FB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BoBo]

Dammit, I just read that BADGERS defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has joined Les Miles at LSU.  That's a HUGE HOLE to fill and the odds of getting someone of equal ability aren't that good. 

Saw that, not unexpected at all. Best DC money can buy. Ironic that Barry was just quoted as saying how much Aranda and his family liked living in Madison. I guess going from 500k to 1.3 million is worth the jump. And we face him first game. AWESOME. How can they pay an assistant coach that kind of money? Money is no object in D-1 for some teams.

Hasn't money to assistants become a recurring issue at Wisconsin?  I feel like this isn't the first time Wisconsin has lost a coach because they don't understand the P5 market for assistants.  Or they do understand and just aren't willing to pay market price for assistants.

They do understand the market rates, but the rumor over on Badgernation.com is that BA made his counter to bump DA's salary up to $750,000 per, which would've made him the second highest paid Coordinator in the BIG, but that still would've been half a million less that LSU offered yearly. Plus giving Aranda a guaranteed 3.9Mil + for three years, UW, OSU, or even Michigan would never have matched it. It will be interesting to see how many other SEC schools will start paying their coordinators 1.3/yr to match LSU. Not many schools outside the SEC will be able to do that.

Secondly, that clown of a HC at Arkansas made the issue of assistant's pay part of his reason for leaving UW for Hog Heaven in Fayetteville. But he's had his share of assistants leave Arky, too, over the past 3 season. He was paying his assistants there much better, so, it makes you wonder if maybe leaving that program was more to do about their boss being a total jerk and less about pay - just use the pay issue as an excuse. BTW, BA is the 4th highest paid Athletic Director in the country, so he's well aware of market rates.

[BoBo]

Some of it is simply the way the SEC schools are structured versus the Big 10. For example, LSU only sponsors 7 D1 sports. The big 3 of baseball, basketball, and football for men. That means they only need 4 women's sports to satisfy Title IX and each sport can have a lot more money devoted to it than Wisconsin, with 2 extra sports. Then you factor in how much more the TV rights for the SEC are worth than the Big 10, and the significant revenue difference between many of the SEC athletic departments and the Big 10 athletic departments, and you realize how imbalanced the whole thing becomes.

The real trick is how well Ohio State does sponsoring 14 sports. I'm not much of a Buckeye fan, but they have something special in their financial ability to have 7 men's and women's sports, not violate Title IX, and still have have winning programs.

Your numbers are messed up. LSU has 16 Division I sports. Ohio State has 32 not counting a couple of varsity sports that don't have NCAA championships. How do you figure 7 and 14? Are you only counting "team" sports? Because all sports factor into budgets.

I'm also not sure you're clear on how schools prove they are Title IX compliant. Proportionality of male/female student-athletes is one way, but there's three separate tests for Title IX compliance. Schools only have to meet one of them. (Google Title IX Three Prong test, if you're curious.)

I read somewhere that schools in the SEC sponsor an average of only 17 varsity sports, while BIG schools average 24. When you think about it, many of those non-revenue sports in the BIG region demand a lot of $$$ to operate, a lot more that the same sport in the SEC footprint. (Think about the travel costs associated). Do you know how much is costs to run Womens Ice Hockey? Even having their own ice arena (LaBahn) like they do at UW, it costs a ton. No one in the SEC has anything close in comparison. Womens softball or mens/womens rowing/golf? With the weather as it is in the upper midwest, these teams must travel all over the country to get in their games/regattas/practice - the cost must be enormous. SEC schools are playing all/most their games at home or region in the nice late winter/early spring weather. No wonder they have boatloads of cash to throw at football coaches.

[BoBo]

via Footballscoop.com:

"UW Eau Claire (D-III – WI): Per source, the three finalists that interviewed for the head coaching job this week were former Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, former Minnesota quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, and Minnesota Duluth (D-II) offensive coordinator Dan Larson."

Plus, one the subject of coaches salaries:

"Ole Miss has announced a contract extension for head coach Hugh Freeze averaging $4.925 million annually over the life of the four-year deal. In addition to that, Freeze's assistant salary pool will grow from $3.11 million to $4.26 million, and the budget for support staff will rise $260,000.

[wally_wabash]

Dammit, I just read that BADGERS defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has joined Les Miles at LSU.  That's a HUGE HOLE to fill and the odds of getting someone of equal ability aren't that good. 

