Moos Loose on the Palouse?

Happy Friday Cougs.  And hey, happy “Tiger Woods Talks!” day to you all.  Yep, today’s the day we hear Tiger address the media about what’s happened and where we all go from here.  Well, not exactly address the media, in that no, he won’t be taking any questions, and it’s some kind of weird closed circuit deal where most of the media won’t even be in the room.  He will read a statement, and that’s it. 

To me, here’s the only things he should say (and in reality, probably should have said from the beginning?):

1) I made a mistake…..OK, actually, several mistakes, but who’s counting?
2) I’m sorry.
3) It will never happen again.

And he should say these things to his wife.  For she is the only one who deserves to hear it. 

Well, I guess he should apologize to the people who put him on a pedestal for being a fantastic family man, all the while being able to hit a little white ball really, really far, and put it in a hole in fewer strokes than anyone else around. 

Oh, and he probably should say sorry to the sponsors who wrote him huge checks for him to endorse their products, all under the so-called “image” he and his handlers crafted for him.  Yeah, he should probably apologize to them too. 

So, I guess he should say he’s sorry to pretty much everyone.  And moving forward, he should probably promise to stay out of strip clubs and iHop’s too.

Moving on to things we really care about, Grippi broke the news late yesterday that the Moos offer is officially on the table.  Not that it is any kind of a surprise.  What, were they going to parade him around to everyone in Coug Nation, only to say “you know Bill, the whole thing no longer interests us.  Best of luck to you.”  Of course the offer was coming, it was only a matter of when, not if. 

Here’s what we know so far:

1) He wants the job, as he has told anyone and everyone in this whirlwind of a week, including a couple of unnamed WSU staffers who told us personally they were blown away by what he had to say behind closed doors.
2) WSU is wanting and needing his services, in a really, really bad way. 
3) Oregon still has $200k per year due to him for the next 7 years, only if he isn’t an A.D. west of the Mississippi. 
4) Moos’ people are talking to Bellotti’s people, trying to see if there is a way to make this work.

Want my best guess as to how this is going to turn out??……

Oregon is going to balk at this whole thing.  Let’s face it, they bitched and moaned when he wanted to be A.D. at UNLV.  Really, UNLV?  Knowing that, you really think they will just say “it’s cool Bill, it’s your alma mater, we’ll keep sending you checks even though you are going to be a Northwest Pac-10 A.D.!”  NO FRICKIN’ WAY they want to keep the money headed his way. 

The question is, what are Moos’ people saying to Oregon’s people?  What could they possibly be negotiating?  What can they say, exactly? “Please?”  How about “Pretty please?”  After the public display of affection that went on this week, and Moos openly saying that Oregon was scared of competing against him as an A.D. at another Pac-10 school, you can probably figure out how the conversations are going. 

Meanwhile, President Floyd’s reportedly “fair” offer is, well, let’s say it’s in the neighborhood of $400,000 per year for the next 6 years in total compensation, or until he’s 65 and ready to hang it up.  Just speculating, of course.  You can get the 400k number when you consider Jim Sterk was in the $300k range, and let’s face it – Moos is more of the rock-star variety A.D. who should command a higher salary. 

All that said, I can’t help but agree with a really good commentary from Cougfan’s Barry Bolton yesterday, who wrote how this whole thing is being played out by President Floyd:

The Moos Call has been so public, the mutual admiration so heartfelt, that anything less than culmination will be viewed as a colossal failure. Cougars will be angry. It would be as if Lucy yanked the football away from Charlie Brown just as he was set to knock the game-winner through the uprights.

And then this:

So let’s revisit the notion of the corner, the paint and Elson Floyd.

He is a CEO. And he’s a very good one. He also has a background in political science and once worked in Olympia, where no word or wave of the hand goes by without a thorough analysis of what it could signal.

Good CEOs, like good politicians, always think multiple steps ahead and, as much as is possible, have their bases covered.

It is unfathomable that Floyd would bring Moos in for the two very public days of talks if he didn’t already have the game plan largely crafted.

Well said.  Think about it.  How in the world would a President like Floyd do something like this unless he didn’t really know what the next step is?  If he was unsure of the process, do you think we would have seen this whole thing transpire like this?  Neither do I.

So, taking the idea that Oregon is not going to keep paying him if he takes the job into consideration, Moos is likely faced with the decision this weekend to:

1) Get back in the game at a place he loves for $400,000 or so per year until retirement.  It’s not going to be easy in Pullman, and it will take some time for this to turn around, but it’s one last run at it in one of the dearest places on earth to Mr. Moos. 
2) Or, stay back on the ranch to run the family beef business, all the while getting a $200,000 supplement from Oregon until he’s at that retirement age of 65 or so. 

We’ll find out what’s going to win out here.  But I think Bill knows where we stand.  WE WANT MOOS ON THE PALOUSE!

Enjoy your Friday, and of course, GO COUGS!