Coaching carousels are not what they used to be. Just when we thought things were settled in the college world, Nick Saban goes and retires, setting off a chain reaction that lead to openings with Alabama and Washington. On top of that, we are all now waiting to see if Jim Harbaugh will make a decision to return to the NFL and start a third round of college coaching searches.
Speaking of the NFL, with the playoffs’ opening round in the books, that league’s carousel is spinning. The eight open head coaching jobs will start to be filled slowly but surely in the coming days and weeks.
Qualified candidates are weighing their options and asking themselves and their agents important questions.
“If David Tepper is going to pay the next Panthers head coach over eight figures a year, can I put up with the worst owner in the NFL?”
“Washington seems like a great job, but is new ownership enough to bury the toxic reputation of the franchise completely?”
“Will I get any patience in LA or are the Chargers a playoffs or bust situation?”
When the coaching carousel spins in any sport, there is one group of suitors that we rarely hear from but that should be more aggressive. Why is the sports media not active this time of year as well?
The amount of money doled out by the networks to NFL broadcasters in recent years has not gone unnoticed. Surely, it helped Sean Payton’s decision to step away from Saints and from the sidelines entirely in the 2022 season easier. It is also probably weighing heavily on Mike Tomlin’s mind as he tries to decide what he will do in 2024.
All of the NFL’s media partners are trying to out-prestige each other. I mean, if Tony Romo, who never even sniffed a Super Bowl is worth nearly $17 million per year to CBS, isn’t Tomlin, who has won one and been to another and is just as charismatic, worth at least that much?
Broadcasting can not only offer an equal or better paycheck to the right guys. It also offers a much more peaceful life. What is likely standing in the way of that realization is the desire to grind and be the engine that drives a team to victories and championships.
But competition is fierce in the broadcasting world. If you don’t believe it, try being on this side of the business and receiving countless press releases every Monday about ratings that are a “season high” or “best in x years”.
NBC took a gamble site-unseen on Drew Brees the broadcaster because the network thought his star power would bolster Sunday Night Football’s appeal to the audience in the future. FOX is making the same bet on Tom Brady for the same reason. Everyone knows that even if ratings for every NFL broadcast are great, someone has to come in last and they are all going to put in effort not to be the one.
Players have already discovered this. Alex Smith, Robert Griffin III and Richard Sherman have all signed deals in recent years that have left the possibility to return to the league open if an opportunity presents itself. It is probably an easier decision for players because their fates are much less certain. All three of the aforementioned players could take a TV gig and say that is how their playing days ended rather than face the reality that maybe teams aren’t interested anymore.
As a society, America is more attuned to its mental health needs than ever before. Coaches are okay with admitting when they are burned out. That is kind of why we are all wondering what Tomlin will do.
So far, networks have not been afraid of being a short term solution for a charismatic coach. Look at the deal FOX did with Payton, or the number of years ESPN was willing to sit in limbo until Jon Gruden finally decided to leave the Monday Night Football booth to return to the Raiders.
The networks know their jobs have appeal. In the past, both ESPN and Amazon have approached Sean McVay about leaving the Rams to join their analyst roster. They just haven’t figured out how to close the deal on a successful, sitting head coach.
Even if fans of one team might be disappointed, football fans overall would benefit from someone with credentials and charisma choosing the booth or the studio over the sideline. Look at Football Night in America. Are you telling me that NBC’s pregame and halftime shows wouldn’t get immediately better if the network could sub in Mike Tomlin for either Tony Dungy or Jason Garrett?
Decisions made about NFL broadcasts are largely about pleasing the NFL and making the league feel seen and appreciated. That doesn’t mean fans don’t have their opinions on quality. In recent years, CBS made an effort to get younger on The NFL Today and bring someone with more recent, more relevant experience to the dais. Enter Nate Burleson. FOX did the same, first with Michael Strahan and then with Rob Gronkowski.
It’s an easy move to make when it comes to former players. Someone like Bill Cowher is a rarity. He stepped away from the sidelines at 50 and has been an authoritative and informed voice on modern football at CBS, but even he has been out of the day-to-day grind for 17 years now.
Certainly there are aspects of a coach’s job an the insight a former coach can provide a broadcast that never change – how you motivate a team after a devastating loss, how to deal with a star player nursing an injury, etc. But the way the game is played is changing all the time. If your broadcast consistently sounds irrelevant or out of touch, fans are going to notice and in the age of social media, they are going to let you and everyone else know it.
Relevance and expertise is part of the formula for any sports broadcast to be successful. When we are talking about the most popular product on American television, they are crucial.
Jumping into the coaching carousel and trying to pluck an ideal candidate off of the sideline seems like an innovative idea for broadcasters. It’s not. What would be innovative would be for a network executive to be motivated enough to make it a priority and decide that he or she is not taking no for an answer.
Demetri Ravanos is a former columnist and editor for Barrett Media. He is the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host of the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
