After reading this, I feel sorrier for Kirby and Mrs. Kirby.
“Mary Beth’s not going to like it,” Georgia coach Mark Fox said of Smart’s wife. “You go to bed with your phone, you know? There are times I’ve laid my phone on my cheek in case so if a kid texts you back, you know what happened. You are always constantly trying to recruit and having the ability to recruit and now those kids pick and choose when they want to communicate. They’ve got different hours than a lot of us.”
Sounds romantic, no?
Get The Picture 
No doubt, this is the “I love everything about my job except this” thing. It surprises me that there wouldn’t be a mechanism in place where Kirby or Mark would have a “stand in” for off hours/off duty communication. Heck, the lowest pay grade at butts is probably 90k, just pay someone to stand in with approved language overnight and off duty hours.
LikeLike
I want to say to Kirby and Mark, “There’s an off button on that phone.” Maybe I’m getting old, but the perceived need to stay connected 24x7x365 is getting old. Regarding the coaches, I don’t think I could sleep well knowing my continued job security is dependent on 85-100 18-23 year olds and the decisions of 25 high school seniors per year.
LikeLike
A blue chip recruit de-committed recently from Ohio State because the head coach called him by the wrong name. Wonder what happens to his top 3 list when a coach doesn’t return a text.
Leaving aside all the arguments about prima donna recruits and entitlement and all of that, as a coach you don’t want to slight one of these kids in any way because one of them might be the key player who will make all the difference for your team. Jacob Eason was on west coast time. If he was up at 1 AM out there in Washington and started getting cold feet and our guy’s phone is off but Jim McElwain’s is on… bad situation for the home team.
LikeLike
Exactly my point about not wanting my job security being tied to the decisions of 25 high school seniors
LikeLike
Or 35 if you’re bammer..
Amirite..??
LikeLike
Paranoia strikes deep. Into your life it will creep.
LikeLike
yeah, but $70k a week or something…
LikeLike
When it boils down to it…they’re losing sleep for $$$$.
LikeLike
He’s going to have to do something about that or he’ll be burned out in 2 years.
LikeLike
He’s only got a few more years until his kids start hitting the teen years and staying up all night. He can just give them his phone and let them pose as the head coach until morning. They’ll even know all of the slang.
LikeLike
Most women think 4 million a year is very romantic.
LikeLike
my wife agrees.
LikeLike
Well played
LikeLike
Did Fox recruit somebody? I doubt Kirby or his wife has time for Mark’s thoughts on recruiting.
LikeLike
Call me old fashioned but my teens did not have their cell phones on at night. Coaches do need to sleep and kids need to know that there is a time that calling is inappropriate.
LikeLike
Unlimited texting? So that’s why Rodney Garner’s cell phone stays in the refrigerator. He won’t miss a call.
LikeLike