Speaking of money, this is as good a place as any to point out that in addition to Butler, VCU, ad Gonzaga, we now have seen Wichita State "take the next step" as a mid-major. 4 schools, 0 FBS football teams. Not a coincidence.
And where is this most apparent? Coaching salary. Here's a list of the 62 highest paid coaches in the country:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ncaab/coach/
(For what it's worth, I don't think it's 100% accurate, as Jim Christian makes $425,000, which puts him on park with Keith Dambrot at 48th in the nation, and I know Chris Mooney makes about 700k at Richmond.)
But what's very interesting is where the above mentioned schools fall in relation to Illinois, the school that hired Groce away. Groce's salary is lower than Mark Few's, very slightly higher than Shaka Smart's, 250k higher than Greg Marshall's, and 240k more than Brad Stevens.
Bottom line is that if we want to compete with those schools, we need to pay like those schools. And unless we stumble into a Boone T. Pickens type alumnus who really likes basketball, the only realistic path to do so is to stop paying for the right to call ourselves an FBS football team, and acknowledge that we're not even truly eligible for the same championship that major conference schools are.
Last Edited: 4/9/2013 9:49:22 AM by Bobcat Love's Sense of Shame