“When Barry Switzer had a few dead seasons in the early ’80s, Bury Barry stickers abounded and a significant number of people wanted him fired.

“I postulate that the only loyalty owed on either side, the coach or the administration, is under the terms of the contract they have entered into. You might have a colorable case of two-way loyalty if the coach was an alum and even more impressive, a player in the past. Didn’t seem to help Blankenship did it? Gary Gibbs, an Oklahoma player and graduate struggling with recruiting restrictions for NCAA sanctions imposed on the previous administration, beat all of the calendar teams they were preferred to beat, but failed could not defeat Texas and Nebraska, unless the number of recruitments limited by the sanctions. He was fired.

“Wringing your hands and grabbing pearls is actually fun. I was really laughing reading your column.

“If the New York Times called this morning, doubling your pay and all the other crude journalistic equivalents, offering perks (I guess they wouldn’t give you a jet), would you leave?” “

Jim argues for loyalty as a two-way street. And he’s right – given the increased speed at which coaches are being made redundant today, let alone the millions still owed to their contacts, I could have just as easily labeled athletic directors as the “sharks” in my column.