I don't think that's under dispute. The reality is, however, some posters hide behind screen names and lob grenades. That reality is met with another one: I'm not going to get into a pissing match with an anonymous poster. Therefore, all discussions are limited to cursory level stuff. Maybe that's OK. Maybe not. But it's the reality of online message boards.

According to this:

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries /

Frank is the second highest paid coach in the MAC in terms of both actual pay and in terms of possible bonuses payments. Last year, obviously, he did not get any bonuses. This year he'll get a bonus for a bowl appearance and I think, if he wins the bowl, that's another bonus. I personally don't like the concept of bonuses for specific wins, as I think it encourages cheating -- think Black Sox.

The chart at USA Today, which only includes data from last year, shows Fleck way ahead but OHIO and CMU fairly close. The third figure in each case is the amount actually paid that year. This is $802,500 for Fleck, $564,260 for Solich, and $533,500 for Bonamego. The last figure is what the coach would receive if they earned all their bonuses. I'm not sure what the bonuses are for Fleck, but I believe Frank's largest bonus (in the neighborhood of $200,000) is for landing in the Access Bowl.

Western Michigan MAC P.J. Fleck $800,000 $2,500 $802,500 $336,000 $78,750 $1,037,500

Ohio MAC Frank Solich $562,760 $1,500 $564,260 $329,440 $0 $898,290

Central Michigan MAC John Bonamego $533,500 $0.00 $533,500 $330,000 $0.00 $863,380

Uh, I know it's not your m.o., but the full and reasonable truth...or anything even vaguely close to it....would mention how many games per season teams played back then and now.

Monroe is right. Lots of things have changed. Different eras. Now, looking at MAC coaches, this season coach Solich won his 53rd MAC game. He is tied with coach Pinkle for fourth in MAC wins. Hess has 64, achieved in 19 seasons. Coach Solich's 80 total wins makes him third among MAC coaches all time. The win over NIU moved Solich past coach Bob Pruett of Marshall who won his 79 in 13 seasons. What any of this means is up for interpretation.

In response to the assertion above about a "40 year bowl drought", as I stated previously in another thread, using the criteria this year of any team with a record of .500 or above going bowling, Bill Hess' teams would have been bowling in '58, '59, '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '66, '67, '68, '69, '71, '73, '74, '75 and '76 or 16 times in 19 years. Secondly, his teams were MAC Champs in '60, '62, '63, '67 (tied) and '68, or 5 times. His team was the 1960 "College Division" National Champ and his 1968 team was ranked at one point at number 15 in the polls and finished the season ranked number 20 in what today is the FBS/DI-A Division. His teams also managed to beat current P-5 members Louisville, Kansas, Kentucky, Boston College, Northwestern and tied Minnesota.

As for Brian Burke's teams (1979-1984), he was fired after a his 1984 team went 4-6-1. However, using the aforementioned criteria of .500 or above goes bowling, his '79, '80 and '82 teams all would have been in a bowl.

Then we have Jim Grobe's teams (1995-2000). Again using the criteria of .500 or above for the season gets you a bowl birth, his teams would have qualified in '96, '97 and '00 or 3 times in 6 years. Of course we all know that he inherited a program that was on "life support" at best and had one foot already in the grave.

The point in all of this is that at least for me, I want to see Coach Solich not only win the MAC, but also finish the season with "top 25" teams. It has been done in the past and can be done. However, after 11 years it is time.

Finally, comparing how quickly Coach Solich gets victories as compared to Bill Hess or others, Coach Hess' teams in the 1950's normally played a 9 game schedule as opposed to our current 12 or 13 game schedule. In the 1960's that went to a 10 game schedule and in the 1970's eventually moved to an 11 game schedule.

GO BOBCATS!

OCF, I agree that FS inherited problems. I hope you are correct going forward. What is interesting is that if you take out the Bryant, Papa L and Knorr years, we may not be world beaters but OUr program begins to look better than what you would think. It is unbelievable just how bad the program was under Cleve, Lichty and Knorr and how far into the tank they took the program.

Yes, under the what-if category, it is interesting to speculate what would have happened if Mack had gotten Glen Mason instead of Cleve.