[Kricket]

If he's pulling in 4 million there's a chance he's making over triple or quadruple of any other C-USA coach by the time we join the league.

Conference USA
1. Seth Littrell, North Texas -- $1.9 million
2. Bill Clark, UAB -- $1.55 million
3. Butch Davis, Florida International -- $1.093 million
4. Mike Bloomgren, Rice -- $934,000
5. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee -- $901,000

https://footballscoop.com/news/highest- ... abase-2021

Hopefully recruiting and staff budgets are also triple rest of CUSA.

Well, we shouldn't just pay coaches more just for the sake of paying them more. If someone is delivering results head and shoulders above all other C-USA, yes, they should be compensated. The goal should be to keep coaches who are performing and not overpay the ones delivering at C-USA levels.

[TallyW]

Part of what is also at play here is Liberty convincing the P5 (or upper G5) as well as those recruits, that we should be seen as an equivalent. Forget whatever conference we're in, we want to be in a better one. We need to make it obvious to others that we can and will play ball at these higher levels.

So yes, it is insurance to either keep HCHF or get a large buyout... But it's also a nod to where we're going and how we want our job to be perceived nationally.

[tyndal23]

Mike Gundy ranks 30th in FBS salaries at $4.2 million. I love Freeze but just don’t quite get the economics of that and new skeleton of CUSA. - that amount with a full blown Indie schedule I get ( and encouraged ). Not my $ , so cool, go for it.

[Ill flame]

An expanded cfp with a guaranteed path for the top g5 team is coming. This move is definitely a signal that we plan to be that team. Our conference will be largely irrelevant to that end.

[Kricket]

Mike Gundy ranks 30th in FBS salaries at $4.2 million. I love Freeze but just don’t quite get the economics of that and new skeleton of CUSA. - that amount with a full blown Indie schedule I get ( and encouraged ). Not my $ , so cool, go for it.

I'm with you. Not sure how this salary makes sense in the C-USA. I get that we don't want to lose recruits due to rumors about Freeze. I get that we still want to push to get ready for the next big move or whatever. It just seems a bit overkill to me. I know I'm probably in the minority with that thought.

[olldflame]

I've never been a fan of spending money just because you have it, so I have somewhat mixed feelings about this. I don't believe Prevo is nearly as hands-on with athletics as JR was, so it would seem this is primarily Ian's call (although Prevo would have had to sign off on it). Ian does not have the reputation for throwing $$ around either, and his track record shows he knows what he is doing. I suspect he thinks that locking HF in for at least a few more years will be worth the cost.

[ballcoach15]

Coach Freeze is worth every dollar we pay him.

[olldflame]

Coach Freeze is worth every dollar we pay him.

You are putting a dollar value on the man and his talents. That is not the way things work in capitalism. You have to evaluate what he does and what the return is. We wouldn't pay HF 4 million/year to sell nachos at the concession stand, and we obviously wouldn't pay him minimum wage to coach the football team. My personal opinion is that paying a coach 2-5x what his peers doing the same job in the same conference make is not good policy if you are looking only at the present. You have to think what they are doing is a calculated gamble that he is enough better than our next best option right now that he will be substantially more likely to take us to the level where that salary (maybe more) will be justified in real time.

[Touchdownmaker]

This is exactly what capitalism is all about. We pay on what his perceived value brings not what others are making.
(Socialism everyone doing the same job makes the same, all coaches are not equal.)
I assure you , Ian made this decision based on the good of the program short and long term.

[JK37]

Coach Freeze is worth every dollar we pay him.

You are putting a dollar value on the man and his talents. That is not the way things work in capitalism. You have to evaluate what he does and what the return is. We wouldn't pay HF 4 million/year to sell nachos at the concession stand, and we obviously wouldn't pay him minimum wage to coach the football team. My personal opinion is that paying a coach 2-5x what his peers doing the same job in the same conference make is not good policy if you are looking only at the present. You have to think what they are doing is a calculated gamble that he is enough better than our next best option right now that he will be substantially more likely to take us to the level where that salary (maybe more) will be justified in real time.

I think that’s what Ballcoach was saying. And I agree.

