[Mick]

Turley was definitely a linchpin of the program.  His departure was a tremendous loss.  That said, since I do not know what happened, I cannot judge whether his termination was justified (or whether it was a pure overreaction on the part of the university).  Suffice it to say: his absence has been felt, and Colorado is likely to become a whole lot tougher.

I agree with this completely.

We can be sure that Colorado vetted the reason for his termination at Stanford and was comfortable hiring him. This probably falls into one of those many grey areas where the current employer had to terminate, or risk being seen as unresponsive to the complaint (and subsequent lawsuits, etc.), but the next employer could be comfortable giving him another shot.

I wouldn't assume it was a super minor offense.  It took Turley two years to land somewhere else, despite his sterling credentials.  Most people in these situations deserve another shot, just not with the same employer.

I have a good friend in my business who was terminated from his position as head of sales for a very prominent law firm.  In his only full year with the firm, they had their best annual growth in the last two decades.  And they let him go for a Turley-ish reason, if I understand the nature of Turley's departure.

Interesting guy, this friend of mine.  For his entire career, he's bulldozed barriers to sales within his firms.  Most recently, he left a firm that he'd been with for a bit less than a decade.  Their growth rate was reduced to about 1/4th of the average he produced during his tenure.  But he irritated the wrong partner.  He calculated that letting him go cost his prior firm about $11 million annually.  Now he's with a new firm, a second-tier national firm.  In his first full year with this firm, they are having the most significant growth in the century-plus history of their firm, more than double the growth rate of their next best firm.  Somewhat cynically, he's wondering when he'll be let go.  Seems to be a pattern.

[Mick]

Turley was definitely a linchpin of the program.  His departure was a tremendous loss.  That said, since I do not know what happened, I cannot judge whether his termination was justified (or whether it was a pure overreaction on the part of the university).  Suffice it to say: his absence has been felt, and Colorado is likely to become a whole lot tougher.

I agree with this completely.

We can be sure that Colorado vetted the reason for his termination at Stanford and was comfortable hiring him. This probably falls into one of those many grey areas where the current employer had to terminate, or risk being seen as unresponsive to the complaint (and subsequent lawsuits, etc.), but the next employer could be comfortable giving him another shot.

I wouldn't assume it was a super minor offense.  It took Turley two years to land somewhere else, despite his sterling credentials.  Most people in these situations deserve another shot, just not with the same employer.

I have a good friend in my business who was terminated from his position as head of sales for a very prominent law firm.  In his only full year with the firm, they had their best annual growth in the last two decades.  And they let him go for a Turley-ish reason, if I understand the nature of Turley's departure.

Interesting guy, this friend of mine.  For his entire career, he's bulldozed barriers to sales within his firms.  Most recently, he left a firm that he'd been with for a bit less than a decade.  Their growth rate was reduced to about 1/4th of the average he produced during his tenure.  But he irritated the wrong partner.  He calculated that letting him go cost his prior firm about $11 million annually.  Now he's with a new firm, a second-tier national firm.  In his first full year with this firm, they are having the most significant growth in the century-plus history of their firm, more than double the growth rate of their next best firm.  Somewhat cynically, he's wondering when he'll be let go.  Seems to be a pattern.