(01-18-2024 03:14 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  

(01-18-2024 01:33 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  So, I'm sitting here thinking on this a bit more, and you know what the Jimbo firing reminds me of? It's the CFB equivalent of Barcelona selling off 25% of their merchandising arm and 49.9% of their la liga tv rights income a couple years ago to fund the team NOW. It netted them, according to the article, between €600 and €650m. At the time, the deal looked insanely stupid, but they ultimately decided that keeping the team at or near the top in the post-Messi era was more than worth the cost. Bjork, rightly or wrongly, decided that keeping A&M moving in the right direction wouldn't happen under Jimbo, and it was worth $15m from the Foundation and $7m a year until 2031 from the Athletic Dept to make the change. I'd bet that was what convinced tOSU to hire him, none of their other candidates have even been involved in decisions that eye-popping, and certainly none of them have been the driving force behind said decision. I thought that Chun had the inside track through the end of 2022, but the WSU demotion and Bjork's willingness to make the big call (without knowing the outcome for a very long time) must have been what ultimately got Bjork the job.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sports...022-06-16/

fyi, it was tougher than expected to rustle up the ascii symbol for €. It's (hold alt while pressing in sequence) 0128 on the keyboard numpad.

Weird that they've changed over time, or that just flat out incorrect info is out there on such an esoteric topic.

And good on Bjork for following through, and getting that support, if true. However, if you decide to fire Fisher (and his huge salary), you better have a big fish ready to catch. Whether that was Stoops or not, it just seemed like while the decision was made to move on from Fisher, there wasn't really a firm plan in place for a replacement (hence the move to Elko).

A possible concern on Bjork's resume, especially for football, is his limited history in hiring football coaches (Elko - TBD, Matt Luke - Failure) and his oversight at Ole Miss with Hugh Freeze. Basketball-wise, he also hired Kermit Davis and fired Andy Kennedy. However, he has inherited several big name coaches into positions (Willie Taggart, Freeze, Fisher, Ryan Day; Kennedy, Buzz Williams and, now Chris Holtmann). I'd imagine Holtmann gets replaced after the season.

Will be fascinating to see how his tenure goes. He's walking into one of the best AD opportunities in the country.

Jimbo's firing was just weird all around, and it's entirely possible that Bjork ends up firing another big name and successful coach at tOSU soon, and for many of the same reasons. Alumni discontent. A desire for greater success. The financial means to effect the move.

As for the dynamic, Elko was always the guy that Bjork wanted, and he knew he could get him. The Jimbo contract renewal a few years ago was a "team" decision with Bjork more of a bystander than the one pushing for it, but with an interim President and a huge buyout, the Jimbo firing was much more a case of Bjork putting his stamp on the Athletic program. Gene Smith put his stamp on Ohio State's Athletic Dept and had fantastic results in Football through several coaching changes, it's hardly surprising that they'd want somebody with that sort of vision to take his place.