Why Keeping Mason Is A Smart Move
Vanderbilt athletic director Macolm Turner has spoken on Derek Mason's future as head football coach of the Commodores, and the news was not received in a positive way by fans of the university.
In a Twitter message on Tuesday, Turner informed everyone that Mason will remain as head football coach for the remainder of this season and next-barring a change of circumstance or other unforseen events- season for the Commodores despite his overall coaching record and the struggles of this years team.
This years team, a team that entered the season with three highly regarded seniors, all of whom should find themselves in the NFL next season. This team that got little from two of those three players this season and have struggled offensively that it looked at times like a bad high school offense. This team who lost to UNLV. Yes this team, the same team that should win this week at home and then lose next week in Knoxville.
So just how will this team be better next season with no quarterback, no Ke'Shawn Vaughn, Kalijah Lipscomb or Jared Pinkney and Mason and his staff returning?
That's the million dollar question fans want to know the answer to, and one that I can't answer.
So then how can anyone in his right mind advocate for keeping Masonand his staff for another season of this where even more of the fan base will walk away from supporting the team and university?
While it's not easy, I believe there is a method to the madness behind this decision.
When Turner walked into his office for his first day as athletics director, he had just one of the three major sports teams that had no issues.
Baseball is fine, enough said.
Men's and women's basketball were both train wrecks, so much so that Turner felt compeled to make a change in leadership on the men's side. The resounding thought when I first arrived to cover Vanderbilt athletic was that the women's coach would not survive past this season, though some are now revisiting that opinion in light of improvements in that program.
Football was coming off a bowl appearance last season, had some star power and looked to be in position to at least hold serve this season.
Now that football is off the rails, Turner was faced with a decisions. Replace his seocnd coach in less than a year and fund a large buyout to do it or ride it out a little farther.
The university and Turner in particular have been talking publicly of their plan to upgrade athletic facilities across all sports and have spent time and money in developing that plan.
Let's assume that Turner had decided to replace Mason, he is now on the clock with "his' coach in place, but that coach would be replacing Mason to fight the same battle with the lack of faciliites that have handcuffed other coaches before him.
Not only would the new coach have to battle facilities issues in trying to keep or build a recruiting class this late in the game, but he would have no quarterback to speak of and have to find answered on an offensive roster that showed little this season to excite anyone of their success next season.
Yes, I know that those things are all part of a rebuild in college football, but are you really going to expect a new coach to be successful in doing all those things at a university with high academic standards,limited facilities and a history of bad football. You're almost setting whomever it is to fail.
To me the smart money says play the hand you have. Let Mason continue here, take the losses that are almost certain to come next season and suffer through it while you get the plans in place and can begin making the needed facilities upgrades.
At that point a change could be made with the new coach being able to ride the crest of the plans and recruit kids that would be part of a rebirht of sorts. It's a far better plan for coaching success than dumping someone into the dumpster today.
It's also likely part of the reason why Turner threw his support to Mason yesterday.
Let's face it, if Turner had made a chance this season, that new hire is his guy and he has likely set his new coach, and by extension himself up for failure if it didn't work.
No executive worth his salt is going to do that when he can see the future as it sits today.
So Mason returns, hopeful that he can turn things around himself, but if not, then he will ride the fall while things fall into place for the next head coach.
It might not seem like a wise move now, considering the backlash of fans, but this is a long term move hopefull for a brighter future, even if you have to sacrifice a little more of the now to get it.
