Brown to Interview at St Bonaventure

[soup]

Iona is a more high profile job than Siena, UAlbany and SBU.

 

NYC media and the recruiting base that opens being located in southern Westchester.

 

Also, Iona was willing to open up the checkbook 6 years ago and pay Ruland $350k per year. Siena is barely paying $200k now and UAlbany is paying $160k.

 

However, Siena and UAlbany are better preps for a step up to a big time job given the daily media attention. 5 or 6 newspapers, 5 or 6 tv stations.

[Clickclack]

Some information I've been able to gather.

 

Will Brown wants more money than the $200k McCaffery is getting from Siena. McCaffery came to Siena with a base of $125k, his extras had him just below $150k his first year. Along came Penn, and Siena gave McCaffery a $50k raise from the $125k base - so he now sits at just about $200k ($175k base + extras). Although I'm hearing he's going to be given a raise at the end of Siena's fiscal year of $10k - $15k.

 

Brown has made it clear he wants to be the highest paid coach in town - given the back-to-back titles. Everything has gone exactly to Brown's plan - UA gets to the dance and he gets a high mid-major offer almost immediately.

 

I've heard that Brown also wants a two-year extension out of Albany and total compensation of $225k, with a serious increase in his incentives.

 

 

As a fan, I would want our coach to make more than LCC's coach (then again, that's easy for me to say as I do not control the fiscal purse; on the other hand, I would like to see pay increases for many of our faculty at our four university centers (to wit, UAlbany, Bingo, SB, and Buffalo (well, maybe not Bingo)), especially in the humanities and social sciences, as I think their work and research goes too often underappreciated). Back to hoops --- and given the fact that we're talking about Brown and that we as a fan base admire him for what he's done for the school and for the quality person that he appears to be --- I would hope that our school can reward Coach accordingly. There is something to be said for stability too in our head coaching position. Assuming the foregoing contract renegotiating points are what Brown is indeed looking for, I think that, to that end, they are reasonable. Even if Brown wasn't our coach right now, I would still want our coach to make more than LCC's coach! What is everyone else's thoughts on this and Brown's rumored requests/desires?

 

Also, how is Iona a step up from either UAlbany or St. Bonaventure? While we can debate whether St. B. or UA is a better fit, I don't see what Iona's argument would be? Can someone spell out the argument for me because I can't?

 

Folks,

 

I don't think is appropriate to discuss dollars and cents here since we don't know what his demands are if any.

 

soup is a Siena fan who has many a times come up with false information, ask any Siena fan who has spoken to him. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

 

Why is it that the entire Siena community is all over this like stink on crap. Supposedly all we talk about is Siena but it's been dominant topic of discussion on their board for days now. This uncertainty is no doubt elevating the blood pressure of many here I'm just not sure what vested interest the Siena community has in this.

[soup]

Some information I've been able to gather.

 

Will Brown wants more money than the $200k McCaffery is getting from Siena. McCaffery came to Siena with a base of $125k, his extras had him just below $150k his first year. Along came Penn, and Siena gave McCaffery a $50k raise from the $125k base - so he now sits at just about $200k ($175k base + extras). Although I'm hearing he's going to be given a raise at the end of Siena's fiscal year of $10k - $15k.

 

Brown has made it clear he wants to be the highest paid coach in town - given the back-to-back titles. Everything has gone exactly to Brown's plan - UA gets to the dance and he gets a high mid-major offer almost immediately.

 

I've heard that Brown also wants a two-year extension out of Albany and total compensation of $225k, with a serious increase in his incentives.

 

 

As a fan, I would want our coach to make more than LCC's coach (then again, that's easy for me to say as I do not control the fiscal purse; on the other hand, I would like to see pay increases for many of our faculty at our four university centers (to wit, UAlbany, Bingo, SB, and Buffalo (well, maybe not Bingo)), especially in the humanities and social sciences, as I think their work and research goes too often underappreciated). Back to hoops --- and given the fact that we're talking about Brown and that we as a fan base admire him for what he's done for the school and for the quality person that he appears to be --- I would hope that our school can reward Coach accordingly. There is something to be said for stability too in our head coaching position. Assuming the foregoing contract renegotiating points are what Brown is indeed looking for, I think that, to that end, they are reasonable. Even if Brown wasn't our coach right now, I would still want our coach to make more than LCC's coach! What is everyone else's thoughts on this and Brown's rumored requests/desires?

 

Also, how is Iona a step up from either UAlbany or St. Bonaventure? While we can debate whether St. B. or UA is a better fit, I don't see what Iona's argument would be? Can someone spell out the argument for me because I can't?

