Insanity Clause in Coaching Contracts?

[HuskiesFan1014]

I wish there was a clause that would allow an out if the head coach is truly deemed certifiably insane.

I went back and re-read the Courant article from August (Fish Cakes, Batman and Football) and it's a hard read now. It was funny in August. Now I realize the guy isn't just a wacko...he's friggin' out there.

Diaco at Middlesex Chamber Breakfast: Fish Cake, Batman...and Football

I can get past the fish oil/fish cake stuff....great excuse for blowing the bowl game. Batman on the overhead? OK...maybe the whole "defender" thing...

The "central nervous system shutdown" and gut punch stuff....OK, you've really conditioned these guys.

But it's the "three phases" thing that is blowing my mind now. He really believes the sales pitch. He's truly nuts. This stuff is like salt in the proverbial wound now:

Diaco has broken the schedule down into three phases and named those phases.

The "somebody better tell 'em" phase.

"Somebody better tell Maine!" Diaco said. "Somebody better tell Navy! Then we have two ACC teams coming [Virginia and Syracuse]. Somebody better tell 'em! Somebody better tell 'em! Then we get on a plane for an ESPN prime-time matchup, a rematch against Houston at Houston. Somebody better tell 'em!"

The "all the way up" phase.

"Where are we going?" Diaco said. "All the way up. Turn it all the way up. That's the East. We have all the teams in the East right in a row."

The "no limit" phase.

"Get on that bus. Chestnut Hill, here we come!" Diaco said. "Boston College, and then home for senior day [against Tulane]."

What phase would you call what we're in now, Bob? This is the "all the way up" phase?

Invoke the insanity clause. Or just buy him out. Batsh!t Bob is nuts. Somebody better tell 'em!

 

[FDNY99]

When he was named HC if you looked at his resume and his first press conference he passed the smell test. Worked his way up from a hard nosed LB in the B1G through the MAC to a Broyles Award winning DC for a team that played for the national title. Along the way he had stops at Virginia in the ACC and Cincy in the BE. Then he made his staff hires...the d side not bad...S&C with Balis has been excellent. The O side...still makes me scratch my head. Then came the comments about exhibition games...still gave him some latitude. The hiring of Verducci was a real head scratcher for me though...if he had brought him in as OL coach/run game coordinator like he had been at other schools that would have been fine. Send Mike Cummings packing. Now he needs to man up and face the music. Enough with the bull**it and be honest.I see this going 1 of 2 ways...he gets 1 more shot but basically decimates his offensive staff (aside from Curley and Campbell I can see Cummings, Lineburg and Verducci all being replaced as it isn't like they have earned the right to stay) and has to totally remake himself as a coach by changing his offensive and punt return philosophy...or he bucks any changes Benedict asks him to make and they come to agree to part ways..then he lands back at ND as DC and Benedict is looking for a head coach.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I guess I wouldn't mind the crazy, nutty analogies if he could just put them into action on the field. I'd even write off the ConFLiCT. Kinda.

 

[CTMike]

His insanity would be endearing if he just won.

 

[ZooCougar]

He's crazy, but not the "Mike Leach I read books about pirates in the offseason" kind of crazy. Bob doesn't make that transition to being a grounded decision maker. The results on the field and the chaotic and disorganized sideline tell the tale.

How many times are we late getting plays in? How often is Shirrefs rushed? It also seems like we have the wrong number of players on the field on a regular basis, although I admittedly have not been watching the past two games fully.

 

[UConnDan97]

When he was named HC if you looked at his resume and his first press conference he passed the smell test. Worked his way up from a hard nosed LB in the B1G through the MAC to a Broyles Award winning DC for a team that played for the national title. Along the way he had stops at Virginia in the ACC and Cincy in the BE. Then he made his staff hires...the d side not bad...S&C with Balis has been excellent. The O side...still makes me scratch my head. Then came the comments about exhibition games...still gave him some latitude. The hiring of Verducci was a real head scratcher for me though...if he had brought him in as OL coach/run game coordinator like he had been at other schools that would have been fine. Send Mike Cummings packing. Now he needs to man up and face the music. Enough with the bull**it and be honest.I see this going 1 of 2 ways...he gets 1 more shot but basically decimates his offensive staff (aside from Curley and Campbell I can see Cummings, Lineburg and Verducci all being replaced as it isn't like they have earned the right to stay) and has to totally remake himself as a coach by changing his offensive and punt return philosophy...or he bucks any changes Benedict asks him to make and they come to agree to part ways..then he lands back at ND as DC and Benedict is looking for a head coach.

