New source of news? Green White...how long has that been around? Interesting.

While I would like to believe Saul several thing come to mind on this topic.
1) He was giddy with moving up to a mid major program.
2) He was given a 5 year deal with the highest salary for any BB coach in Ohio history.
3) He saw a great facility, The Convo, to play in.
4) He also knew his team would be on TV more than at SDSU.
5) The life style in Athens is probably not that much different that SD making the transition for him and his family easy.

IMHO.....I see Saul as a little immature with is comments and the manner in which he handles himself. If he gets us to the tournament next year and we win at least 1 game he will be courted for bigger opportunities with a substantial increase in compensation. And as they say money talks and bull **** walks. The history is there by our 2 previous coaches. They left for money that was more than 2X their compensation at Ohio, not to mention being part of a P5 conference.



GO BOBCATS

I think labeling Saul as immature is too harsh, although there may be an element of inexperience, hesitancy to obfuscate, whatever. I think Saul is 100% sincere and honest with everything he says and it is coming from his heart. Did he need to say he wanted to stay at Ohio for a long time when he said it? No. Was it something he believed? I think so. Will he change his mind? Almost certainly. Remember that Saul is is not in complete control of his own destiny here. There are family issues, we'll have a new Prez soon enough; who knows how long Mr. Schaus will be around etc., etc. Two, three years from now, his job won't be the same job he was hired into. It's fair to re-evaluate as things change.

If we heard Rick Pitino or Larry Brown saying this stuff, I'd laugh out loud but I am perfectly happy to believe Saul, especially seeing that things are looking up here.

Immature? Really? (shakes head) I suppose you are entitled to you own opinion.

By the way, San Diego State University basketball is televised quite a bit. ;)

I think he will find long term success. In recent memory I've never seen a coach as out in the public and involved in the community.

+1

I've had my ear to the ground on this matter, and I'm convinced that we have very different cat (pun intended) in Saul. I believe that trying to access him in terms of what the vast majority of coaches would do in a particular situation will not turn out to have a high degree of predictive validity.

If you look at the site, it says 2 current topics and that's all there is to it. It is listed under bluegoldsports.com which appears to be a WVU site. Looks brand new to me, but I'm not necessarily sold on the depth of the content here. In the recent football article, they talk about Ohio having a tough OOC schedule. We have had one of the weakest OOC schedules of the G5 schools over the past 5-6 years or so IMHO. I welcome any new input on the Bobcats though, and am looking forward to much more before I give up on them.

He stated at the Cincy Bobcat Caravan 2 years ago he will be coaching at Ohio when his daughter graduates Athens high school.

I think that's a good dad speaking. Luckily that dad is also our coach.

No kidding, I'm thoroughly impressed with Saul. The way we see him around town, being active in the community and putting together a winning team speaks volume ax next year should be a great season.

I will say this about Saul, he speaks his mind. He says some things that I'm surprised he says. Not a bad thing, but definitely different than most coaches.

Seven figures is very far away at Ohio. Whenever I see a question like this, I wonder if people on here really look at the numbers. The Ohio Bobcat Club was excited about its record year of fundraising... at $747,000! The athletic budget is $27 million, and $16 million of it is covered by student fees. Costs are about to balloon due to cost of attendance. Ohio doesn't operate in a world where you can just double a salary for success.

I think you missed my point.

In stating "how many NCAA Tournament wins does it take to push him over" I am hinting at incentives he could earn in addition to his base salary.

561,000 (base)
http://www.thepostathens.com/news/here-are-the-highest-pa...
15,000 (Russell) (sidenote, this is an interesting read on incentives the school can earn from Russell for things like bowl apperences)
http://www.thepostathens.com/sports/russell-contract-russ...
$10,000 (MAC Tournament Championship)
$20,000 (Sweet 16)
http://www.backdropmagazine.com/taking-a-shot-2 /

Even if he earns everything above, that doesn't add up to 7 figures. That said, if he earns all of that then Saul Phillips is closer to earning 7 figures than he is close to what Tim O'Shea was making here 10 years ago in the same position. I found a USA Today article from 2005 that puts TOS' base at 161k. 161k compared to 561k

When you say "seven figures is very far away" I have to question what you mean by "very far" considering how things have progressed the last decade. If things keep on that pace (my argument isn't that such a scenario is given or even likely) then "very far" isn't really that far away.

Phillips is going into year 3 of a 5 year contract. Let me phrase this a little differently... How many NCAA Tournament games does Saul Phillips need to win to earn a contract extension that pushes his total compensation (base and incentives) over $1 million dollars?

Funny we mention Gonzaga. That article from the backdrop mentions Mark Few at Gonzaga earning over a million.

How many NCAA Tournament wins did it take Mark Few to build Gonzaga into a program where he is now paid 7 figures?