Role of athletics

[reeder]

Let's assume that the $275k is matched for Coach Brown.

 

What does Coach Marr deserve for having a Lacrosse team ranked number 2 in the country? What if he wins a national championship? I think he made the tournament in 3 of the last 4 years. People are excited about being on ESPNU for the bracketbusters - Lacrosse was on ESPNU against Hopkins and won.

 

What does Coach Cannata the softball coach deserve - she has made the tournament in each of the last two years?

 

How about Coach Sheffield - he has gone to the tournament in two of the last three years and has won the regular season championship in each of the last three years.

 

Let's not forget coach Ford - he recruits kids to undoubtedly the worst facilities in the conference and he was ranked at one point last year and beat Delaware at Delaware.

 

Coach Vives wins a lot of championships as well. He certainly deserves a raise.

 

IMO, this is a huge decision for McElroy and the administration- maybe the escalating salaries in the conference will lead here anyway.

 

From McElroy's perspective, this may be much bigger than Coach Brown, it may be about the role of athletics at the university.

[Patch]

Great Post!!!!

 

The moral of the story is "be careful what you wish for".

 

When the University made the comittment to go DI and the comittment to be successful at the DI level a caveat that came with it which was - success come with an awesome price tag .

 

It's great that we have developed as planned and have accumulated such outstanding coaches. Each of them deserves to be paid well according to their counterparts in the AE and at similar levels in DI for their sports. If they are not their options are to live under their current contract or seek other employment. The university will have the option to "match up" and retain them or allow them to leave

 

That's the nature of DI athletics with success comes a price tag, that was known from day 1 of our DI adventure into the DI level.

[ATL_DANE]

It's simple supply and demand folks. You have to pay what the market will bare or else get out of the business. Athletics is an important competitive advantage for a university. It's a huge marketing tool for prospective students and faculty. The university needs to offer the same experience as it's peers. A lot of folks given a choice between SUNY X and Florida or Michigan will choose the latter. Athletics builds the alumni base, professional networking, school donations and interest in the school.

 

To the point about the other coaches, are they deserving... of course. That's not the point. Why should a stockbroker make more than a teacher? I don't know. Maybe it's not fair but the reality is if your going to operate an investment house and you expect to have competent brokers then you damn well better pay them... or get out of the business. Basketball is a much more popular sport and therefore coaches can command more pay. It’s not fair but life isn't fair.

 

If we're debating this on a sports board, where you would expect to find sports oriented people, that doesn't bode well for the university. I would expect the average person on the street would be less sports oriented than a poster to this board.

 

We're a mid sized state university in a large and rich state. Our competitors are Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, UConn... it's not St Francis or Duchess Community College. That may be shocking to some.

 

I usually leave these sorts of debates to the academic elitists who look down on athletics.