In Reply to: Make it make sense. posted by SehornBlew on February 10, 2024 at 10:20:22
Move was pushed by a collective of donors who were willing to pony cash to make it happen and furthermore, were committed to funding NIL in earnest once Chip was gone. Wasserman was not a part of this collective and furious that moves were being made without him. He went to Block and got him to step in and prevent Jarmond from letting Chip go. Casey then did his little PR junket to both lavish praise on Chip and let everyone else in Bruin Donorland know that he was still the King. Chip was then extended
Chip may be an idiot, but he is not stupid. He was well aware that Block leaving likely did not bode well for his continued employment as Block while not avid supporter of football, approved of the job that Chip was doing on the academic side. Chip also was well aware of the influence Wasserman had over Block and that being Casey's guy game him leverage with Block that he was unlikely to immediately have with Block's successor. Chip, also knew that both expectations and challenges were going to increase substantially with the move to the BIG. New Chancellor + AD that doesn't want him + Donors that want him out + crappy roster and no longer having any advantages in the transfer portal = very strong likelihood of failure.
And Jarmond, while in over his head in many respects, for his part did recognize that retaining Chip was akin to institutional malpractice in that in addition to the obvious performance related issues surrounding Chip's tenure, he was costing the program an absolute fortune in both lost revenue and donations.