Well, this is going to sting a bit... Loeffler saying no..

[Dave in Green]

Remember, Winters already had a contract in his hand from WSU. He took it into work Monday morning and signed it. It would be pretty easy for WSU to put together a sweet contract for Winters because he's already been there for 8 years and they know exactly what they have and what he can accomplish in D-II. He has job security at WSU for the rest of his coaching career if he wants, and I'm guessing his new contract is probably $300k or more -- probably the best in D-II, and not far behind Ianello's contract at UA. Coming to UA was a much bigger risk for both Winters and UA than staying at WSU was for both Winters and WSU.

[you am i]

I'm not a lawyer, but I just did some searching and it seems that "reassignement" of a coach is not an uncommon contract term. I assume that is exactly what we did with Ianello.

I'd prefer a lawyer step in and give us their opinion, but I'm not so sure UA is seeking terms that are considered terribly onerous or unusual.

I'm not trying to disprove anything other posters have said. I just wanted to find out if the UA AD, search committe and their lawyers are asking for outlandish terms in a contract. I'm not so sure they are.

However, I didn't notice that the contracts I saw reduced the pay when a reassignment took place, and I don't think UA was able to do that with Ianello. I'm curious if, as suggested, that was actually part of the contract Winters was offered.

Lawyers, care to comment?

I'm not an expert in the law of sports contracts, but I think its safe to say that reassignment clauses are common for head coaches. Having said that, nobody in their right mind would sign a contract that also reduced his pay upon reassignment. It would make the contract to be a head coach at the pay of a head coach essentially worthless. As I understand it, when coaches are reassigned they continue to receive their salary for doing non-coaching work. From a coach's perspective, this is career suicide if it goes on too long. What it does is provide some financial security for the fired coach until he can find some other acceptable position elsewhere.

[hiroad1]

I'm not a lawyer, but I just did some searching and it seems that "reassignement" of a coach is not an uncommon contract term. I assume that is exactly what we did with Ianello.

I'd prefer a lawyer step in and give us their opinion, but I'm not so sure UA is seeking terms that are considered terribly onerous or unusual.

I'm not trying to disprove anything other posters have said. I just wanted to find out if the UA AD, search committe and their lawyers are asking for outlandish terms in a contract. I'm not so sure they are.

However, I didn't notice that the contracts I saw reduced the pay when a reassignment took place, and I don't think UA was able to do that with Ianello. I'm curious if, as suggested, that was actually part of the contract Winters was offered.

Lawyers, care to comment?

I'm not an expert in the law of sports contracts, but I think its safe to say that reassignment clauses are common for head coaches. Having said that, nobody in their right mind would sign a contract that also reduced his pay upon reassignment. It would make the contract to be a head coach at the pay of a head coach essentially worthless. As I understand it, when coaches are reassigned they continue to receive their salary for doing non-coaching work. From a coach's perspective, this is career suicide if it goes on too long. What it does is provide some financial security for the fired coach until he can find some other acceptable position elsewhere.

I agree competely. That is so fundamental it is why I raised the question of whether that part of the story is accurate. It is so unusual, I have to have some skepticism that we have the whole story on that point.

[ZipperRoo44]

Why not Ron Zook? He's from Loudonville and has a great network of coaches to build a staff.

[Doug Snyder]

If a coach doesnt want to come here because of some "out clause" (which every single coach at every single program is subject to termination if the administration feels he isnt holding up his end of the bargain), then it doesnt sound like any coach we want. He obviously lacks confidence in himself and his coaching abilities if he doesnt think he can improve a 1-11 team in 2 years.

How about if you were told about JuCo and other committments you had no hand in picking, evaluating, recruiting, and were told who on the current staff you had to retain? Wouldn't common sense tell you if that's the case then the 2 year plan needs to be extended? Just saying. I really don't want to pick this apart, Paul's still dealing with quite a bit of emotion from quite a few things, but as I said before, he wasn't offered a great deal and said, "That's a great deal, no thanks." If Akron wanted him they should have been willing to match the WSU offer, they didn't. I'm signing off before any more points need counterpoints. I agree Paul's not 100% blameless, he probably should have been better prepared for the insults. Someone else posted on another thread how TW should start off with an apology... not so much. It couldn't have been a comfortable, friendly, safe exchange. Who would want to come to work (and do THAT job) in an atmosphere like that without some level of safety equal to what he would be leaving?

You are making more out of this than it is. I am sure Winters would want some recruits...and only 7-9 have been listed. That would NOT be a hindrance. And what coaches would he have to retain?? There is only ONE left. So...this looks like Paul (or you) looking for reasons why he did not want to come. He had a good job and liked where he was....that is good enough for me. All of these other excuses are lame. Most coaches travel to the school for an interview. TW made the trip...that should show that he was serious. If he needed more money or a better guarantee...he could have negotiated for that. But when you are listing "recruits" and "staff that must be retained" you, and he, lose me. I hope these are your words and Paul’s....because I have always respected Paul and would hate to lose some of that respect over an issue where the University was trying to bring him home.

One other thing about the recruits. Are you suggesting that Paul wanted the UofA to renege of commitments to the 7 recruits?? Sorry…this is not making TW look bad…but Paul Winters. I hope this is not true.