Phil's budget for assistants was pathetic. Not saying that he doesn't deserve some blame, but we were saddled with a bunch of duds like Larry Slade for years.True, but originally Clawson wasn't even on Phil's radar for OC. You may recall that Hamilton + whoever was actually pulling all the strings refused to pay what was necessary to hire the top quality OC candidates who Phil wanted including Mike Debord who was fresh out of Michigan at the time. You might also remember the search dragged out for a long time, and the list of possible hires grew shorter and shorter. Then, there was all the hullabaloo about Phil wanting to continue running an "old fashioned" pro style offense while a vocal group continued their loud yammering to adopt the new, wide open "spread". Well, Clawson was finally hired, and the idiot powers that be ultimately got what they were maneuvering for all along which was an excuse to fire Phil. Maybe that gives us some insight into Phil's motivation to shell out the big bucks necessary to give Pruitt what he needed by hiring Jim Chaney. Successful AD's support their coaches, they don't set them up to fail.
Financially, Phil getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to Chavis. He immediately got a massive raise