Art of hiring a college football coach: secrets, money and pressure

Bill Moos likens it to an episode of the old TV spy series “Mission Impossible.”

Only a tight circle of confidants — “less than you can count on one hand” — knew he was on a plane to Key West, Fla., Nov. 15 to sound out free agent Mike Leach as a potential new football coach at Washington State.

“I get the envelope,” Moos says, recalling that old show, “and here’s where I’m going.”

Moos, the athletic director at WSU, was using a private credit card to further the veil of secrecy. He didn’t enlist a so-called “head hunter” search firm, opting instead for a trusted friend from Eugene, Ore., to act as third party.

Read more: SeattleTimes.com

USC learns that the cost of honor is high

On a strange and sullen Friday in the Pac-10 tournament, the area in front of the USC bench was deathly quiet.
Trojan athletics have rarely sounded stronger.
Among the many empty seats at the Staples Center was one involuntarily vacated by USC Coach Kevin O’Neill, whose rants were squelched when his boss, Pat Haden, once again buffeted “Fight On” with his own two-word chant.
No Fools.

O’Neill embarrassed the university in a Thursday night altercation with an opposing booster, and quicker than you can say new era, he was gone.
latimes.com
3/11/11