Why would a coach take a demotion to leave UCF?

[Southshore26]

ftu/ou/oc is a terrible program that is now behind fau

terrible yes...behind FAU no...equal to yes.

mmmmm... Having seen them both I'd have to give the nod to FAU.... at least they play with heart.

[BowlBoundBulls]

Seems like a very lateral move so I would think it is a personality conflict with GOL

[DawgPound]

He's also from Big XII/SWC country.  He's comfortable there, so I'm not surprised he left when he had an opening.

[ucfknights04]

From Kyle Hightower's Orlando Sentinel blog:

I’ve been getting a lot of e-mail and such asking if I knew what went down with former defensive coordinator John Skladany leaving last week to take the same post at Houston this week.

Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists out there, but the reasoning I’ve heard isn’t as sexy as you might think.

Apparently, at 59 years old, Skladany just feels that he has more job security in Houston than in Orlando.

Skladany isn’t a spring chicken. And the bottom line is that there is no guarantee that O’Leary is going to coach the remaining life of his current 10-year deal. No, I’m not saying he would take another job, let’s not start that rumor. But, while O’Leary has gone on record and said this is his final coaching stop, he would be touching 70 if he stayed the full term of his current deal.

What’s most likely to happen – and this shouldn’t be a huge revelation – is that O’Leary would retire at some point before then. And for a guy the age of Skladany, pulling out your resume isn’t something you want to have to think about doing three or however many years from now.

So he chose to take a good job, in a good market, under a younger coach in Kevin Sumlin.

Maybe not what you want to hear, Knights’ Nation, but as the cliché goes: It is what it is.

Stay tuned…

[DawgPound]

So what Kyle is saying is that it was nothing bad.  I can't complain with his reasoning.

[Triple B]

Not sure what wacky conspiracy theories were out there but the reasoning that Hightower has heard still doesn't sound like a lock as the real reason. The UCF defense was better under Skladany, wasn't it? If it kept improving (and with the supposedly better players being recruited why wouldn't it?), why would he be that concerned about job security 4 or 5 years from now? UCF should own CUSA and GOL, if he leaves early, would go out as the savior for UCF football and could probably have Skladany taken care of with his successor .... or even make him his successor.

[FreaKnight]

Not sure what wacky conspiracy theories were out there but the reasoning that Hightower has heard still doesn't sound like a lock as the real reason. The UCF defense was better under Skladany, wasn't it? If it kept improving (and with the supposedly better players being recruited why wouldn't it?), why would he be that concerned about job security 4 or 5 years from now? UCF should own CUSA and GOL, if he leaves early, would go out as the savior for UCF football and could probably have Skladany taken care of with his successor .... or even make him his successor.

Why do you think he left Triple B?

[Triple B]

Not sure what wacky conspiracy theories were out there but the reasoning that Hightower has heard still doesn't sound like a lock as the real reason. The UCF defense was better under Skladany, wasn't it? If it kept improving (and with the supposedly better players being recruited why wouldn't it?), why would he be that concerned about job security 4 or 5 years from now? UCF should own CUSA and GOL, if he leaves early, would go out as the savior for UCF football and could probably have Skladany taken care of with his successor .... or even make him his successor.

Why do you think he left Triple B?

I have no idea .... but, to me, that reasoning by Hightower just seems a little odd. Leaving a known quantity in a solid UCF program for a program like Houston with an unknown quantity in Sumlin just because O'Leary MIGHT retire in 3 or 4 years and he MIGHT have to look for another job? Just doesn't really compute ...... to me, anyway.

[Brad]

If Hightower's reasoning were used for a USF coach leaving, the circle-jerk contingent would be talking about the instability in the program.  I think Hightower's explanation, whether right or not, is amazingly well received by some UCiFers here.

[critterj7]

Maybe the job is just not what he wanted or was expecting.  The bottom line is, that it is a job and some people accept jobs and it turns out not to be what they expected or wanted.  Maybe he hated working with O'Leary, maybe he hated Mickey Mouse, who knows, but at any point it does not always equal some great distress or turmoil.  If the job was not what he wanted or expected, like any job its best for both parties to move on.