Your comments reminded me of just how crazy things became in that first year. There were all kinds of crazy comments that my mind just suppressed so that I could stay sane, and not all of them were made by Diaco.

Remember when Cummings was launching off some crazy stuff about "we're not going to waste time stretching!" (or something to that effect). I thought to myself, as a former soccer coach and a person who had played 3 different sports at the high school level, "That is about the craziest sheiza I have ever heard in my athletic life..."

And yes, even when I quote myself, I use three dots...

 

[CL82]

"Why won't people listen to me?! We don't need a conference tv deal! We can broadcast our games on Nickolodean with iCarly doing the pregame show and Drake and Josh doing play by play and color. I've already lined up a fish cake manufacturer as a sponsor. You want ideas? Oh, I got ideas! With love and diligence, anything is possible.... stop laughing about The ConFLiCT!"

 

[UConnDan97]

I've already lined up a fish cake manufacturer as a sponsor

^^^ Still laughing about this...

 

[UConnNick]

I wish there was a clause that would allow an out if the head coach is truly deemed certifiably insane.

I went back and re-read the Courant article from August (Fish Cakes, Batman and Football) and it's a hard read now. It was funny in August. Now I realize the guy isn't just a wacko...he's friggin' out there.

Diaco at Middlesex Chamber Breakfast: Fish Cake, Batman...and Football

I can get past the fish oil/fish cake stuff....great excuse for blowing the bowl game. Batman on the overhead? OK...maybe the whole "defender" thing...

The "central nervous system shutdown" and gut punch stuff....OK, you've really conditioned these guys.

But it's the "three phases" thing that is blowing my mind now. He really believes the sales pitch. He's truly nuts. This stuff is like salt in the proverbial wound now:

Diaco has broken the schedule down into three phases and named those phases.

The "somebody better tell 'em" phase.

"Somebody better tell Maine!" Diaco said. "Somebody better tell Navy! Then we have two ACC teams coming [Virginia and Syracuse]. Somebody better tell 'em! Somebody better tell 'em! Then we get on a plane for an ESPN prime-time matchup, a rematch against Houston at Houston. Somebody better tell 'em!"

The "all the way up" phase.

"Where are we going?" Diaco said. "All the way up. Turn it all the way up. That's the East. We have all the teams in the East right in a row."

The "no limit" phase.

"Get on that bus. Chestnut Hill, here we come!" Diaco said. "Boston College, and then home for senior day [against Tulane]."

What phase would you call what we're in now, Bob? This is the "all the way up" phase?

Invoke the insanity clause. Or just buy him out. Batsh!t Bob is nuts. Somebody better tell 'em!

It's funny 1014, but I had the exact same thought, so I laughed when I saw this thread title.

For the record, I am an attorney, but I'm not in CT. Whether the contract has a clause in it or not, which it probably doesn't, a contract can be declared null and void if either party to it lacked the requisite legal capacity to enter into it at the time it was made. There are a number of reasons why a party or parties might lack legal capacity, one of which being insanity. Normally this approach would be used by someone in his position wanting out, not the school, so it would be a little unusual for the school to invoke this remedy.

As for what would constitute proof sufficient under CT civil statutes regarding contracts and the UCC, I'll leave that up to the wall to wall CT attorneys we have on this forum. You'll also need some psychiatrists...don't know if we've got any here or not.

It's fun to discuss, but the odds of pulling this off would be none and none. Sadly, at the end of the day he's probably no crazier than most of the rest of us, although perhaps he's demonstrated that he's a danger to himself or others, particularly when tasked with the responsibility of calling football plays and timeouts. We might stand a better chance of having our university administrators involuntarily committed for entering into the agreement in the first place.

 

[Dean Wormer]

What's the difference between crazy & eccentric?
5 wins....more or less.