 

Folks,

 

I don't think is appropriate to discuss dollars and cents here since we don't know what his demands are if any.

 

soup is a Siena fan who has many a times come up with false information, ask any Siena fan who has spoken to him. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

 

Why is it that the entire Siena community is all over this like stink on crap. Supposedly all we talk about is Siena but it's been dominant topic of discussion on their board for days now. This uncertainty is no doubt elevating the blood pressure of many here I'm just not sure what vested interest the Siena community has in this.

 

 

Care to give any examples?

 

As you know, I am not a part of the Siena message board - and haven't been for a year. They got rid of me when they refused to believe McCaffery was using Penn to get more money out of Siena.

 

All significant Siena information is broken on the MAAC message board.

 

Everyone involved in this at UAlbany knows what Brown wants.

[slickwilly]

Will Brown is in Olean right now--being served a large cup of grape Kool Aid. Will he drink?

 

 

Bona board reporting that Will Brown is on campus and has been offered the job, he has until Monday to decide. Now the million dollar question will McElroy step up to the plate and give Brown a nice raise. My guess is he does.. Now if Will is the front runner for the Iona job,( and I don't think he will be) all bets are off, contrary to what some of you think here, the Iona job is considerably better job than Bona and a step up from the Albany job. Of course if McElroy is smart he puts a buy out clause in the raise to stop Will from even thinking about other mid Major jobs

 

So do you think this means that this could possibly be resolved by Monday? Bona is giving him until Monday to decide. McElroy will most likely offer a raise and try to keep him. So it seems at that point Brown could either A) Take the Bona job B ) Decline Bona job and accept a new UA contract C) Decline Bona, decline new UA offer and continue to persue other options (Iona, etc.)

 

To me option C would seem pretty risky at this point. From what I'm reading the Iona job will have more than a few high quality candidates for the job. Would it be worth it to pass over the sure thing with option A or B for the uncertainty of option C?

 

I don't know. I'm just hoping this gets resolved sooner rather than later whatever the outcome (crossing fingers for option b ).

[Dane Pound]

To be generous they could be talking about it so much because it's St. Bonaventure, to be cynical, they're rooting hard for Will Brown to leave town. It's amazing how interested each side is with each other's message board - Maybe SienaTony and I should just make it easy for everyone and combine the boards.

 

All you can really do in these situations is be patient and see how things play out. Of course it's easier said than done when there are rumors and speculations floating around.

[B9j2j6s]

McElroy is a great AD and knows how the business works. If he thinks its in the best interest for the athletics program to have a coach that has brought us to two NCAA tournaments in the past two years then I look for Brown to accept a new extension on his contract of 200k-250k by Tuesday. If McElroy does not see the need to keep Brown, which given our resources and our competitive nature in other sports I would understand; I think all Dane fans should take comfort that if the worest does happen I know McElroy will find another great up and coming coach. IMO McElroy's knowledge and influence in the world of AD's mixed with our success the past two years can only help attract some great coaching candidates, look at UVM for an example of tournament success resulting in a good hiring. It’s not like we are a eight year D-1 school with minimum success.

[UA_MA_2000]

Will Brown is in Olean right now--being served a large cup of grape Kool Aid. Will he drink?

 

 

Bona board reporting that Will Brown is on campus and has been offered the job, he has until Monday to decide. Now the million dollar question will McElroy step up to the plate and give Brown a nice raise. My guess is he does.. Now if Will is the front runner for the Iona job,( and I don't think he will be) all bets are off, contrary to what some of you think here, the Iona job is considerably better job than Bona and a step up from the Albany job. Of course if McElroy is smart he puts a buy out clause in the raise to stop Will from even thinking about other mid Major jobs

 

So do you think this means that this could possibly be resolved by Monday? Bona is giving him until Monday to decide. McElroy will most likely offer a raise and try to keep him. So it seems at that point Brown could either A) Take the Bona job B ) Decline Bona job and accept a new UA contract C) Decline Bona, decline new UA offer and continue to persue other options (Iona, etc.)

 

To me option C would seem pretty risky at this point. From what I'm reading the Iona job will have more than a few high quality candidates for the job. Would it be worth it to pass over the sure thing with option A or B for the uncertainty of option C?

 

I don't know. I'm just hoping this gets resolved sooner rather than later whatever the outcome (crossing fingers for option b ).

