Daily Tourney Talk (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)

Don't miss today's edition of Crystal Ball on CSTV! It features comedian-coach Phil Martelli of Philly and St Joe's as a guest. The show will repeat multiple times tonight and tomorrow on CSTV!

College Basketball Coaches Salaries
Book mark this story at USA Today!. Also includes a comparison with football coaches salaries and the impact of shoe company endorsements as a sizeable part of their payment. I will disect this story after the Final Four is over. Story was written on March 8, 2007 (before Tubby Smith left for the TimberGophers of Minnesota).


Kentucky 2007

Funny, the TV listings at FSN have changed already. The "Tubby Smith Coaches show" has been renamed to "Kentucky basketball". Tubby who??? Wow :-)

Latest Kentucky news at many places, such as Kentucky Sports Radio, AOL FanHouse, including Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo, Billy Gillespie.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Gillespie and A&M have agreed to a beefed up salary, going from $1.25m to $2m per year. With this package he would leapfrog both Rick Barnes ($1.8m/yr) and former boss Bill Self ($1.6m/yr). Interestingly on Monday they are expected to break ground on a brand new $22million basketball facility at A&M.

Ohio State AD said he would grant Kentucky permission to talk to Thad Matta if they wanted to. He may feel secure that Matta won't leave at $2m per year, but perhaps so did the people at Butler and Xavier :-)

One Billy Donovan news item that was rescinded as simply a rumor talked about a seven year deal paying him $3.5m per year (!!!) with a $3.5m loyalty bonus if he stays there all seven years.


Actual Coaching Changes/Extensions

In an actual coaching hire (for a change) UConn assistant Tom Moore will stay in the hood and take over Quinnipiac. Apparently the new $52m twin-arena (basketball, hockey) has made the Q job more attractive than usual.

Tony Bennett will stay at Washington State according to the AOL Sports Blog. An email (!!!) campaign netted a quarter million of pledges to boost his current salary of a mere $350K/yr.

Georgia's Dennis Felton (who may have inspired a certain coach-persona on a recurring Mad TV skid), got extended by Georgia. The new contract is 4 years long at $750K/per. A salary increase of $50K.

Mike De Courcy of Sportings News on ESPN News: Arkansas has offered the job to somebody (presumably Billy Gillespie), but A&M may be taking a bit longer to make a counteroffer. Oh how greedy they have become, these "teachers and guardians of the game, who all they want to do is coach the kids". Not that I wouldn't do the same thing if I was in their shoes (and shoe contracts too) :-)

Skip O'Bayless has branded the Ohio State vs Georgetown as the sham semifinal because of questionable non-calls that allowed them to advance in an earlier round.

Army's women's team wins the V Foundation Comeback Award! Congratulations!

John Thompson was contacted this year by NBA teams including the Charlotte Bobcats, which brought up the topic of contract extension. GT3 has just two years left on his contract and he has a base salary of around $450K. Can Georgetown afford him? Will we see Final Four coaches going to the NBA this spring/summer?

Air Force Jeff Bzdelik expected to meet with Colorodo AD to discuss a potential in-state move... Jeff "Grouchy-Giant" Ruland accepted the contract buyout after 9 years at Iona... Coach Gail Goestenkors may be named Texas coach. Congratulations Coach G for escaping the smug-cloud of Coach K hanging over Duke Athletics! All the best in your new job at Texas!

Andy Katz on Cold Pizza with the latest on the coaching carousel: Kentucky: Waiting for Billy Donovan... Donovan is only thinking about the Final Four, none of the contracts and other possibilities... Izzo a possibility... Stan Heath still doesn't have a clear answer as to why he was ejected... Arkansas apparently was dreaming of getting Billy Gillespie, but Arkansas AD cannot find Gillespie's phone number!!! Sean McCurdy already asked for a transfer, and promising freshman Patrick Beverly is having 2nd thoughts... Iowa: Dana Altman or Chris Lowery are possibilities...

Pete Carrill insists the Princeton offense is really old-school offense that among others the old Boston Celtics with Bill Russell were playing.

Dust up your VHS tapes, this year's final four is a rerun of last year's NCAA tourney: UCLA vs Florida was the NCAA final of 2006, while Georgetown vs Ohio State was a 2nd Round game

Need another reason why giving your son the same first name is a bad idea? ... Sidney Lowe's 21-year old son Sidney Lowe got in trouble with the law (20+ charges in two incidents). Ouch!

If Billy Donovan had been at Kentucky, he would have been fired in April 2005 for failing to deliver with the touted class of Matt Walsh, Anthony Roberson, Lee, Drejer, Appleby, and for the underperforming freshman class of Noah, Brewer, Horford, Green.

Superfrosh Kevin Durant won the Adolph Rupp player of the year trophy. On a totally unrelated note, Adolph is a rather unfortunate name for someone accused of racial bigotry...