OT - SI reporting Shaka Smart to stay at VCU until 2023
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20130327/vcu-s…
It doesn't really surprise me that he stayed, but that's quite a long contract. VCU should remain fairly relevant as long as he's around. The search continues for Minny and UCLA.
I guess, if maximizing income is your primary goal. But for some people the utility of the 7th million isn't anywhere close to the utility of the first.
Maybe he's already making enough to live, and retire into, the lifestyle he wants? I'm guessing he has other things on his mind than short-term salary: job security, long-term career path. Maybe even loyalty.
Not calling you a liar, but I would seriously doubt any report that the Gophers would pony up $7 million/yr for a basketball coach. That's $1.7 million more than Saban makes at 'Bama.
tied for highest in the NBA for 2011-12 (Rivers) and a million dollars more than the Spurs pay Popovich and D'Antoni got paid with the Knicks. It's also $3m more than the current highest paid college coach (Calapari) and double what Izzo gets paid.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^
March 27th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^
Thats still double what he's making now.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:37 PM ^
Minnesota changed ADs last summer. The previous AD, for some reason, decided to extend Smith's contract right before he left.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^
Staying around that long would be foolish. I'm a UT graduate, so we saw this with "Toledo" Tom Amstuz. He was the coach when Toledo was taking all commers in the late 90's. Beating #9 Pitt. The original potential BCS buster, etc. Everyone had him set as the next big MAC coach to move on up. He refused. Told everyone he was a UT man.
Then his star recruiting classes graduated, his luck ran a little dry, and suddenly he wasn't wanted to move up anymore. Now, he's a fundraiser and ticket hawker with UT, a job they gave him basically out of guilt.
March 27th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
Great coach stays at a small program, won't be long till it's not a small basketball program anymore. If Stevens stays at Butler, too, then both programs will be drawing better talent soon, since NBA teams value tourney performance so highly.
March 27th, 2013 at 11:32 PM ^
March 28th, 2013 at 12:24 AM ^
March 28th, 2013 at 12:30 AM ^
Really glad to hear this. I've become a fan of him and VCU, they have an awesome thing going, teams like VCU are what college basketball is all about.
If Shaka is as Smart as his name suggests, there's not way he's at VCU for ten more years. He should have been on the first flight to Westwood.
If I were Smart or Brad Stevens, I wouldn't leave my current situation unless one of the truly elite programs (IU, UNC, UK, etc.) offered me a job.
Not that I disagree with the general idea of what you are saying, but wouldn't UCLA qualify as a truly elite program?
I would put them up there, but maybe Smart jsut didn't feel comfortable with the move. I should've been more specific. I wouldn't leave unless it was an ideal situation, i.e. an elite program that I'm comfortable with from a personal standpoint.
A traditional power that's down on it's luck? Crean taking over Indiana for example. Who would want to be the guy to follow Coach K? You can't help but do worse, wait for the faithful to get restless, and push you out the door. It's like being the guy who followed Dean Smith. I don't think Roy is quite up there, but still a tough act to follow. I'd say UCLA is a great spot, except they just fired a guy who went to 3 Final Fours. And other reasons, but it does reflect the expectations there....a good part of the fanbase still thinks they can do it like Wooden did with Alcindor at center. They're not going to win a half dozen in a row again.
I also wondered about maybe Louisville or Syracuse. Pitino and Boeheim(misspelled?) are both getting older, and they are 2 programs that have been strong the last decade.
I wonder how much of the "grooming a replacement" really goes on. I seem to remember Muschamp being the rumored successor to Mack Brown. And Schiano was rumored to be tagged for Penn State.
I was just saying that "I" would take the money, but I wouldn't want to be the next coach at Duke if I had any dreams of a nice long career at my next stop.
Depending on how Pitino's son does at FIU, which I think was fairly successful in year one, I think the plan Pitino has in mind is to hand the program down to his son. I'm sure their AD, Jurich, will do a fine job locating a coach. He's turned around U of L football, baseball, Softball, Women's Basketball, and Men's soccer. Outside of football, all have competed for a national title in their respective sports within the last four years.
March 28th, 2013 at 12:00 PM ^
Yep, look at Gonzaga for a contrast in two approaches to a coaching career. Dan Monson has two excellent seasons at Gonzaga culminating in an Elite 8 run in 99. He leaves for the Minnesota job which is a mediocre major conference job in general and a total dumpster fire after Clem Haskins' shenanigans. He does OK and gets to just 1 NCAA tourney and quits/gets canned after 7 years. Now at Long Beach State and no one is talking about Dan Monson as a hot coach.
On the other hand, Mark Few follows him up at Gonzaga and has similar success but continues to stay at the school. And while they have come up a little short in the NCAAs lately, they continue to have a ton of success overall. Plus they have enough of a rep now that they can get games like Oklahoma, Butler, Illinois, WVU, Clemson, Baylor, OK State that help keep them on TV and in the spotlight. He can win 30 games a year. They've been to the tourney 14 straight years which is a longer streak than anyone but Duke, Kansas and MSU. His total compensation is less than it would be at say Indiana but he is still making around 1 million/year. And he could still jump to a major job at another school if he really wanted to.
I think increasingly you see other coaches at these other schools trying to do the same thing. Not everyone, but some. A place like Kansas will always get great coaches but the gap between a school like Illinois or Minnesota to that of a Butler or a VCU is smaller now. More parity in talent, more TV programming to fill with mid-major teams and more TV money to pay mid-major coaches. Really this is sort of the Jerry Tarkanian UNLV model which is that if you can establish yourself, prove that you can repeat success at small conference schools and build up enough of a brand w/ recognition then you can have sustainable success outside of the major conference schools. There is still good money, way more job security, less pressure and easier competition. Makes Butler or VCU or Gonzaga more of a possible destination than a stepping stone.
Did he eat the forbidden donut or something?