Sidelines

The game is called musical benches, and it begins as soon as the football season ends. Coaches are hired and fired to the accompaniment of howling alumni, grumbling students and the keening of athletic directors. Two unusual new cases:

BUYING OUT

When Washington State Coach Warren Powers completed a single successful season (6-5 after his predecessor's 3-8 record the year before), he picked up his whistle and left for the head coaching job at the University of Missouri--only to be reminded of some fine print in his contract. Plagued by the turnover in coaches (three in three years), Washington State officials had written a clause into Powers' three-year contract stipulating that if he left early, he would have to buy up his contract. For the privilege of earning $35,000 annually in the prestigious top job at Missouri, Powers had to shell out $5,000 in escape money and take out a three-year promissory note for the remaining $50,000 at 9% interest. Powers, a onetime defensive back for the Oakland Raiders, views the move to Missouri as a boon to his career, however costly it may be. Says he: "The coaching profession is a very precarious one anyway. The same people that love you will fire you. But I'm sure going to read my contracts a bit closer."

HANGING IN

Vanderbilt alumni were desperately trying to get rid of a coach. After two successive 2-9 seasons, wealthy alums raised $100,000 worth of walking money for Head Coach Fred Pancoast. The total included his $40,000 salary for the remaining two years of his contract, plus a $20,000 bonus for bowing out. There are no greener pastures open to 4-18 coaches, however, so Pancoast turned down the offer. Said he: "I'm the head coach of Vanderbilt until I'm told otherwise." Vanderbilt President Emmett Fields backed Pancoast, asserting that the university would not break a solemn contract.

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