It's actually paycut from Biff Poggi's staff who made more than $1.91 million!

Source:
https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/as...

Albin is also making less in base pay than Poggi and is LAST of reported base salaries in the AAC (no reporting from Tulsa or Tulane).

It would also put him FOURTH in the MAC.

There's gotta be something to this. Gotta be. Maybe heavy on incentives.

If being sixth best paid in the MAC ate at him so much, he can't possibly be leaving to be the last paid coach in another G5 conference?

That sounds familiar BTC! Doubt many will be doing cartwheels for that type of deal.

He actually also got $100,000 less for the staff than the previous Charlotte coach did.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense, your thoughts for the 2-3 years. I think Smith certainly can be.

Well, he didn't leave for money. So, why did he leave? I have to end up back at the theory that there was friction with at least someone above him. That usually is why people leave jobs.


The fact that he apparently won't be offered the job unless they win the bowl speaks volumes about the level of their confidence in him, and in the staff. If that's all the better they can do, he should join Albin in Charlotte.

I think Smith seems like a great choice, but they would be dumb not to interview others/take some time to talk to players and see how Smith leads as THE guy. This isn’t the same situation where Solich had to medically retire in the offseason.

If they were going to offer it to him regardless of the outcome, wouldn't they have offered it to him already? I don't think that it is safe to conclude that they will offer it to him if he wins, but I do think it is a likely guess that he won't be offered if he loses.

I wouldn't be surprised if Smith's evaluation is based, in part, on how the team responds in preparation for the bowl game, not just the final score. So far Coach Smith has checked a couple of boxes. A poised, confident post-practice presser being one and not having a mass-exodus to the portal another. So far, so good, I'd say.

I am positive OU has this sort of policy in place for many positions with close family having gone through it, no idea if it carries into athletics.

Deland McCullough recently followed Cromer on X so I’d imagine he is in play.

This seems backwards to me. I would have said "Given that there hasn't been a mass exodus to the portal, it shows that we are probably on the right track. There is a pressing need to move fast, because, since players have not yet entered the portal, we have a unique opportunity to make a coaching change quickly enough that we end up losing few if any players in a coaching change, something that rarely happens.

I’m wary of hiring anyone who hasn’t spent at least some coordinator time in the MAC. I realize he played at Miami, and maybe it doesn’t matter to some of you, but I think people should have a clear understanding of what they’re getting into… culture wise, facilities, money… we’re a far cry from Notre Dame. One of things I liked about Tim was his clear direction and vision in putting together a strong, consistent MAC football team. No easy task. Frank built a culture. He built a program. He grinded to find gems. Tim (and staff) kept it going and improved it. You’re not gonna get 4 and 5 stars knocking down your door. You have to go out and find unheralded 1 or 2 stars and develop them. Feel like a culture shock is looming if you go outside the program.

My guy is still Brian. It would be sad to see him go. DM would be an interesting pick, one that may work out, but I never wanted to be the program who gave outside head coaches their first gig. Brian is different bc he’s here and been an associate HC at three stops. I don’t feel he’d bounce at the first new gig. I guess you can’t worry about that these days, but I do. Culture, consistency is why we’ve been so good. OU has in large part missed the ups and downs other programs deal with, bc we don’t shake it up. We just evolve, reload, and keep it moving forward.