So Dana calls and says he will take the deal Lyons offered him 2 weeks ago. Does that mean Lyons wouldn't take him up on it because "negotiations are over?" Negotiations are never over until the existing contract is done, unless there is some preset date in the contract that states a new deal must be reached by a certain date in order to satisfy that contract. So we've established you don't do trial law. Apparently you don't do contract law either.
You made some liberties with my stance on what Dana needs to do, but if that is the limit to which you understand what I meant...then yes you kind of have a grasp of it. Congrats. Sometimes you exchange short term rewards for long term stability. Either that or he gets 4 mil after getting fired in late 2016/early 2017 and settling for a contract likely 1/4-1/3 of what he is making now when he can only get an OC job or a mid-major HC job.
If he's as good as he thinks he is, then you make a bet on yourself and the team you put around you. You improve the product (WVU football) over the next couple years (insist that 2017 would need to be guaranteed employment short of doing something illegal) and improve your value in the open market. However, if he thinks this is the best he is capable of then he probably should just take what's in front of him and wait for the inevitable.
To be clear I'm all for a change....I think it's time. But I give Dana credit.....he made the smart play here. He knows he is done at WVU. He knows any deal/extension at this point would be for show....so he's going to protect what is due him. IMO DH is auditioning for his next job in 2016....not a WVU extension.