My father, god bless the man, spent over 35 years with the Tulsa Public Schools during much of the glory days of the district and also watched the beginning of the multi-decade decline.
One of his last assignments was taking the reigns of Central High School at the newly opened campus west of downtown. His first chore was replacing the varsity football coach who had resigned abruptly. Dad cast the net far and wide and turned over a lot of rocks. One of his first interviews? A recently graduated young man from the University of Tulsa. He had played defensive back, well spoken, and very polished. Lovie Smith.
Dad usually went through a very thorough vetting process and interviewed a lot of folks and asked a lot of questions. After about 30 minutes into the interview my father leaned over his desk and offered Lovie the job. Love said “I’ll get back to you later this afternoon“. Dad had an eye for talent. He never got a call back from Lovie.
Lovie Smith has had some great runs and he’s had some setbacks. If you have ever been around football for any length of time you understand. To receive your severance after being dismissed as an NFL/NCAA head coach there’s usually language in the contract that says something to the affect,
”any and all remunerations cease when you are hired in a new coaching job”.
Well, to circumvent that clause the job of ”analyst” was invented. Nick Saban, and I’ve watched a few of his practices while living in Mountain Brook for over a decade, took the analyst position to a high art. The names of so many great coaches who have spent time as an analyst at schools like Alabama and Oklahoma are numerous. The analysts do work and evaluation on upcoming opponents and help prepare briefing books and lean in to the position coaches and share subtleties of their upcoming opponent, and much more.
To me, I think Lovie would be a great analyst at TU. He understands the 4-2. He understands TU. He understands working and communicating with young men. He’s a high ethics guy. Humble to help.
Get this guy in for an interview, and for goodness sake, set up a time when he’s going to call back!
One of his last assignments was taking the reigns of Central High School at the newly opened campus west of downtown. His first chore was replacing the varsity football coach who had resigned abruptly. Dad cast the net far and wide and turned over a lot of rocks. One of his first interviews? A recently graduated young man from the University of Tulsa. He had played defensive back, well spoken, and very polished. Lovie Smith.
Dad usually went through a very thorough vetting process and interviewed a lot of folks and asked a lot of questions. After about 30 minutes into the interview my father leaned over his desk and offered Lovie the job. Love said “I’ll get back to you later this afternoon“. Dad had an eye for talent. He never got a call back from Lovie.
Lovie Smith has had some great runs and he’s had some setbacks. If you have ever been around football for any length of time you understand. To receive your severance after being dismissed as an NFL/NCAA head coach there’s usually language in the contract that says something to the affect,
”any and all remunerations cease when you are hired in a new coaching job”.
Well, to circumvent that clause the job of ”analyst” was invented. Nick Saban, and I’ve watched a few of his practices while living in Mountain Brook for over a decade, took the analyst position to a high art. The names of so many great coaches who have spent time as an analyst at schools like Alabama and Oklahoma are numerous. The analysts do work and evaluation on upcoming opponents and help prepare briefing books and lean in to the position coaches and share subtleties of their upcoming opponent, and much more.
To me, I think Lovie would be a great analyst at TU. He understands the 4-2. He understands TU. He understands working and communicating with young men. He’s a high ethics guy. Humble to help.
Get this guy in for an interview, and for goodness sake, set up a time when he’s going to call back!