This is an absolutely insane take.
I’m not thrilled with how the season went. It sucked in a big way. There have to be changes, no doubt about that.
But the idea that you’re going to fire a second straight coach after one year, pay all those buyouts on top of what you’re already paying, and then expect to be able to a) entice a new coach and b) put together any sort of competitive roster for the next guy, it’s just complete fantasy. We already can’t afford basic crap like a functioning stadium sound system.
We’re not paying anything close to the buyouts of other SEC / P4 programs. Arnett’s buyout was pocket change….it was intentionally set up that way in case it didn’t work out. He was a glorified interim coach.
It’s quite simple really….in the pre-NIL, pre-revenue sharing era, firing Lebby would be a no-brainer decision. But we now need that money for players. That’s still not an issue for every SEC program not named Mississippi State. But it’s a big issue for us.
And no matter how kind or patient we are with Lebby, we aren’t going to get proven, legit candidates interested….because everyone knows our disadvantages financially.
We got no interest after giving JWS three full years of crappy seasons to turn things around. Got no interest after giving Croom FIVE full years to suck. Hell, we didn’t even get interest after 2017 when Mullen left and actually proved we could be something. No sitting head coach is going to roll the dice on us unless its a rehab stint after some major scandal. The one guy ever who was wired differently enough to give us a shot in spite of all that actually DID come, but then died.
Doesn’t mean we can’t find a good one, its just going to be a big gamble every time.