The coach

In 2007 a powerful international franchise showed disturbing signs it was losing it’s edge.  It was in financial free-fall, it was weary from nearly 7 years of grueling international contests and the coach, at the time, was at the end of his contract term.  Energized  by a mixture of frustration, anger and fear, the owners got together & determined to hire a new head coach.  What they wanted was someone who could:  restore confidence, rebuild team cohesion, understand the complexities of the game, attract great talent, return the franchise to financial strength & certainty and win.  After a grueling search; a coach of great promise seemed to appear and, altho the owners were not unanimous in their choice, he was hired.  This man exuded confidence, spoke with great eloquence, mesmerized nearly everyone with the power of his claims of ability to right the financially floundering franchise and promises of a new dawning of cooperative excellence.

For the first two years of his tenure, the new coach was given an unprecedented free hand to do what he believed best; he carefully installed his own hand picked coaching staff, called in the finest, like minded, consultants,  made fundamental changes to the core and fabric of the franchise, silenced every dissenting voice and implemented his strategy.  At the end of those two years, the team was losing more money per year than in all the years of it’s existence, it increased it’s debt to such heights that credit agencies downgraded its credit rating for the first time in its history, its win-loss record climbed to frightening levels then settled back to a steady state of decline worse than when the new coach was hired!  The opposing international teams began to mock the once respected team and many of the teams that had once been unable to compete in the same league began to openly challenge and sometimes defeat it.  The players began to be discouraged, the fans disappointed and the owners, furious.  When challenged to explain the lack of improvement and his abysmal record, the new coach said it was his predecessor’s fault, that the other teams were making it very difficult for him to make the progress he had promised, that there had been severe weather problems and other large franchises were also under deep financial stress which unexpectedly slowed the progress he’d expected and, that all he needed was more time. The coaches response irritated the owners sufficiently that they came together in 2009 to slow the unhindered damage they felt the new coach was doing to the franchise. They found and installed assistant coaches who, they hoped, would force the head coach to lead with a style and result more in line with their desire and more like the promises he had so boldly proclaimed when he was hired.  Despite the new composition of the coaching staff, the health of the franchise continued to flounder and decline.  The head coach blamed the newly installed coaching staff and the new staff felt bound to execute the will of the owners to get the franchise back to financial health and its former winning ways.  The divide between the head coach and his new staff and the owners became more and more stark and the owners more concerned that they would not or could not work together to right the ship.

Knowing the new coach had an iron-clad 4 year contract the owners found themselves faced with a choice.  For many, it was obvious, the coach, and much of the staff, must be replaced.  For others less so and and they wondered; if we replace him, who will we get and if we don’t, what will we get?  For some, a stubborn, emotional allegiance to the coach prevented them even seeing the stagnant and declining state of the franchise and they would keep him regardless, clinging to the lofty but broken promises of the previous 4 years.

So, dear reader, what will you choose to do on November 6th 2012.  You, after all, are the owner.