Hypothetical Basketball Coach Question

[Go Budaw]

Sitting here and watching the B1G semifinal game between Purdue and Wisconsin. Unranked Purdue is currently outplaying and outcoaching the #6 team in the country with a potential POY candidate. It got me to thinking...what would happen if MSU (assuming a previous dismissal of our incumbant coach) just said 17 it and decided to throw $3 million at a guy like Matt Painter, head coach at a consistently solid but not elite program? And we gave him 3 years guaranteed to right the ship. Would he take the job? Would it be a good move on our part?

Please keep in mind that this is not a question of whether we would pay that much for a basketball coach. Only question is whether or not we could get a coach of that quality for that amount of money.

Fire away.

ETA: Painter currently makes $2.3 million per year at Purdue...just for reference. Also, this post is not necessarily about Painter specifically but more about coaches of his caliber. I'm fully aware Painter is a Purdue former player and will likely never leave for a lateral job.

 

[ronpolk]

A consistently solid but elite program. Sounds familiar.

 

[dawgstudent]

Didn't Ray coach with painter?

 

[Go Budaw]

A consistently solid but elite program. Sounds familiar.

Just FYI, this was not meant to be a Stansbury post, but if somehow Stansbury was still our coach now, he'd be making $3 million too. He was making $2 million when he was fired and assuming an alternate future where he had some moderate success his last 3 years and kept his job, inflation + SECN money + standard raises for keeping up with the Joneses would have him at $3 million right now.

 

[Go Budaw]

Didn't Ray coach with painter?

Yes, from 2006-2010.

 

[8dog]

3 years? Thats ridiculous. Why would that lure anyone?

 

[QuaoarsKing]

If Indiana fires Tom Crean, we should definitely place a call.

I'm not 100% onboard the "Fire Ray" train, but if we can have a good replacement already lined up, I wouldn't object to it.

 

[philduckworth]

You have to find a good coach who is also a great fit. Painter would be a horrible fit at MSU. I would much rather have Michael White.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Doesn't matter, we're a women's basketball school now.

 

[civildawg88]

I would love crean to be our coach. He would be a splash hire for us that would get the fans excited again

 

[Go Budaw]

3 years? Thats ridiculous. Why would that lure anyone?

So you think a new coach needs more than 3 years to get us back to consistent winning basketball? After the 6 godawful years we have just had? Please explain.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

We hired a coach with zero ties to Mississippi or the Deep South.

You have to find a good coach who is also a great fit. Painter would be a horrible fit at MSU. I would much rather have Michael White.

 

[8dog]

my main
Point is regardless of what you or i think no coach is going to take our job with just 3 yrs of assurances. Especially after these last 6 years. And thats not just specific to msu. You would get laughed out of the interview if you said " and matt painter, i will also throw in this --- you get 3 years guaranteed to turn this around". Im laughing just thinking about that.

Stans took us to the tourney in year 4. Can you turn it around in less than 3 years? Yes. But its nevr certain.

 

[philduckworth]

my main
Point is regardless of what you or i think no coach is going to take our job with just 3 yrs of assurances. Especially after these last 6 years. And thats not just specific to msu. You would get laughed out of the interview if you said " and matt painter, i will also throw in this --- you get 3 years guaranteed to turn this around". Im laughing just thinking about that.

Stans took us to the tourney in year 4. Can you turn it around in less than 3 years? Yes. But its nevr certain.

Hell, we gave Ray 4 years and handshake promise for 5.

 

[Bulldogg31]

my main
Point is regardless of what you or i think no coach is going to take our job with just 3 yrs of assurances. Especially after these last 6 years. And thats not just specific to msu. You would get laughed out of the interview if you said " and matt painter, i will also throw in this --- you get 3 years guaranteed to turn this around". Im laughing just thinking about that.

Stans took us to the tourney in year 4. Can you turn it around in less than 3 years? Yes. But its nevr certain.

