Ball State coach hits the jackpot

[Schadenfreude]

Tracy Roller just got a new contract at Ball State that gives her $181,000 base pay and incentives that make Curt Miller's look downright silly.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.d ... /703300332

Discuss.

[TG1996]

Discuss.

We have been.

http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/phpBB2/v ... hp?t=15815

[Class of 61]

Discuss.

We have been.

http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/phpBB2/v ... hp?t=15815

I believe that I mentioned DOUBLING Curt's salary in recognition of his achievements several weeks ago.... not to mention having an apparently outstanding recruiting class coming in to replace these Srs. leaving....they'll need to be developed by a solid coach with a solid system....sure hope he'll consider staying...but if BG DOESN'T come thru with a solid offer, how could any of us blame him if he leaves?

[BGDrew]

It depends on how whether we want Miller the highest paid coach at BG or not.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

It depends on how whether we want Miller the highest paid coach at BG or not.

It's an interesting decision. Women's basketball should obviously be first in line as far as resources go behind the "big 3". With them outdrawing the men, and the potential to grow from there, is it worth throwing the extra resources at Miller to get him to stay? Do we think a coach like Roos could duplicate his success? If she does, would we have to pay her twice what Miller makes anyway to keep her here?

I don't know these answers, but what we do with Miller's salary depends largely on what Christopher thinks the answers are. Based on his success, I think he at least deserves to be the highest paid women's coach in the MAC. We now know what that will cost. Throw in a base over what Roller makes, along with some attendance and higher tourney based incentives and go from there.

If Miller makes a difference of 500 people a game, at 15 home games at 7 bucks a pop, that's over 50k a year right there. Do we think he makes that much of a difference in attendance? More? Can we put a price tag on the exposure he helped create for BG the last few years?

[Falconboy]

This, If we don't match at least what Roller is getting this Athletic Dept. deserves to lose Miller. It would be pathetic beyond the pale if we do not match or exceed a little over what Roller is getting. She'd didn't make the NCAA's and she's getting very nice recognition with her new contract specs. AD Christopher, DO NOT SCREW THIS UP! Nuff said.

[Strouse]

As much as I hate to say it, I pretty much expect Curt to leave if we don't give him a well deserving raise. If BG doesn't put up the money to keep Curt after such a successful term with these seniors, and if he gets a good enough opportunity at another school, then he should take it. As a Falcon, it would pain me to see him go, but I know that Curt deserves to succeed as much as he can. Basically what I'm saying is that as a student, I hope that the university gives him the raise he so respectfully has earned.

[Schadenfreude]

It depends on how whether we want Miller the highest paid coach at BG or not.

It's an interesting decision. Women's basketball should obviously be first in line as far as resources go behind the "big 3". With them outdrawing the men, and the potential to grow from there, is it worth throwing the extra resources at Miller to get him to stay? Do we think a coach like Roos could duplicate his success? If she does, would we have to pay her twice what Miller makes anyway to keep her here?

I don't know these answers, but what we do with Miller's salary depends largely on what Christopher thinks the answers are. Based on his success, I think he at least deserves to be the highest paid women's coach in the MAC. We now know what that will cost. Throw in a base over what Roller makes, along with some attendance and higher tourney based incentives and go from there.

If Miller makes a difference of 500 people a game, at 15 home games at 7 bucks a pop, that's over 50k a year right there. Do we think he makes that much of a difference in attendance? More? Can we put a price tag on the exposure he helped create for BG the last few years?

This is a good post.

I think a price tag can be put on the exposure he's created, and it's actually worth a heck of a lot of money -- easily more than his salary.

In fact, the exposure he got for us this year may be more than our hockey team would have gotten by making it to the Frozen Four. My impression is that ESPN seems to give women's basketball better coverage than it does men's ice hockey.

So, with that in mind, it strikes me as reasonable to offer Miller what Ball State is offering Roller, if it could be done and if, as you point out, it would make the difference in still moving our program forward.

We have a chance -- maybe small, but a chance -- to try to turn Bowling Green into the Old Dominion or Louisiana Tech of the Midwest.

If Miller gets Roller-type money and it doesn't work out, there is no reason why BGSU couldn't go back to paying the next coach more ordinary money.

The Roller contract really has people talking on the MAC board. Some are shocked and aghast that a women's basketball coach could make more than the football or men's basketball coach.

I wouldn't think we'd get the same kind of backlash here, based on the results we've already seen. But what do you all think? Would there be a backlash?

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I don't think there would be a backlash. Our football and hockey coaches have been terrible, and we will have a rookie basketball coach. Who really cares if it ruffles those guys' feathers. The way the community has embraced women's basketball, possibly even at the expense of the big 3, tells us the community would be receptive.

