Could Billy have handled his secret job offer any worse?
It was hard to envision how after All American Season 5 Episode 9.
It was OK for Billy to be shocked when his old teammate, AD Barnes, surprised him with the GAU head-coaching job offer back on All American Season 5 Episode 7.
But it’s been a while now. And, sure, it’s a tricky decision for Billy. He’s always wanted to coach at the college level, and this job just landed in his lap.
But Billy needed to ask more questions, just like the NCAA will be. Such as who all knew what and when did they know it? What particular challenges would he be facing thanks to an ongoing NCAA inquiry? What range of penalties could GAU be facing?
But no, Billy just saw the upside of being able to coach his two “sons,” Jordan and Spencer, at the next level. Wouldn’t they both be so excited about that possibility?
Well, Billy will never know the answer to that question since he’s only mentioned the job offer to one of them. Unfortunately, he chose to reveal it to the one incapable of keeping a secret: Jordan.
It was understandable why he was hesitant to tell Spencer. Spencer had sent in Billy to speak with Barnes and campaign for Spencer’s position coach, Coach Kenny, who was already acting as interim coach after the chaos caused by Olivia’s article ensued.
Instead, Barnes saw in Billy a clean candidate with no connection to Bountygate. Billy, the hometown hero, would make for superb optics, always essential amid a scandal.
As soon as he decided to take the position, Billy needed to man up and talk with his new/old star player, Spencer. Yes, it would be an uncomfortable conversation. But Billy could have softened that by promising to keep Kenny on as offensive coordinator, as he had planned.
Instead, as Laura pointed out, Billy just waited too long, putting off the unpleasant confrontation with Spencer. Even worse, he told Jordan, who struggles to keep his mouth shut and lives with Spencer.
Billy had to inform Jordan to keep GAU’s star quarterback from making his planned transfer to Willmont. And naturally, Jordan loved the idea of playing again for his father.
But Jordan had been saddled with too many secrets. Already he was keeping his relationship with Layla a secret. Now he had an ever bigger secret to keep.
Talk about your recipe for disaster. Spencer knew something was up with Jordan, who kept trying to bluff his housemate. Jordan informed Spencer that he decided to stay at GAU even though he couldn’t explain his reason for doing so.
Jordan acting squirrelly was hardly Spencer’s biggest problem. It didn’t even make the top three (NCAA interview, Coach Kenny, Alicia, probably in that order).
To save Kenny, Spencer and Jordan continued to ruin Isaiah’s life by pressuring him to clear the rest of the GAU coaching staff when the NCAA interviewed him.
You have to feel bad for Isaiah. He told the truth twice and what he got for doing so was to be kicked off the team and lose his scholarship. It’s a good thing that Isaiah felt that the truth had set him free because he had little else to show for it.
Spencer did approach Jordan’s good “friend” Layla to see if she knew why Jordan was acting so strangely. Spencer only learned that whatever was affecting Jordan had also infected Layla.
This incident led Spencer to correctly guess the lesser of Jordan’s secrets: that he and Layla were dating. That’s why Jordan decided not to transfer.
Jordan pressured Billy to tell Spencer about his taking the job. Only it was already too late, as AD Barnes spilled the beans to Spencer instead, figuring that Billy had previously told him.
The confrontation that Billy has been avoiding is bound to happen next episode now.
Spencer was off his game mainly because he was trying to determine how he felt about Alicia. After Billy’s roast on All American Season 5 Episode 8, she told him to step up or move on. Nice guy Spencer was still wrestling with those options.
Olivia found herself in much the same position. At Billy’s roast, she had convinced herself that her workmate Noah was dating material. News flash: he’s not. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong with Noah. He’s just not Spencer.
The couples’ powerless dates should have been enough to drive home the point that neither Spencer nor Olivia was ready to date. Too bad neither of them exactly picked up on that.
Alicia bared her soul to Spencer to explain the ultimatum she had laid on him. His response was, “It’s not you. It’s me.”
Then, after Spencer walked in on the end of Olivia and Noah’s low-energy dinner date, he somehow decided that Olivia had moved on and he should try to as well, so he asked Alicia for yet another chance.
At least Olivia recognized the error of her ways, turning her friend Noah into a rebound guy, and resolved to redouble her efforts to win back Spencer.
So that’s a love triangle forming, with Noah the odd man out.
Is another triangle in the works now that Coop’s girl Skye and Patience have become social-media buddies?
To revisit Bountygate, watch All American online.
After an awful start, can Billy salvage the GAU program?
What does it say when Jordan and Layla are the most solid couple currently?
Will Spencer and Olivia reunite?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.