Saw that, not unexpected at all. Best DC money can buy. Ironic that Barry was just quoted as saying how much Aranda and his family liked living in Madison. I guess going from 500k to 1.3 million is worth the jump. And we face him first game. AWESOME. How can they pay an assistant coach that kind of money? Money is no object in D-1 for some teams.

Hasn't money to assistants become a recurring issue at Wisconsin?  I feel like this isn't the first time Wisconsin has lost a coach because they don't understand the P5 market for assistants.  Or they do understand and just aren't willing to pay market price for assistants.

They do understand the market rates, but the rumor over on Badgernation.com is that BA made his counter to bump DA's salary up to $750,000 per, which would've made him the second highest paid Coordinator in the BIG, but that still would've been half a million less that LSU offered yearly. Plus giving Aranda a guaranteed 3.9Mil + for three years, UW, OSU, or even Michigan would never have matched it. It will be interesting to see how many other SEC schools will start paying their coordinators 1.3/yr to match LSU. Not many schools outside the SEC will be able to do that.

Any P5 school that wants to can pay HCs and their assistants whatever monies they want to.  It's absurd to say that the SEC is pricing the Big Ten out of its coaches.  They're all pulling out of the same bottomless pit of cash. 

[badgerwarhawk]

I'm not sure which bottom less pit you're referring to Wally but the LSU 2014-15 athletic department budget was over $107 million which included a  $2 million increase to the football program.  The University of Wisconsin's was $100 million.  I wasn't able to determine if that included an increase to the football program.  I assume it probably did though at what amount?

At Wisconsin only three sports generate positive revenue.  They are football, men's basketball and men's hockey.  All of the rest of the programs are revenue negative.   Given the troubles of the hockey program it wouldn't surprise me if, without a change in fortune, they became revenue negative before too long as well.   Though the rise in the women's volleyball program may help turn their cash flow situation around. 

[palum]

via Footballscoop.com:

"UW Eau Claire (D-III – WI): Per source, the three finalists that interviewed for the head coaching job this week were former Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, former Minnesota quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, and Minnesota Duluth (D-II) offensive coordinator Dan Larson."

Plus, one the subject of coaches salaries:

"Ole Miss has announced a contract extension for head coach Hugh Freeze averaging $4.925 million annually over the life of the four-year deal. In addition to that, Freeze's assistant salary pool will grow from $3.11 million to $4.26 million, and the budget for support staff will rise $260,000.

According to SIU's website Dale Lennon made $220,000 last year and is receiving a $55,000 buy out I know that is a lot more than EC can afford.

[wally_wabash]

I'm not sure which bottom less pit you're referring to Wally but the LSU 2014-15 athletic department budget was over $107 million which included a  $2 million increase to the football program.  The University of Wisconsin's was $100 million.  I wasn't able to determine if that included an increase to the football program.  I assume it probably did though at what amount?

What bottomless pit? You're not serious, right??

In any case, I wasn't laying blame on Wisconsin for anything in particular.  If they've decided institutionally that their compensation ceiling for top football assistant coaches is 60% of market value, then so be it.  That's their choice.  But they can't cry foul and they can't cry poor because the sheer amount of money they make from TV, NCAA championships appearances, and football bowl game shares is absurd.  They have the same insane amount of money as everybody else in the P5 has, and more than most because Jim Delaney is a genius. 

I do find it amusing, from an outside POV here, than Alvarez, who already draws one of the top AD salaries in the country and who had zero problem whatsoever paying himself $120k to coach ONE GAME in 2012, can't find the dollars to keep his top assistants.  The money is there if they want it to be.  If they've decided that it doesn't serve the university to pay assistant football coaches 7-figure salaries, cool.  But you can't get mad at guys like Bielema or Aradna who inevitably leave for (lots) more money.  That's the business. 

[ScreamingEagles]

via Footballscoop.com:

"UW Eau Claire (D-III – WI): Per source, the three finalists that interviewed for the head coaching job this week were former Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, former Minnesota quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, and Minnesota Duluth (D-II) offensive coordinator Dan Larson."

Plus, one the subject of coaches salaries:

"Ole Miss has announced a contract extension for head coach Hugh Freeze averaging $4.925 million annually over the life of the four-year deal. In addition to that, Freeze's assistant salary pool will grow from $3.11 million to $4.26 million, and the budget for support staff will rise $260,000.

