I work in a business where movement is the norm.  Radio is a transient business, those of us not named Stern, Limbaugh or Savage  are all looking for a better gig and a better pay day.  That's natural in a business that is much like the coaching profession.  The bigger the market, the bigger the reward if you succeed.

I've always been fairly careful about where I've applied and I've been secretive about it as well.  There are a lot of broadcast companies that will take you out the minute they find out you are looking (it happened to me once.)  You can imagine what happens if that happens.  Then, you have no job at all, which, in this economy is not a good thing.

This morning, I read an article on how a Tampa newspaper made a pubic records request to find out who applied for the USF head coaching job.  The request was granted and the paper gleefully printed the names of all of the coaches who sent in their resumes or who spoke with the university about the position.  I found this wrong on many levels.

If you are not the guy who gets hired it hurts your program.  Other coaches pick up on this and tell recruits that coach so and so from such and such university wants to leave and won't be there when you arrive on campus.  Or, the position coach you are looking forward to playing for won't be there.  Or there are problems at that university.

Now, you may say, if the coach didn't apply in the first place, none of this would be an issue, but if you are coaching in the Sunbelt Conference, it is perfectly natural to want to move up to C-USA or the ACC or the Big East.  It is perfectly natural to want to work for a school with a bigger athletic budget and better facilities. Many coaches names are submitted by agents or others working on the coach's behalf. Ironically, the man who got the job, Skip Holtz, was contacted by university officials and not the other way around. 

I am a firm believer that all inquiries and negotiations between a potential employer and employee should be kept confidential.  Sure, you can release the diversity numbers if you want, but with names redacted.  It's not fair to anyone and it discourages the process for names to be released in an employment situation.

The dirty little secret of hiring someone for a high profile position, someone always has a list (I used to call mine "the usual suspects" from a line in the movie Casablanca.)   You go through the list first, hoping someone on it will take the opportunity.  If that fails, you call around to trusted friends and colleagues and ask for names.  If that fails, then you actually look at applicants.  So, all those coaches and agents faxing resumes are pretty much pissing down a well unless something goes very wrong with the search.  Some of them are just hoping to get an interview to get their name out so when one of those trusted friends and colleagues calls South Florida, someone can say "well, I talked to coach so and so during our search and he's pretty impressive."

The bottom line is, anyone applying for a job that already has one should be able to protect their privacy which is greater than the public's need to know.