I was talking about the same style of evergreen contract that was given Hitchcock when he was here. Seeing as he was neither very young or very unproven, I will chalk up your response as ill-informed. Seeing as it the contract Howson gave Hitch (and the type of contract Howson had himself), I would think you of all people would be a proponent of them.
Hitchcock was hired when MacLean was still around; Howson had nothing to do with it. And at that point, with Philadelphia looking to have collapsed completely in a short period of time, there were plenty of questions about whether Hitchcock would get another job at all, let alone when and where. Yes, he absolutely did have to re-prove himself.
Other GM candidates at the time of Howson's hiring were Bob Murray, who'd been a GM basically in name only 8 years prior (with Bob Pulford looking over his shoulder); Neil Smith, who hadn't been a GM in 10 years; I think Les Jackson, who'd never been a GM; and the two internal candidates of Jim Clark and Don Boyd, who'd also never been GMs. There weren't any guys who were universally regarded as rising stars like Jim Nill was. In addition, the reports were that Murray was going to be offered the job and then abruptly withdrew his name from consideration. Why?
Third, the idea that I simply blindly follow anyone or anything, or that I would blindly defend anyone or anything is absurd.
I don't see how it causes instability. Unlike 1-year extensions, the coach doesn't have to go through the process of negotiating each year and is guaranteed over a year in severance no matter when he is fired. Even if the CBJ give Richards a 4-year extension tomorrow, we all know that if the team goes through a massive slump next year like what happened at the end of Hitch's tenure, it's a good bet that he's fired. So, the evergreen contract also protects the club from having to swallow 3 years of salary in a worst-case scenario.
Yes, it protects the club in a big way by giving them more flexibility and limiting their lame-duck payouts. Most coaches would prefer the additional stability of a guaranteed multi-year contract, besides the fact that one-year extensions normally get tacked on before the contract is actually close to being up.
Most coaches aren't terribly concerned about the payday; they take on a job and want to see it through. An evergreen contract means that it only takes one extended slump to be out the door; a multi-year deals means that they're much more likely to be allowed to work through it.
