In professional and collegiate sports, it's referred to as the "coaching carousel": Each year, losing sporting organizations unceremoniously fire their head coaches. Words such as "disappointing" and "change" and "new direction" are bandied about.

Weeks or even days later, some of those same discarded coaches are ceremoniously introduced as the new coach of another (losing) team in need of change. Words such as "experienced" and "track record" and "good fit" are tossed around.The platitudes flow freely-whether based on any semblance of reality, or not. New strategies and schemes are announced to generate excitement among the loyal fan base.