 

 

McElroy is a great AD and knows how the business works. If he thinks its in the best interest for the athletics program to have a coach that has brought us to two NCAA tournaments in the past two years then I look for Brown to accept a new extension on his contract of 200k-250k by Tuesday. If McElroy does not see the need to keep Brown, which given our resources and our competitive nature in other sports I would understand; I think all Dane fans should take comfort that if the worest does happen I know McElroy will find another great up and coming coach. IMO McElroy's knowledge and influence in the world of AD's mixed with our success the past two years can only help attract some great coaching candidates, look at UVM for an example of tournament success resulting in a good hiring. It’s not like we are a eight year D-1 school with minimum success.

 

Good points; in Dr. M., we must trust.

[SienaTony]

Folks,

 

I don't think is appropriate to discuss dollars and cents here since we don't know what his demands are if any.

 

soup is a Siena fan who has many a times come up with false information, ask any Siena fan who has spoken to him. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

 

Why is it that the entire Siena community is all over this like stink on crap. Supposedly all we talk about is Siena but it's been dominant topic of discussion on their board for days now. This uncertainty is no doubt elevating the blood pressure of many here I'm just not sure what vested interest the Siena community has in this.

 

Can’t speak for other Siena fans, but I find it very interesting. Actually I’m rooting for Will Brown, I think he’s a terrific coach

 

Needless to say Soup’s info on Fran’s contract is incorrect. He is getting a 15K boost though that part was right.

 

Also agree about Will Brown using the Bonnies to drive up what he can get from Ualb.. and hey that’s the way the game is played

 

As for all significant info broke on the MAAC board, that’s a joke. Yea info like Fran is lying about leading for Priestly and Jackson , I could go on and on, but no need to really bore you guys, anybody who reads the MAAC board knows Soup has an agenda against Siena fans ..Which should make him popular on this board ;-)

[Big D]

Iona is a more high profile job than Siena, UAlbany and SBU.

 

NYC media and the recruiting base that opens being located in southern Westchester.

 

Also, Iona was willing to open up the checkbook 6 years ago and pay Ruland $350k per year. Siena is barely paying $200k now and UAlbany is paying $160k.

 

However, Siena and UAlbany are better preps for a step up to a big time job given the daily media attention. 5 or 6 newspapers, 5 or 6 tv stations.

 

 

 

 

The Iona job is not a "step up" from the UA job. It was 5 years ago, not anymore. Ruland's salary was the product of his success there, his agent's negotiating skills, and the cost of living in Westchester. Iona has a good hoop tradition, with former coaches (Valvano, Pat Kennedy, Tim Welsh) parlaying success at Iona into big jobs. As for the big city media market, other than Chris Russo of WFAN, the NYC media pays little or no attention to Iona.

 

However, the future of the two programs are very different. Iona will be what it has been... A competitive program in the MAAC, with some good years and the occasional NCAA bid. Iona has a small gym. The Iona administration has no aspirations for the hoop program other than to do well in the MAAC.

 

The mid and long term aspirations of McElroy and others in the UA admin. involve significant growth and expansion (in conference affiliation, resource commitments, and facilities). Whether this growth will be realized soon enough for Will Brown remains to be seen. The UA athletic program is already moving up ...fast. The hoop program is part of the equation, along with football, lacrosse, etc. When you think about the UA program in five or seven years from now (all sports, not just hoop), we will be competing with UMass, Temple, URI ,CAA schools). Staying here gives Will the chance to be part of this growth going forward. If he continues to do well, the BCS job will be there.

 

In the short term, lets hope the parties can work out a restructured deal that gives Will a good raise, with lots of win/win incentives for attendance conf. championships, etc.

[alum73]

Some information I've been able to gather.

 

Will Brown wants more money than the $200k McCaffery is getting from Siena. McCaffery came to Siena with a base of $125k, his extras had him just below $150k his first year. Along came Penn, and Siena gave McCaffery a $50k raise from the $125k base - so he now sits at just about $200k ($175k base + extras). Although I'm hearing he's going to be given a raise at the end of Siena's fiscal year of $10k - $15k.

 

Brown has made it clear he wants to be the highest paid coach in town - given the back-to-back titles. Everything has gone exactly to Brown's plan - UA gets to the dance and he gets a high mid-major offer almost immediately.

 

I've heard that Brown also wants a two-year extension out of Albany and total compensation of $225k, with a serious increase in his incentives.

 

 

As a fan, I would want our coach to make more than LCC's coach (then again, that's easy for me to say as I do not control the fiscal purse; on the other hand, I would like to see pay increases for many of our faculty at our four university centers (to wit, UAlbany, Bingo, SB, and Buffalo (well, maybe not Bingo)), especially in the humanities and social sciences, as I think their work and research goes too often underappreciated). Back to hoops --- and given the fact that we're talking about Brown and that we as a fan base admire him for what he's done for the school and for the quality person that he appears to be --- I would hope that our school can reward Coach accordingly. There is something to be said for stability too in our head coaching position. Assuming the foregoing contract renegotiating points are what Brown is indeed looking for, I think that, to that end, they are reasonable. Even if Brown wasn't our coach right now, I would still want our coach to make more than LCC's coach! What is everyone else's thoughts on this and Brown's rumored requests/desires?

