Why you give multiple-year contracts

Every head coach in America was a head coach for the first time once. Regardless of the level, at some point he held the reins for the first time. As I watch Wes Flanigan, I see what I might term "rookie" mistakes. That is understandable, because this is his first time at the helm. 

Chris Beard came in and avoided those mistakes - but then, Chris Beard was not a rookie. Granted, he had not been a D1 head coach,  but he had been the head guy at Angelo State, McMurry, and for the ABA South Carolina Warriors. He had never pressed the buttons at the top level, but he had pressed the buttons, and the process, I suspect, is largely the same. In the sense that he had been a head coach at three different levels, he was a seasoned veteran. He knew what it took to get the job done. If circumstances had dictated that Beard's first season as a D1 head coach had been this season at Texas Tech, no doubt our opinion of him would have been much more muted.

John Wooden was a head coach for the first time a long time ago. So was Coach K. So was Adolph Rupp. At that point none of them had any experience at being a head coach, so the guy who hired each of them took a chance, at that point. In their cases the gambles paid off royally. Other coaches have not worked out so well. That is the nature of the beast.

IF Wes Flanigan learns from his mistakes, then he will be a better coach over the next couple of years. Circumstances will reveal very quickly how good a recruiter he is. We will see how he adjusts. That is the reason you give coaches multiple-year contracts. 

If it turns out that Wes has the ability to grow and learn as a head coach, then our patience will have been rewarded. If he cannot grow and learn, then Chasse will have to make the hard decisions, and that is why he gets paid the big bucks. I don't get paid the big bucks, so I don't worry about who is the head coach (as long as he runs a clean program).