What a weird day. First, the Chicago State Trustees call. Now this...

Fact is, Dan-O is of a certain age, which provide him certain protections, in this exact scenario. If the events outlined in the article are true, he certainly has a case. If the GCU brass are being properly consulted, they will settle for an "undisclosed amount", in short order, and just move on.

(05-18-2020 11:05 PM)gleadley Wrote:  What a weird day. First, the Chicago State Trustees call. Now this...

I'm surprised both parties didn't have a more amicable separation. I always felt Majerle lacked the coaching skills for college basketball; being more of a manager to his team than a true X's & O's teaching coach. His brand name as former-pro is what carried him the first few years at GCU but it could only take the Lopes so far. I was actually surprised GCU pulled the trigger on his firing. But Majerle's antics as a bad loser might have grown tiresome to the administration; sometime not coming out for post game interviews. Openly berating his team's efforts. I think Menzies was brought in to be a stabilizing force as an accomplished college head coach and first rate recruiter. But Majerle dug too deep a hole for the 2019-20 season; such that even his seasoned staff could not turn the tide. I actually think Majerle is right about GCU vetting possible head coaches behind the scenes. Bryce Drew is much more even keeled than Majerle, more accomplished as a college head coach, a better recruiter, and quite frankly more clean cut and a better representative of GCU's values. Drew might not be the type to drive into the arena on a bat-mobile or drop down from the rafters for midnight madness, but he will win a lot more meaningful games for the Havoc. If GCU is smart they will just pay Majerle what they owe and move on.

This makes me wonder what might be going on behind the scenes with Menzies and his firing as well.

I think Menzies was brought in to recruit his guys and become the next coach. I had never seen a coach gone for practically the entire season out recruiting. I suspect Menzies wasn’t recruiting as good as Mueller thought he was going to and said forget Menzies. I wouldn’t be surprised if Menzies sues GCU too. He walked away from nearly a million dollars at UNLV owed him to coach at GCU.

Menzies was on multi-year contract too so he should be paid his contract. If DM did have a few years left on his contract, he should be paid his contract too. Seems GCU is being dirty here.

From what I read, it comes down to how you interpret “for cause”. Is that misconduct? Does that count as poor results? He claimed in the article to have always received great annual evaluations. But that would be job duty performance. On time. Fulfilling practice hour requirements. Doing recruiting trips within NCAA guidelines. Things like that. For coaching, I don’t think that failing to win is being fired for cause I’m this sense.

However... most schools simply buy a coach out of the contract. It’s expected after a couple losing seasons. And of course schools look for a new coach before they fire the new one. They know the writing is on the wall and so does the departing coach. GCU should’ve paid him the amount remaining until he secured another comparable paying coaching position... it’s why Butch Jones is a low level assistant position coach at Alabama and still making the majority of his head coach salary at UT... SEC coaches make a pretty penny.

When schools offer to extend contracts with big pay rates they take a gamble. You might not get what you think you’re paying for in terms of program results in the win column. But you will owe them either way. It comes down to how much you think another coach can improve things before the incumbent simply works out their contract. For GCU paying both his and Menzies’ buy out clause amounts should be easy. I wonder what else may have caused them to go for the whole “for cause” option.

If I were a coach candidate in the future, I’d take a long hard look at that.