 

Also, how is Iona a step up from either UAlbany or St. Bonaventure? While we can debate whether St. B. or UA is a better fit, I don't see what Iona's argument would be? Can someone spell out the argument for me because I can't?

 

Folks,

 

I don't think is appropriate to discuss dollars and cents here since we don't know what his demands are if any.

 

soup is a Siena fan who has many a times come up with false information, ask any Siena fan who has spoken to him. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt.

 

Why is it that the entire Siena community is all over this like stink on crap. Supposedly all we talk about is Siena but it's been dominant topic of discussion on their board for days now. This uncertainty is no doubt elevating the blood pressure of many here I'm just not sure what vested interest the Siena community has in this.

 

 

Soup is pretty reliable poster, even if the powers on the Siena board don't think so.

[Patch]

I'm amazed that Soup knows so much about what Coach wants. Soup must be very well connected.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. I do believe based on results - two 20 win seasons, 2 AE Tourney Championships and the related 2 NCAA appearances Brown deserves to be the highest paid coach in the Albany area.

 

2. I also believe again based on results he has to have a contract superior to the SUNY coaches in the AE. Comparatively funding and ability to pay is the same at those schools.

 

3. Also based on results he deserves to be paid as well as any coach in the AE. We have been 35-15 in conference over the past 3 seasons, That quite a body of work.

 

Other than that I think Dr. McElroy should hold the line.

 

With all the talk of merit pay. these days, who doesn't think Brown merits the above terms.

 

As Jamar stated (I believe it was Jamar) we proved we are not one hit wonders.

[OrangeDane]

As other have said and I previously said sort of ..before...everyone has to just sit and wait...and..relax...as Doris Day (showing my age now...) sang "que sera sera" --whatever will be, will be..If he really wants to stay here...then I'm sure he'll be accomodated...if however he had decided that is now time to go elsewhere then that's what's gonna happen and it won't matter whether Dr M offers him another 50K or 100K ...and in the end we will be fine because, as someone else said, Will has done what anyone wants to do in the performance of thier job...he has made it a better job then when you took it...we as fans and supporters can't ask for more....we are now a program that players and coaches want to be associated with and i don't think that will end if Will leaves because enhancing atheletics is part of the UA long term plan...look at U-B as member of the MAC and you can see that UA upgrading in time to perhaps the CAA is a modest and acheivable objective.....but folks...hang on be patient and let's just see what happens Monday..everyone and everything will be fine...

[GODANESGO]

I know I'm showing my (lack of) age here, but I have not really been through a situation here at UAlbany where our coach has serious potential for departing for 'other ground.' Flat out, I hope Coach Brown stays here. But, being in the beginning of a job/career search, I know 'want' is not always most important. A raise for Coach Brown, at the level discussed here on this board, is certainly appealing and should definitely merit attention from him.

 

That said, an increase in external interest in our coach should, at least to some extent, merit additional internal interest in our coach (to what dollar figure I could not speculate). Coach Brown has led our program to two conference championships in a row and a higher conference rating than our other local DI coach two out of the past three years. This should be considered.

 

There are certainly a number of competing interests. I believe we have a qualified coaching staff as a whole, and feel some members could replace current leadership, if necessary. On the other hand, Will Brown has been a fundamental part in building this program. He (along with his staff, family, etc) have been an extremely valuable part of the school and the University community as a whole...and I certainly hope they remain part of it.

 

Coach Brown has a professional and personnal obligation to at least listen to the offers from other institutions. I just hope the salary (from a newly structured deal or not), benefits, Albany community, student fans, alumni, potential growth, etc, from the Great Danes will prove to be enough to keep him around for at least a few more years.

 

My season ticket order for next year looks forward to seeing him on the UAlbany sidelines.

[MTS]

Soup is nothing but a Siena hating troll. Believe nothing that he says. He is full of crap and knows nothing about Siena basketball.

[MTS]

Soup is nothing but a Siena hating troll. Believe nothing that he says. He is full of crap and knows nothing about Siena basketball.

 

Soup calling St. Bonnie "high mid-major" is all you need to know about the guy. Butler, So. IIIinois, Creighton are HIGH MID-MAJOR. SBU is bordering on low-major.

 

McCaffery is making around 250K.