According to SIU's website Dale Lennon made $220,000 last year and is receiving a $55,000 buy out I know that is a lot more than EC can afford.

It would seem unlikely that Zebrowski and Lennon would take the 70k (or less) that UWEC would offer to be their Head Coach.  Each could easily make that as a D1 position coach - assuming they can find the right opportunity.  This also depends on their goals and how much value they place on being an HC.

I will be more than happy if these are the types of candidates UWL can announce as finalists towards the end of the month.

[bulk19]

via Footballscoop.com:

"UW Eau Claire (D-III – WI): Per source, the three finalists that interviewed for the head coaching job this week were former Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, former Minnesota quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, and Minnesota Duluth (D-II) offensive coordinator Dan Larson."

Plus, one the subject of coaches salaries:

"Ole Miss has announced a contract extension for head coach Hugh Freeze averaging $4.925 million annually over the life of the four-year deal. In addition to that, Freeze's assistant salary pool will grow from $3.11 million to $4.26 million, and the budget for support staff will rise $260,000.

According to SIU's website Dale Lennon made $220,000 last year and is receiving a $55,000 buy out I know that is a lot more than EC can afford.

It would seem unlikely that Zebrowski and Lennon would take the 70k (or less) that UWEC would offer to be their Head Coach.  Each could easily make that as a D1 position coach - assuming they can find the right opportunity.  This also depends on their goals and how much value they place on being an HC.

I will be more than happy if these are the types of candidates UWL can announce as finalists towards the end of the month.

As reported by UWL assistant AD for media relations, David Johnson, speaking on the world's worst radio show (the Lead Balloon Show) this morning - the UWL committee had received 104 applications for the head coaching job as of yesterday; the application deadline is Monday.

The 11 screening committee members will begin reviewing all the resumes starting Tuesday, and hope to go through them in about two or three weeks or so...

UWL has a target date for hiring a new head coach by mid-late February...

[Mr. Ypsi]

via Footballscoop.com:

"UW Eau Claire (D-III – WI): Per source, the three finalists that interviewed for the head coaching job this week were former Southern Illinois head coach Dale Lennon, former Minnesota quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, and Minnesota Duluth (D-II) offensive coordinator Dan Larson."

Plus, one the subject of coaches salaries:

"Ole Miss has announced a contract extension for head coach Hugh Freeze averaging $4.925 million annually over the life of the four-year deal. In addition to that, Freeze's assistant salary pool will grow from $3.11 million to $4.26 million, and the budget for support staff will rise $260,000.

According to SIU's website Dale Lennon made $220,000 last year and is receiving a $55,000 buy out I know that is a lot more than EC can afford.

It would seem unlikely that Zebrowski and Lennon would take the 70k (or less) that UWEC would offer to be their Head Coach.  Each could easily make that as a D1 position coach - assuming they can find the right opportunity.  This also depends on their goals and how much value they place on being an HC.

I will be more than happy if these are the types of candidates UWL can announce as finalists towards the end of the month.

As reported by UWL assistant AD for media relations, David Johnson, speaking on the world's worst radio show (the Lead Balloon Show) this morning - the UWL committee had received 104 applications for the head coaching job as of yesterday; the application deadline is Monday.

The 11 screening committee members will begin reviewing all the resumes starting Tuesday, and hope to go through them in about two or three weeks or so...

UWL has a target date for hiring a new head coach by mid-late February...

So much for the recruiting class of 2020.

That's about two months late for having a legitimate shot at a good recruiting class.

[BoBo]

I'm not sure which bottom less pit you're referring to Wally but the LSU 2014-15 athletic department budget was over $107 million which included a  $2 million increase to the football program.  The University of Wisconsin's was $100 million.  I wasn't able to determine if that included an increase to the football program.  I assume it probably did though at what amount?

What bottomless pit? You're not serious, right??

In any case, I wasn't laying blame on Wisconsin for anything in particular.  If they've decided institutionally that their compensation ceiling for top football assistant coaches is 60% of market value, then so be it.  That's their choice.  But they can't cry foul and they can't cry poor because the sheer amount of money they make from TV, NCAA championships appearances, and football bowl game shares is absurd.  They have the same insane amount of money as everybody else in the P5 has, and more than most because Jim Delaney is a genius. 

