I've said many times before on this board that I have a friend who works for the GTAA. He has never led me wrong. When we were talking shortly after the hire, I expressed my dismay for the 7 year contract. I was assured that even GT did not want to offer a 7 year contract, but EVERY candidate that showed serious interest demanded between 7-8 years based on the understanding that they would likely have to undergo several losing seasons in order to churn the roster and get us back to winning football. The reality is that without a long contract, we would have hamstrung the new coach to the point where they couldn't rebuild the program. I don't like it any more than you do, but IIWII. Collins and his agents demanded a long contract. You can listen to all his talk about coming home and dream job and think maybe, just maybe, he'd have taken 5, but he wouldn't. Remember, this is the same man who continually calls us "elite." We had no leverage to get a shorter contract or a lessened buyout.