If you follow sports, you know that Boston College football coach Jeff Jagodzinski was fired on Wednesday because he interviewed to be the head coach of the New York Jets. The Boston College Athletic Director, Gene DiFilippo, told Jagodzinski he would no longer have his job if he followed through with the Jets interview.
My first thought was anger. You can’t fire someone who’s trying to better themselves. What a jerk this DiFilippo guy is!
But then I reasoned that a very good argument could also be made for the other side. The coach has a contract and he should fulfill it. He has players who he made promises to when he recruited them.
So there’s my dilemma. I want to see what you think … should he have been allowed to interview for the Jets without penalty, or was the school right to drop the ax on him? If I had to vote, I have no idea what my vote would be – because I can truly see valid arguments on both sides.
But worry not for Jagodzinski … he’s enough of a big-name coach that he will quickly find employment, either in the NFL or back in the college game.
3 responses so far ↓
seinpez // January 8, 2009 at 8:17 am
If you sign a contract and are well compensated, honor the contract. This coach can bolt, without penalty, yet a student athlete has to sit out a year of competition if he or she transfers to a different university? Wrong. Fire him. Send a message. Enough is enough.
weiswords // January 8, 2009 at 10:56 am
Here’s something I thought of after initially posting the blog that might also support the seinpez argument: Many coaches who aspire to move on to bigger and better things have specific verbiage put into their contracts allowing them to move on if a better opportunity comes their way. Apparently, Jagodzinski’s must not have contained this kind of language, because his interviewing with the Jets offended and angered the AD to such a degree that he lost his job.
Christina, your wife // January 8, 2009 at 2:39 pm
This doesn’t add up. If the goal was to keep this coach from leaving,why would they fire him. The signed him to a long term contract because they wanted him to stay and now because he is interviewing for another job they fire him? I think that there is more to the story.