TheColdHardTruth

Well, the MBA football coaching committee has been working to find a replacement for Jeff Rutledge, who was fired early last month. So far, the junior school Latin teacher with no football expertise, the second year Science teacher with no football expertise, [The two people 4th&inches conveniently omitted when he praised the quality of the search committee in an earlier post], the junior school head, the high school head, and the math teacher/ football coach have interviewed three candidates: Brian Rector from Ravenwood H.S., Bob Beaty of Louisville Trinity H.S., and Daniel McGugin of MBA. Again, it is a done deal. McGugin is going to be the next football coach – Rector and Beatty and any others interviewed in the future are just for show. Rector interviewed last week, but he damaged his chances of becoming the next MBA football coach when he stated that he supports kids playing multiple sports so long as they understand that football is to be their first priority. (Although I don’t know his exact quote, the intent of his statement is accurate.) With a high school of only 400 or so boys (many of whom, thanks to Brad Gioia’s admissions criteria, are SOLELY artists, debaters, musicians, and thespians rather than well-rounded young men who are also ATHLETES), MBA must have multi-sport athletes to be competitive. There is no way the current coaches will tolerate a football coach who wants the few athletes available doing football workouts 12 months a year and other sports in their spare time. Beatty interviewed earlier this week, but he took himself out of the race (as if there had ever really been one) when he stated that he wanted to be both the head football coach and the athletic director. MBA is determined to have two separate people perform those duties. Besides, it is commonly believed that Beatty was merely using the MBA interview as leverage to get more from Trinity. McGugin interviewed today. I do not have any of the specifics about his interview yet, but I do know that several of the more experienced members of the football staff are not pleased with Brad Gioia’s charade of a search process. They do no like being kept out of the loop and denied an opportunity to provide their expertise, something the committee sorely lacks. As a result, I understand that when McGugin is officially named head coach, there will be quite a shake-up on West End. When the dust settles, the average age of the MBA football staff will probably be well under 30! Stay tuned. No one knows how long Brad Gioia is going to continue with the charade of a search for a football coach, but he almost has to make an announcement within the next 30 to 60 days. Of course, it is going to take some time, but Brad Gioia’s goal is to completely pack the academic and athletic administration with his “yes men”. He is working to capitalize on an opportunity to do so by hiring a football coach, an athletic director, and an admissions director who will answer “yes” all the time. Word is, all 3 positions will be filled with current MBA faculty who are obedient to Brad Gioia.

I have heard that MBA has established a search committee to find Jeff Rutledge's replacement. The idea of a committee having any real decision-making power in the process is itself hilarious. As anyone who has ever worked with Brad Gioia can testify, committees are established at MBA in case the decision HE makes goes bad so that the committee can take the fall. Of course, if the decision goes well, then Brad Gioia will take full credit. The futility of committees is common knowledge among the MBA faculty and, in fact, is a running joke on campus whenever any kind of committee is formed. But what is even more hilarious are the faculty members Brad Gioia assigned to football coach search committee. The committee consists of a junior school Latin teacher and track coach with a long tenure at MBA, a high school science teacher and track coach who has been at the school two years, the junior school principal who coached football in Williamson County years ago, the upper school principal who has not coached anything in decades, and a high school math teacher who is the ONLY ONE who actually coaches football at the school. Of course, one must wonder what is the common trait that each of the members of the search committee possesses that qualifies then to determine MBA's next football coach? Obviously, it is not their football expertise or their extensive coaching experience; rather, the trait that links them is that none of the committee members will challenge Brad Gioia’s final decision nor will any of them publicly refute it. Each and every one of them is a “yes man”! (I should note that the sole exception among the committee members MAY be the high school math teacher and football coach. But only time will tell whether he is a "yes man" or not.) According to Brad Gioia, no decision will be made until the middle of February. That being said, I still think the decision has been made (and was in fact made last spring) and Daniel McGugin will be named the head football coach once this charade is played out. By the way, Proctor was on campus yesterday afternoon. I heard he did well, but McGugin is a still a lock for the job. Give Brad Gioia credit, at least he is making it appear as though MBA is searching for a coach beyond the boundaries of its campus.