Pretty sure anyone you hire gets a four-year deal. That's the max allowed in Mississippi and any less shows a lack of confidence.

 

[philduckworth]

We hired a coach with zero ties to Mississippi or the Deep South.

I know and how's that working out?

We need a coach with recruiting connections in the south. He needs to know the AAU circuit down here. And it's a different kind of ball player down here. It just is. You need to have a system that caters to the players we are going to recruit. We can't play like Purdue or Virginia. That's another problem I have with Ray. I hate our style on offense.

 

[philduckworth]

Pretty sure anyone you hire gets a four-year deal. That's the max allowed in Mississippi and any less shows a lack of confidence.

I think he knows that. He was making the point Budaw.

 

[Go Budaw]

I think he knows that. He was making the point Budaw.

Well obviously the contract would be 4 years, and I wouldn't expect us to offer any "guaranteed" number of years specifically in the interview. Sorry if that point was misconstrued. What I was mainly saying is that we implicitly give the new guy 3 years to show tangible year over year improvement in the win column (something Ray currently has not done, obviously). This may have us in the tourney or maybe only the NIT, but either way I think the 3 years is a long enough sample size to see where we are compared to now.

Anyway, the real question is could we get a proven Power 5 coach (or even a proven high mid major coach) for that amount of money? I think we could. But the number everyone keeps on throwing around seems to be $2 million which is on the low side of what a lot of the more proven coaches are making these days. I think if Ray is gone after next year, and we're serious about fixing the program then we might have to spend a little bit to do it.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Well obviously the contract would be 4 years, and I wouldn't expect us to offer any "guaranteed" number of years specifically in the interview. Sorry if that point was misconstrued. What I was mainly saying is that we implicitly give the new guy 3 years to show tangible year over year improvement in the win column (something Ray currently has not done, obviously). This may have us in the tourney or maybe only the NIT, but either way I think the 3 years is a long enough sample size to see where we are compared to now.

Anyway, the real question is could we get a proven Power 5 coach (or even a proven high mid major coach) for that amount of money? I think we could. But the number everyone keeps on throwing around seems to be $2 million which is on the low side of what a lot of the more proven coaches are making these days. I think if Ray is gone after next year, and we're serious about fixing the program then we might have to spend a little bit to do it.

Yep, while we've been mucking around in the slop Big-Time College Hoops has gone off and left us. We're a right mess and it's gonna take a lot of money to get a proven winner, and even then it'll be tough. We missed a huge window of opportunity the past five or six years while the SEC sucked. Blown opportunity.

 

[tcdog70]

Eustacty, kicks all these Yankee young Coaches ***. look aT His numbers. he knows MSU, He's knows the SEC. he knows how to coach and recruit. he is the No Brainer.

 

[Bulldogg31]

Eustacty, kicks all these Yankee young Coaches ***. look aT His numbers. he knows MSU, He's knows the SEC. he knows how to coach and recruit. he is the No Brainer.

Is he the one with the bad hair, or the one partying with sorority girls?

 

[msstate7]

Is he the one with the bad hair, or the one partying with sorority girls?

Both. The bad hair is still around, but it's been 12 years since the isu incident. Eustachy has taken 4 different schools to the dance including usm. If we can get eustachy, we'd be stupid not to imo. He's a winner

 

[KurtRambis4]

With as big

of a **** pile our basketball program is in, a coach having bad hair would be the least of our worries.

 

[tcdog70]

Both. The bad hair is still around, but it's been 12 years since the isu incident. Eustachy has taken 4 different schools to the dance including usm. If we can get eustachy, we'd be stupid not to imo. He's a winner

His Wife played Volley Ball at MSU. I think he would come

 

[Bulldogg31]

of a **** pile our basketball program is in, a coach having bad hair would be the least of our worries.

Agree there, and frankly he can LIVE on sorority row for all I care, just get us back to the tourney. Selection Sunday used to be a day I looked forward to.