Here's an idea -- replace Brandon with a wooden plank with a confused face on it, and give his entire salary to Miller.

[Falconboy]

I don't think there would be a backlash. Our football and hockey coaches have been terrible, and we will have a rookie basketball coach. Who really cares if it ruffles those guys' feathers. The way the community has embraced women's basketball, possibly even at the expense of the big 3, tells us the community would be receptive.

Here's an idea -- replace Brandon with a wooden plank with a confused face on it, and give his entire salary to Miller.

There certainly shouldn't be a backlash at all. BG Alums should realize that Miller has actually done amazing things here while GB and Paluch have done nothing. So, heck yeah Coach Miller deserves more money than GB or Paluch. Again I say, AD Christopher DO NOT SCREW THIS UP!

[Peregrinner]

There certainly shouldn't be a backlash at all. BG Alums should realize that Miller has actually done amazing things here while GB and Paluch have done nothing. So, heck yeah Coach Miller deserves more money than GB or Paluch. Again I say, AD Christopher DO NOT SCREW THIS UP!

It may have been with UM's recruits, etc., but Brandon did have some good seasons at the helm at the beginning. I'm not saying he's anywhere near Miller's level, and not even necessarily giving him all the credit, but to say he's done nothing is a little much.

[Falconboy]

There certainly shouldn't be a backlash at all. BG Alums should realize that Miller has actually done amazing things here while GB and Paluch have done nothing. So, heck yeah Coach Miller deserves more money than GB or Paluch. Again I say, AD Christopher DO NOT SCREW THIS UP!

It may have been with UM's recruits, etc., but Brandon did have some good seasons at the helm at the beginning. I'm not saying he's anywhere near Miller's level, and not even necessarily giving him all the credit, but to say he's done nothing is a little much.

Ok, almost nothing.

[PGY Tiercel]

Just to be a devil's advocate, I think there are a couple of reasons why, Gregg Brandon (or any football coach at BG) should be paid similar to or more than Miller/WBB coach. Results are important in figuring salary, but also the work load is a major player.
1) 85 scholarship FB athletes, plus practice/walk on guys compared to 12 womens players. Thats a lot of people to look after, all of whom the HC are directly accountable for. (Not sure on exact Hockey numbers, but they also have more players). It creates more work for the coach in just a paper sense, along with other issues. I'd imagine that managing 85 18-22yr old males , is much harder than 12 women (well at least in terms of legal/behavioral trouble. I have a hard time managing 3 2-7yr old girls emotionally, so Curt probably has his hands full there )
2)The football team, even when playing less than well, outdraws the WBB team by 3 or 4 fold. The Hockey team also had higher attendance, real and average, then the women.
3)While I think BG needs to raise the salaries, they also can't price themselves to where the A.Dept. struggles to meet costs. Extreme raises based on success could really hurt. I know some of you think the men's teams will always suck, but success is possible you know.

Just 'keeping up with the Jones" isn't a reason enough to bump Curt's Salary to close to 200K in my opinion. Cost of living is a major factor. Living on 150K in BG shouldn't be to hard. No matter what he is paid, there will always be someone out there who can pay more. Therefor, In my opinion, salary won't be a deciding factor in keeping Curt at BG. Yes, he could leave for a higher salary, but its the intangibles, the family factor and town support, that will keep him in BG in light of higher salaries.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I don't think the difference between his salary and other BG coaches matters much. I think the difference that matters is the difference between his salary and other WBB coaches' salaries that matters.

As far as workload, GB might have more guys and recruiting to worry about, but he only has to prepare for 12 games a year, and has a much bigger staff to help with that and player management/recruiting. Miller has to prepare for 30+ games a season, as well as having fewer assistants. I'll bet he does more than twice as much filmwork and gameplanning as Brandon does. Plus, Miller has to actually think about what he says to the media, whereas Brandon just spouts off whatever old thing comes to mind.

I don't really think we should raise his salary just because Roller got a raise. We should raise it for precisely the same reason they did -- performance. IMO, Curt has earned any reasonable salary we give him.

Take the Michigan job, for example. Miller's whole package is probably worth close to 150k right now. Michigan's old coach's package was probably around 300k. I doubt they would have offered Miller the same, but let's assume it for the hypothetical's sake. Maybe the 150k difference is enough to offset some other variables for him, and maybe it's not. However, there would be less of a chance the money pushed him over the top if he were making over 200k here. Like I said before, these are the tough decisions Christopher and co. have to make before they decide how big of a raise he'll be getting. I think we can be sure he'll get some kind of bump.