Yes, unfortunately, MBA has lost another fine educator and football coach. (Just add his name to the long, and growing, list of highly qualifies individuals who USED to teach and coach at MBA.) But, more importantly, the school has lost its admissions director at a critical time of the academic year! Well, at least there is now room for Daniel McGugin to hire his brother and/ or Jonas Rodriquez as an assistant coach. (Although, from what I am hearing, there will be plenty of coaching vacancies in the MBA football program once McGugin is officially named head coach or, as Big Red Big Blue explains, once his father’s money and influence gets Daniel the head coaching job.) I expect to be fully vindicated this coming week, or early next week at the latest.

Jeff Rutledge was forced out at MBA. (No one in their right mind believes he actually resigned his position as head football coach and athletic director to seek unemployment!) During the past several days, there has been a great deal of discussion as to why he was forced out. I will not get involved in that discussion because talking what happened is fruitless. Instead, I want to talk about what is going to happen. The Big Red Dog compiled an interesting list of potential candidates for the MBA coaching vacancy. However, as a former MBA employee and as one who maintains close contact with former colleagues, I will tell you that the next head coach of the MBA football program is going to be Daniel McGugin. Mark my word. It is a done deal and here is why… First, there is only one thing greater than Brad Gioia’s ego, and that is his level of insecurity. He surrounds himself with “yes men” that hardly ever voice their own opinion and never disagree with him. So, the final decision as to whom will be the next Big Red football coach will be made by Brad Gioia alone and confirmed by a small group of a automatons. This point is supported by the fact that, earlier this week, Brad Gioia told the remaining football staff that the decision would be his to make and that their happiness would be secondary to getting the coach he wants. Second, Brad Gioia wants a football coach he can influence and that will answer to him (just like the men and women in his administration), which is something he has not had during his tenure at MBA. It is important to know that since the MBA Board of Trust hired Ricky Bowers and since Jeff Rutledge was a football legend, Brad Gioia was never able to influence them nor did either of them tow the line for him. As a result, under both regimes, there was frequent tension between the headmaster and the head football coach with the head football coach often winning the battles. Of course, in both cases, Brad Gioia won the war because neither Bowers nor Rutledge is still coaching at MBA while Brad Gioia remains the headmaster. So, for the first time since becoming the headmaster, Brad Gioia now has an opportunity to name a football coach that he will actually be able to influence. (He was unable to do so when Ricky Bowers left MBA for Ensworth because Brad Gioia had to land a big name coach to overshadow the fact that he had run off one of the most promising high school football coaches in the state of Tennessee and allowed him to land at a school that was destined to become one of MBA’s greatest rivals.) Third, Brad Gioia’s decision will get the full support of the MBA Board of Trust, who, either willingly or unwillingly, has decided to overlook Brad Gioia’s poor management skills as long as he continues to raise money for the school. (And it should be noted, no one is better at raising money than Brad Gioia. If you ever have a chance, watch him work the crowd at a basketball game or other community event. He will target the people that have money or that can do something for him or the school and go out his way to speak to them; however, if people do not have money or cannot be of service to him or the school, they are ignored.) So, if Brad Gioia wants a “yes man” as a football coach, then he will get one. Who better to fulfill Brad Gioia’s desires than Daniel McGugin, a young man in his late 20s anxious to be the head coach at his Alma Mater? I mean, how else can any rational person explain the replacing a coach with a wealth of football experience and who himself was coached by Bear Bryant, Joe Gibbs, and Bills Parcels while winning a college national championship and playing in two Super Bowls with a young man possessing limited football playing and coaching experience who played tennis in college? There is simply no other intelligent explanation. Daniel McGugin fits the bill perfectly, and he will be named the next head coach of MBA’s football program within the next two weeks. (How else can Brad Gioia conduct a “coaching search” from England unless he has done so already?) Of course, there will be some people that doubt my line of reasoning. People like Big Red Big Blue and other Brad Gioia apologists who have no experience working under his administration and who base their defense of his actions on naive loyalty to the institution they love. Since there is no way that I will be able to change their minds, I will not reply to the inevitable attacks that will follow the posting of this message. There is no reason for me to defend my statements as they are based on personal experience and solid information from current members of the MBA faculty and staff. I will just sit back and wait for Brad Gioia’s overwhelming desire to micromanage to vindicate me.