Currie just lobbied and was granted approval to retain a coach that was potentially involved in endangering a player. His interest in retaining said coach (prior to the BK issue) was a stall for time to flesh out his BATNA.
In those efforts he spent two days campaigning his messagr to support our players to quiet vitriol for the decision.
This was all prior to BK's news being broken and making his stump speeches sound hollow.
Antone Davis has also resigned amidst all of this, and appears to have had broad support from players and parents. That may have been coincidental but it raises further questions on the player treatment and culture Currie has just campaigned for.
This puts pressure on Currie to expedite his timeline and oust Butch sooner or face negative PR from inaction and acceptance.
Ousting Butch now would cost more money that Currie would need to raise, or force him to face an onslaught of negative press as a new AD. I believe that is actually the pressure he was trying to avoid when he made these moves that backfired.
Both factors diminish Curries ability to negotiate a BATNA that supersedes the one already presented. They also exacerbate Curries need for cash that Boosters have threatened to withhold.
Currie's opportunity cost to stall for more time have essentially gone to zero unless he wants to ruin his career trying.
That's a great analysis IMO. The real question is what is the key driver behind needing to negotiate the BATNA. Logic presumes he would be able to cut ties with Butch immediately without recourse. For some reason, unbeknownst to us, that isn't necessarily the best option for him. And it's truly baffling why that's the case.
The opportunity cost of letting Butch go is still less than the opportunity cost of firing him immediately.
But
why?
(Note: speculation follows): Potentially something tied up in the renegotiated contract that relieves Butch of his duties at the end of the year. We won't get access to that, but since Sexton was his agent during the renegotiations (presumed to be post-Georgia), there could be a clause that if Butch is fired prior to the end of the season, he is owed the full buyout and there may be limited termination for cause language. However, I don't think it has to do with money. Duck mentioned earlier in the day it wasn't about money.
And note that Currie is essentially a puppet, so I'm not necessarily talking about him, but in who is pulling his strings most vigorously. My assumption is Haslam (who was influential in Currie being hired and is indebted to him), but I do not have factual evidence to back that up. Boosters are in line and will pay the buyout, as well as provide funding for the new coach.
We've heard that it's a different group of boosters leading the charge this time around. The situation is about leverage, and maybe this is Haslam's attempt to rectify the coup, so to speak. Currie may very well want to terminate Butch immediately, but is unable to without Haslam's approval. This move pits the Haslams up against the rest of the boosters in an ultimate pissing contest for control - at the expense of the players' health and Currie's best wishes and logical thinking.
Ultimately, there's something very interesting going on behind the scenes that would force Currie to have to weigh options that logically aren't economically equivalent.
tl;dr: Great post, I concur.