I do find it amusing, from an outside POV here, than Alvarez, who already draws one of the top AD salaries in the country and who had zero problem whatsoever paying himself $120k to coach ONE GAME in 2012, can't find the dollars to keep his top assistants.  The money is there if they want it to be.  If they've decided that it doesn't serve the university to pay assistant football coaches 7-figure salaries, cool.  But you can't get mad at guys like Bielema or Aradna who inevitably leave for (lots) more money.  That's the business.

From my POV, UW will never be anywhere near the top paying coaches market value. The UW way, for the most part, is to identify good young coaches that can do the job at a reasonable price. When they get too expensive, they move on. This formula has worked very well for the last 25 years. People need to understand, having the best (read most expensive) athletics in the country is NOT a priority for those that make the money decisions at UW. I agree with this stance. If you want to root for a football team that adheres to the win at all costs mantra then follow the NFL (or SEC). If you want to follow a college sports team from a state school that accurately reflects the people of the state it is located in and consistently gives you a quality product, then you can do no better than UW.  The team is made up of mostly kids from the state, overachieving walk ons and mostly kids that stay out of trouble. AND THEY WIN...ALOT!! It drives the fans mad that we can't hold on to quality coaches forever, but it is what it is.

[jknezek]

From my POV, UW will never be anywhere near the top paying coaches market value. The UW way, for the most part, is to identify good young coaches that can do the job at a reasonable price. When they get too expensive, they move on. This formula has worked very well for the last 25 years. People need to understand, having the best (read most expensive) athletics in the country is NOT a priority for those that make the money decisions at UW. I agree with this stance. If you want to root for a football team that adheres to the win at all costs mantra then follow the NFL (or SEC). If you want to follow a college sports team from a state school that accurately reflects the people of the state it is located in and consistently gives you a quality product, then you can do no better than UW.  The team is made up of mostly kids from the state, overachieving walk ons and mostly kids that stay out of trouble. AND THEY WIN...ALOT!! It drives the fans mad that we can't hold on to quality coaches forever, but it is what it is.

There's a first time for everything... +K Bobo...     

[badgerwarhawk]

Don't you think it obvious that Zembrowski places a fairly high value on being a head coach considering he's applied for job that he knows in advance won't be able to pay him any thing close to what he's been earning the past several years as a D1 assistant?   He's been around the WIAC and he knows the wage scale in the league.  I question if they would even have applied if they were "unlikely" to accept the wage if hired.

I would love to see Z back in the league.  This dude can coach and if EC hires him I pretty confident that he can turn that program around.  There's no reason EC can field a competitive football team, no reason whatsoever imo. 

[ScreamingEagles]

Don't you think it obvious that Zembrowski places a fairly high value on being a head coach considering he's applied for job that he knows in advance won't be able to pay him any thing close to what he's been earning the past several years as a D1 assistant?   He's been around the WIAC and he knows the wage scale in the league.  I question if they would even have applied if they were "unlikely" to accept the wage if hired.

I would love to see Z back in the league.  This dude can coach and if EC hires him I pretty confident that he can turn that program around.  There's no reason EC can field a competitive football team, no reason whatsoever imo.

I think he does probably know the salary - his application doesn't actually mean he wants the job.  UWL saw this in 2011 with Vince Kehres and the D1 assistant that was a finalist, Jake Moreland.  I went to the campus open forums and it seemed pretty clear to me that Kehres was there for interview experience and that Moreland had little interest or knowledge of coaching D3 football, but he was out of a job so he applied. 

Football Scoop reported that Dale Lennon is the choice so it looks like I was wrong about him taking the job.

[emma17]

From my POV, UW will never be anywhere near the top paying coaches market value. The UW way, for the most part, is to identify good young coaches that can do the job at a reasonable price. When they get too expensive, they move on. This formula has worked very well for the last 25 years. People need to understand, having the best (read most expensive) athletics in the country is NOT a priority for those that make the money decisions at UW. I agree with this stance. If you want to root for a football team that adheres to the win at all costs mantra then follow the NFL (or SEC). If you want to follow a college sports team from a state school that accurately reflects the people of the state it is located in and consistently gives you a quality product, then you can do no better than UW.  The team is made up of mostly kids from the state, overachieving walk ons and mostly kids that stay out of trouble. AND THEY WIN...ALOT!! It drives the fans mad that we can't hold on to quality coaches forever, but it is what it is.

There's a first time for everything... +K Bobo...     

Now this is a good way to start out the New Year.