 

[freescooter]

To me the tip off was the trip to the amusement park. Don't know why but it struck me as a bridge too far. Then they came out against BYU with a good enthusiastic home crowd and it was totally clear that this team was utterly unprepared. No idea what they were doing. I would say that I never saw that before. The final straw was thanking our partners. At that point I became a Diaco skeptic.

 

[mikedog10]

"Somebody better tell him" that he got the three phases completely wrong, they are offense, defense, and special teams. Would be really nice to see them work on those phases. Because even the most "No Limit" UConn fans have had it "All the way up" to here with him.

 

[HuskyHawk]

At this stage, my main concern, aside from the obvious in game coaching mistakes, is attitude.

I understand all this talk about a culture of "love", but what this team needs, more than anything, is meanness. It needs to be nasty, on both sides of the ball. Football is violent game, and our team plays like it's trying to kill the opponent with kindness. Somewhere that message of "love" as between the players, has bled out on to the field. Diaco preaches physical football, and this team is anything but physical. The OL is huge and can't get a half yard against Navy, or on the various sneaks the last two weeks. We don't force fumbles...ever it seems. Nobody hits anybody hard enough. Our CBs are backing up ten yards past the 1st down marker on third and ten, rather than bumping inside the five yard zone.

This team isn't angry enough. They need a Mike Ditka or Bill Cowher type at the helm. They need to be challenged. The lingerie bowl has more physical play than a UConn game at this point.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

The lingerie bowl has more physical play than a UConn game at this point.

A nice and necessary diversion right now. Thanks, Hawk.

 

[Rocktheworld]

The "somebody better tell 'em" phase.

"Somebody better tell Maine!" Diaco said. "Somebody better tell Navy! Then we have two ACC teams coming [Virginia and Syracuse]. Somebody better tell 'em! Somebody better tell 'em! Then we get on a plane for an ESPN prime-time matchup, a rematch against Houston at Houston. Somebody better tell 'em!"

The "all the way up" phase.

"Where are we going?" Diaco said. "All the way up. Turn it all the way up. That's the East. We have all the teams in the East right in a row."

The "no limit" phase.

"Get on that bus. Chestnut Hill, here we come!" Diaco said. "Boston College, and then home for senior day [against Tulane]."

I feel like the only thing missing from that is a Howard Dean BYAAAHH at the end

 

[Stainmaster]

There's been a lot of strange stuff on this board lately, but I think a licensed lawyer actually trying to find a way to apply this idea to Diaco is perfectly emblematic of the state of the fan base.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I feel like the only thing missing from that is a Howard Dean BYAAAHH at the end

Dan Hawkins did the Howard Dean after he called an official review on a targeting call during he ECU game. It was bizarre.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

There's been a lot of strange stuff on this board lately, but I think a licensed lawyer actually trying to find a way to apply this idea to Diaco is perfectly emblematic of the state of the fan base.

I thought the same thing. it was really a tongue-in-cheek post.

 

[Stainmaster]

I thought the same thing. it was really a tongue-in-cheek post.

I'm losing the ability to tell the difference.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I'm losing the ability to tell the difference.

Ha...no, you were right. My post was tongue-in-cheek...I think the lawyer's post was for real. Or maybe I'm losing the ability to tell the difference, too....

 

[storrsroars]

From this week's post-loss presser, I bring you Pat Narduzzi.

“You know how people train a Rottweiler? Sometimes, the Rottweiler goes out to kill somebody, which is not good, especially something fatal. And you talk about that nice little puppy that won’t bite anybody,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve just got to get a little more dog in us out there and challenge people more, instead of being so nice out there. I think. That’s an attitude. That’s your attitude. What kind of attitude do you have out there?"

“We’ve got some talented football players out there that just have to go bite a little bit more, not be afraid to make a mistake and play with more confidence. That’s the world we live in. I sat home and watched a lot of ball games on Saturday afternoon, and you’re seeing it everywhere.”

“There’s a balance. The Rottweiler and the soft puppy, yeah, there’s a balance,” he said. “I don’t want to be the Rottweiler all the time. I want to be the in-between puppy that will catch a Frisbee once in a while, but also when someone says ‘sit,’ I’ll sit. I’m a dog today.”

Granted, it's not quite Diaco-level nuts, but I'll be interested in how many Pitt fans bring Frisbees to the next game for Narduzzi to catch with his teeth.