Erik Bakich Offered New 5-Year Deal to Stay
Latest on Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich, reportedly slated to interview at South Carolina and perhaps in the mix for the Stanford job: Warde Manuel has offered him a new five-year contract to keep him in Ann Arbor (terms undisclosed):
“I love Erik and want him to stay here, but people have to make choices they want to make,” Manuel said Tuesday. “I hope he stays. He’s done a terrific job at Michigan. We have been talking about him returning for a few months now. He has those terms and everything we put on the table. This was the last year of a five-year deal, and we offered him another five-year deal to stay. He’s doing a great job.”
Take this for what it's worth, but South Carolina fans have talked about being able to easily double Bakich's current salary. His base pay in 2016-17 (the final year of his original five-year contract) was $182,000.
The article linked above also notes that a new contract is being worked on for softball coach Carol Hutchins.
Yeah I'm gonna guess WM sweetened the pot substantially for Bakich. Gamecocks can suck it!
Bakich was hired away from Maryland, where his base pay was only a little over $100K, so he got a substantial raise when he came to Ann Arbor. He's also getting about $90K in other compensation from Michigan, although that $272K total is significantly lower than what his predecessor (Rich Maloney) was making in total compensation ($349K).
Kinda the problem with baseball up here. It's huge down at USC. I'm sure they could afford to double it because I'm guessing baseball makes a profit down there. Can't imagine we do here.
It's not really about baseball turning a profit, it's the fact that most SEC schools like USC have about half as many sports to support as most B1G schools. Michigan's AD is one of the richest in the country but they have 31 varsity sports to support. USC doesn't have anywhere close to that many.
I hope he stays because he's done a really nice job with the baseball team. Good to see Warde step up with a raise.
No but it's a fairly safe assumption.
Well, those rumors also said that the next step was to go after two coaches that are worth more money and pay them accordingly. They probably wanted Marquette's coach to come in and earn his money with significant bonuses and raises for winning, which he didn't want to do because he knows he can go somewhere else and get guaranteed money. If they are going after better coaches, the plan has to be to pay them more.
I'm sure a raise has been offered, but the question is how much. I may be reading too much into it, but that quote from Manuel makes it sound like Michigan's offer has been on the table for some time. Maybe the deal needs to be sweetened now that Bakich seems like a serious candidate for at least one other job.
USC supports 19 varsity teams and Michigan supports 27. OSU (39) and PSU (31) support more than Michigan, while teams like MSU (25) and Wisconsin (23) support fewer.
Baseball is bigger in the south, and they pay for their coaches to be competitive, much like Mel is the third-highest paid coach at Michigan and Red was, I think, 4th. Michigan's AD makes a lot of money, but I do wonder if they view baseball as a keystone of their athletic department the way southern teams do.
Baseball is a warm weather sport. Unlike teams in the west coast and the south, U-M spends its first month on the road. It plays the last month of its schedule after classes have ended and most undergrads have left campus for the summer.
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-basebl/sched/mich-m-basebl-sched.html
I'm aware of that. I was just pointing out that it's not like the teams are just football, basketball, baseball and nothing else. They have just decided that baseball is a sport that they can support and get a good return on in terms of student involvement.
Ray Fisher could use a facelift as well. I know they renovated about a decade ago, but with some of the stadiums going up around the country we are still way behind.
Michigan should strive for excellence in all of the main sports and be willing to dish out the required dough in order to do so. We have the money and resources. Lets become a baseball powerhouse.
Not entirely sure what this means for Bakich regarding South Carolina, but:
Erik Bakich did not interview at South Carolina over the weekend. That is a completely false report. https://t.co/M8vAwZT1g0
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersD1) June 14, 2017
So does this mean he's not interviewing there at all? Or that the interview is coming up?
FWIW, Kendall Rogers has mentioned Bakich more than once in connection with the Stanford job.
EDIT: Later from Rogers:
I’ll have another update soon, I think. Still think Gamecocks will try to snag Sully. Believe that when I see it. Watch for Josh Holliday. https://t.co/xyxr676r5g
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersD1) June 14, 2017