I’ll never bemoan a coach - any coach - getting what they can get and making whatever money they can make. FT coaching if one of the select few performance-based careers from which it is SOP to be removed from job and income rapidly. Strike while the iron is hot. Get while the gettin’ is good. Whatever euphemism you can use to describe it, the pressures that come with the gig dwarf most other lines of work.

What I would say is that, given the fact LU is a private school, HF could tell his agent to tone it down. No need to broadcast it to ESPN. There will be, of course, many in the LU community who just don’t understand it. So get what you can, but no need to brag about it.

[TallyW]

None of the new CUSA coaches are his "peer".

They may reside in the same conference, but they're not remotely his peer in the profession.

We'll have 4-5 games a year out of conference to make noise (a la BYU/Tech next year or Syracuse/Tech last year). Crush CUSA, win one or two P5, and investment in HCHF will be clearly seen as worth every penny.

There's been discussion of adding one more football school and creating a division system within CUSA. Even better. More scheduling flexibility. More opportunity to stand apart.

He's worth plenty more to us than whomever is coaching at Jacksonville State.

[ballcoach15]

Coaching football is the best paying job in America. It also has the least job security.

I will not name names or positions, but there are some at LU far more overpaid than any coach is.

[tyndal23]

None of the new CUSA coaches are his "peer".

They may reside in the same conference, but they're not remotely his peer in the profession.

We'll have 4-5 games a year out of conference to make noise (a la BYU/Tech next year or Syracuse/Tech last year). Crush CUSA, win one or two P5, and investment in HCHF will be clearly seen as worth every penny.

There's been discussion of adding one more football school and creating a division system within CUSA. Even better. More scheduling flexibility. More opportunity to stand apart.

He's worth plenty more to us than whomever is coaching at Jacksonville State.

I have heard this from Hasson - exactly what do you mean by more schedule flexibility ? iF you are referring to divisions and playing only 4 conference games ( good luck selling that one to rest of league on having to go schedule that many non con ) or some weird division cross over schedule ( which I hate ) vs a round robin of 8 Conference Games and 4 non con - then I am opposed to adding.

[Sly Fox]

CUSA commish Judy McLeod has pretty firm in the concept that there is no plan to add any more teams at this stage. We will have 8 league games and four non-conference slots. This gives Ian even more opportunity to get creative not having to worry about filling so many slots. I suspect we keep all P5 games already booked and perhaps one or two here and there moving forward.

Not gonna lie, the leaked dollars are eye-popping. Kudos to his agent for striking while the iron is hot as JK37 referenced. I just hope there is anough money to go around to keep this staff close to intact.

[Liberty22]

Does anyone know for sure if VT was here to chat with Freeze or just speculation based on the plane?

[Kricket]

If he doesn't win about 10 games a year I'm not sure how we can say he's worth every penny.

[flameshaw]

Coaching football is the best paying job in America. It also has the least job security.

I will not name names or positions, but there are some at LU far more overpaid than any coach is.

We did get rid of one of the most overpaid, fake, "campus pastors" in old skinny jeans. But yes, there are others.
Glad to see than HF will be on the mountain for the foreseeable future. Good move by Ian.

[ballcoach15]

As for VT, a good 3rd party source told me that VT was highly interested. This originated from a golf couse in North Carolina via a VT high roller.

[JK37]

Have the buyout details on the extension been disclosed?

[Purple Haize]

As for VT, a good 3rd party source told me that VT was highly interested. This originated from a golf couse in North Carolina via a VT high roller.

You play golf?

[flamehunter]

As for VT, a good 3rd party source told me that VT was highly interested. This originated from a golf couse in North Carolina via a VT high roller.

You play golf?

My money is on caddy.

[jbock13]

As for VT, a good 3rd party source told me that VT was highly interested. This originated from a golf couse in North Carolina via a VT high roller.

You play golf?

It explains so much.

[rogers3]

Does anyone know for sure if VT was here to chat with Freeze or just speculation based on the plane?

The plane, as in the single engine Cessna?

[TH Spangler]

As for VT, a good 3rd party source told me that VT was highly interested. This originated from a golf couse in North Carolina via a VT high roller.

Heard the same rumor from big ODU donor with friends at VT.

[Liberty22]

Just to give perspective on the new contract for HCHF and what we’re paying him. Pretty crazy to think what he’s making now would have been tops in the country in 09