause” (i.e. for anything other some kind of illegal, unethical or immoral conduct) before the term is up in lieu of a going through a messy trial for damages.

An enforceable employment contract where the employee is required to work for a fixed number of years but can be fired at any time for any reason without recourse is difficult to draft and you don’t know if you succeeded until you’re in court.

You sign a coach up for a term of years because you don’t want him jumping to the NBA or another school if he catches fire. The price for that is you have to pay him if he under-performs and you ditch him.

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Such is the nature of the insanity that is college sports.

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Anyone remember Ralph Miller? Those were the days.

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The essential economic difference between the basketball coach and the geology professor is that alumni don’t care about geology research.

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OK, big time basketball coaches with losing records are fired all the time. Nothing unusual about this. He will get a job as an assistant or as a head coach at a smaller school.

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Perhaps they’ll replace him with one new coach and a dozen professors for the same money? We can always dream!

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Trying to see the relevancy of this story as it is framed.

Not seeing much. Although I can see how the lead “Nonperforming coach gets fired” might not get the same amount of clicks.

Very HuffPo.

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Or Slats Gill. Those were the days (prior to television.)

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Oregon State’s basketball program has been abysmal for years. Robinson actually did very well with the talent resources he had. It is hard to recruit based on their history. How long ago was Ralph Miller coach? 1970-1989. That’s before any current recruit was born. Robinson took them from doormat to mediocre, which still has a shelf life. It will be difficult for anybody to turn that into a winning program.

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It is always sad but true that universities do not value geology, violin, social studies, etc. in the same way they value athletics. Some of us have tenure, but the percentage of faculty members even considered for tenure is on a significant decline. The university can decide (after we already taught what was assigned to us) that they don’t value a particular course anymore, so we must now “repay” them by increasing our teaching the next term. The academic world has changed substantively (and mostly not in a good way) in the past decade or so.

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Everything, all the time, BENGHAZI!!! (P.S. Good morning)

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