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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 267
Friday, April 28, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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ECU should avoid rivals'
miscues
©2006 Bonesville.net
East Carolina can learn from Memphis’ near
mistake. Better yet, it should make a mental note of UNC-Wilmington’s
colossal blunder.
In the case of the Pirates’ Conference USA
rival, it was the lack of urgency with which the contract negotiations of a
high-profile basketball coach were handled. Though the end result proved
favorable for Memphis, its lack of expedience in appropriately rewarding
John Calipari for his accomplishments nearly miffed the coach all the way to
Raleigh.
And for more than $2 million, who could
blame him? Certainly not me.
Wilmington wasn’t quite as fortunate, but
that was by design. Apparently athletics director Mike Capaccio convinced
himself that coaches like the highly successful and underappreciated Brad
Brownell are a dime-a-dozen, and that his current coach’s résumé wasn’t
polished enough to command the modest contract extension that was requested.
Couple that with an apparent strategy by
which Cabotchio self-servingly aided in Brownell’s exodus, and you
might say that he was schooled at the Mike Hamrick Institute for Athletics
Administration. My guess is he graduated Cum Laude.
In the wacky world of college athletics,
this isn’t a new release on the AD bookshelf. Many administrators are oddly
more reluctant to pay the market price for their current coach than they are
for a replacement that lacks slam-dunk credentials.
Given that mindset, it should be no mystery
why coaches often float their names when intriguing openings appear, because
in the uncertain business of college coaching, loyalty is the one benefit on
which it is difficult to place a price. And since it is in such short order,
administrators and fans cannot and should not hold grudges against coaches
who entertain offers from interested, deep-pocketed suitors.
That’s a scenario in which East Carolina
could easily find itself in the not-so-distant future — and it’s one that AD
Terry Holland should try to avoid by taking proactive measures.
The last time I checked, Skip Holtz makes
just over $400 thousand per year. That’s minimum wage within the Division
I-A coaching ranks, and it is significantly lower than what he should
command given what already has been accomplished under his watch.
In just one season, Holtz conquered one of
the stiffest challenges that any ECU coach has faced. He inherited a house
divided and quickly restored it by generating a level of trust and
confidence among his players, as well as within a constituency that had
almost resigned itself to an ongoing defeatist existence.
Holtz did that first by hiring assistants
who possess the type of credentials that typically pepper the staffs of the
nation’s elite programs. The result was a significant upgrade in player
evaluation and development, not to mention game preparation and management.
That ultimately produced a win total that
almost doubled John Thompson’s two-year tenure. It also set a foundation
from which the staff impressively inked Conference USA’s top recruiting
class.
That was year one. And if that’s not enough
to make a significant long-term commitment to a coaching staff, I don’t know
what is.
Naturally some might question the sanity of
that mindset given East Carolina’s current financial standing. Truthfully,
you would be hard-pressed to find many institutions that have employed more
head coaches from revenue-producing sports over a five-year period.
That said, loyalty and commitment don’t
have to overextend the checkbook. In fact, Holland would be wise not to
write substantial checks without sacrificial commitments from his most loyal
donors.
But that doesn’t mean East Carolina can’t
sweeten Holtz’s deal with creative thinking.
For starters, Holtz deserves a package that
guarantees $500K annually and an extension beyond the token one-year
rollover, both of which are manageable. It also would be smart to grant each
assistant some security beyond the one year that is the industry standard.
Beyond that, ECU could make increases to
current incentives and sprinkle Holtz’s contract with additional ones. A
perk that could be mutually beneficial to the coach and his employer would
be an attractive annuity for a decade of service.
Bonuses for sellouts, as well as victories
on national television and against Top 25 teams and in-state rivals are
examples of thinking outside the box.
So is a financial reward for any Signing
Day class with a consensus ranking inside the Top 40.
OK, so maybe that last one’s a stretch.
What isn’t a stretch is the suggestion that
Holtz and his staff have proven themselves worthy of a more ambitious
commitment from East Carolina. While it is no guarantee that ECU would
receive a return on that investment, the rewards for doing so seem to
outweigh the risks.
That’s why Holland should take a bold step
and pursue a more significant monetary commitment to Holtz.
Wilmington and Memphis already have
displayed models that shouldn’t be followed.
ECU should do everything in its power to
avoid similar scenarios in the future.
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02/23/2007 02:03:01 AM |
