CNBC breakdown of the top 10 highest paid coaches – BB

[palos_verdes_ute]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/08/the-10-highest-paid-ncaa-basketball-coaches.html

If you look at the list, one coach just doesn’t seem to fit in with the others.  Not a household name.  I know there are gripes about his salary is none of our business – but it’s tax payers dollars.  

[Staples]

If we’re judging this by name recognition, in a million years I couldn’t have identified Chris Holtmann.

[Stone]

On the positive side, it demonstrates how committed the U is to its hoops program. 

On the negative side, you would expect a coach that is getting a top 10 salary to have his team in the NCAA tourney nearly every year (with a few NITs mixed in during abysmal years). Judging by the LSU, Arizona, and USC pay-for-play situtations, it sounds like most top hoop programs are simply paying the players…perhaps Coach K is one of the few coaches running a clean program and is at a disadvantage in that regard. If so, bravo (I guess). If not, I think fans are somewhat justified in being disappointed to only have 2 NCAA tourney appearances in 8 years (assuming Utah does not make it this year).

[Stone]

One gripe with Larry is player turnover. I don’t think that is a big issue. If the team was in the NCAA tourney at least 50% of the time, I do not think anyone would care about player turnover. We just want to be dancing regularly. 

One positive about Larry is that his teams improve during the season and exceed predictions from media and prognosticators. The problem with this metric is that predictions are nearly always so low that it is not all that satisfying when a team predicted to be 8th exceeds predictions and ends up 3rd. It is frustrating to fans when the school makes a huge financial commitment to a program (coach salary and facilities) and the results do not follow.

I think Larry’s only reasonable excuse is that he runs a clean program and has been at a disadvantage against the other pay-for-play schools. A perfectly valid and acceptable excuse. The other defenses are not very compelling.

[snommismr]

Some interesting facts from that list:

Archie Miller – Indiana  –  Bubble team, currently first team out of tournament in ESPN bracketology

Bob Huggins – WVU – Last place in big 12.  possibly might get into CBI.

Sean Miller – Arizona – Finished behind us in PAC-12, might be going to jail

Chris Holtman – tOSU – Bubble team, currently last team in tournament in ESPN bracketology.

So half of the coaches on the list either don’t have their team making the tournament, or at best, barely getting in.  Maybe you just shouldn’t pay your coach that much, period. 

Also, don’t hire a Miller brother.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I’m glad you mentioned this. With the disparity in how much different schools are paying their players (and yes, I’m being totally serious), it’s hard to compare coaches in an apples-to-apples way.

Is Sean Miller a better coach than LK? When he was paying his players $100k a piece, it sure looked that way. Today I’m not so sure.

Not saying LK is a great coach or not…just saying that comparing him to other coaches when we don’t know who is paying how much for players isn’t totally fair.

[Stone]

This is interesting. Fans should definitely be realistic and not overreact to a bad season here or there. That stuff happens to all but the most elite programs. Utah is a bit beyond that now. Not saying Utah is terrible–Coach K always has them respectable. But my expectation is that Utah should be dancing at least 2 out of every 3 years (66% of the time). Right now, the percentage during Coach K’s tenure is closer to 25% of the time. 

Archie Miller: only in second year at Indiana. If he misses this year and next, that will be a 3 year drought, and considering IU’s focus on hoops, he probably should be fired absent extenuating circumstances.

Huggins: really bad year, but was dancing the four previous years (including 3 sweet 16 appearances). I am fine with a bad year now and again. Based on his history of appearances in the tourney, I would not fire him unless he missed the tourney for three more years (four years in a row).

Sean Miller: well, I would just fire him because I do not like him. But he has made the tourney 7 of 10 years and advanced deep in tourney many times. From a performance standpoint, he has earned his salary.

Holtman: this is only his second year at OSU. Made the tourney last year, might miss it this year. If he goes on a 3-year tourney drought, then yeah, he should probably be fired.