Outcry against Enos unreasonable, hasty
Dan Enos’ 2-5 total record, 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference and four consecutive losses in his first season as head football coach has many calling for his job. However, it is both too early and too expensive to do this.
After only seven games with the team, Enos is, at best, untested as a head coach. Furthermore, after CMU lost key players such as Dan LeFevour, Frank Zombo, Antonio Brown and Andrew Aguila, if Enos is not building a team from the ground up, he is at least very close to the ground.
Perhaps more important are the financial repercussions of replacing Enos.
If Enos is terminated before the end of the 2011 football season, CMU is contractually obligated to pay him a $900,000 buyout.
On top of that considerable fee, the athletics department would have to search for a replacement for Enos, which costs money, and then pay the replacement’s salary. Enos’ yearly total salary is $325,000, and few viable candidates to replace him would be likely to take less than that amount. If the coach CMU hired was currently contracted at another school, CMU would have to buy out that coach’s contract as well.
The athletics department was appropriated $22,182,796 for the 2010-2011 school year, according to this year’s operating budget.
All told, firing and replacing Enos at this moment would likely cost somewhere between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.
This is not where the university needs to be putting even more of its money.
As the university finishes construction on a costly basketball arena and CMU continues to put money into the College of Medicine, the university’s spending patterns have been questionable at best. The new budget under President George Ross looks to tighten this up, and it is a safe bet that such a costly personnel change would not be allowed.
Football fans can continue to call out for Enos’ job on the Internet and every other avenue available to them. The smart money is on him keeping it, which is also the correct decision.
Fans should give Enos a season or two to warm up and prove himself before picking up the torches and pitchforks as they have been doing. They just may end up liking the guy.
