Highest paid coaches

[snarcks]

These are your highest paid coaches in college basketball. And none of these guys are still coaching in the NCAA Tournament. It is particularly absurd what Coach Cal is making. Makes one wonder if coaching in this game is overrated these days.

 

[NighthawkVol]

For those complaining about Barnes' salary, what has Brad Underwood done to deserve being the 7th highest paid coach in America? He's never been to the 2nd week of the NCAAT.

 

[Lukusw]

These are your highest paid coaches in college basketball. And none of these guys are still coaching in the NCAA Tournament. It is particularly absurd what Coach Cal is making. Makes one wonder if coaching in this game is overrated these days.

View attachment 543238

Wait...Providence and MD were paying almost $4 million / year???

 

[WhatInVolnation]

I don’t know why this debate continues on. I’m contributing to it by responding, of course, but Rick Barnes is a great regular season coach. He unquestionably struggles in the tournament. Every great coach has some disappointing results in the single elimination tournament, but Barnes keeps having them happen. I don’t want to get rid of Barnes and I don’t know who we would replace him with that is definitively an upgrade. But it’s undeniable that he regularly underachieves when it counts the most.

 

[Sudden Impact]

I laughed when I saw this. Based on this year and according to some posters that want to fire coaches for Mediocre performances.... The Top 14 would be completely available. What's more, 3-4 have had some issues with the NCAA or have not gotten the attention they deserve.

Again, I can state the Mediocrity is the program is not about CRB, It is about the Mediocre fan base we have with a lack of understanding the definition of mediocracy.

 

[SGMVols]

I don’t know why this debate continues on. I’m contributing to it by responding, of course, but Rick Barnes is a great regular season coach. He unquestionably struggles in the tournament. Every great coach has some disappointing results in the single elimination tournament, but Barnes keeps having them happen. I don’t want to get rid of Barnes and I don’t know who we would replace him with that is definitively an upgrade. But it’s undeniable that he regularly underachieves when it counts the most.

This team got further than almost everybody thought. I don’t recall a single national pundit picking this team into the second weekend. They all had Duke pegged for the Final Four as soon as the bracket dropped.

 

[bigdaddy]

This team got further than almost everybody thought. I don’t recall a single national pundit picking this team into the second weekend. They all had Duke pegged for the Final Four as soon as the bracket dropped.

Side note, we made it without our PG. some forget that. Amazing run IMO.

 

[SGMVols]

Side note, we made it without our PG. some forget that. Amazing run IMO.

There were more people saying we would lose to ULL than there were people saying we’d make the S16

 

[bigdaddy]

There were more people saying we would lose to ULL than there were people saying we’d make the S16

Both here and nationally. We were the darling upset pick and pissed off all the ESPN guys

 

[VolArmy74]

This team got further than almost everybody thought. I don’t recall a single national pundit picking this team into the second weekend. They all had Duke pegged for the Final Four as soon as the bracket dropped.

We were a popular final four pick most of the season until the late collapse. We let another great bracket opportunity slip by. FAU won based on effort and great coaching to get open shots. We lost due to poor effort and what is clearly a major deficit on the offensive side of the ball that we all know needed fixed last year. We had way too many late clock desperation shots away from the paint for a team with such a height and strength advantage. Kansas State was a great match up for us too. They were major overachievers during the season and in the tournament just waiting to run into a defense like ours. Especially after the energy they had to spend to beat Michigan State. Losses like this are extra painful because of the match ups we were looking at. Even the final four match ups would have been about as good as you could ask for.

 

[TartanTurff]

Half the top 10 highest salaries sitting in the SEC is probably going to be fairly standard ratios going forward as the SEC currently enjoys an embarrassment of riches, but has only had five (5) final four participants in the last 10 years, Kentucky (2014, 2015) Florida (2014) South Carolina (2017) and Auburn (2019) but no titles in that window, the last men's basketball champion from the SEC was Kentucky in 2012.

The run and title rate has obviously been much better on the football side given the way the teams are build for speed, power and punishment on defense, but now on the baseball side, four of the last five College World Series champions have been from the SEC and we are looking at world series lineups where half the teams have come from the SEC.

 

[PACKERVOL]

For those complaining about Barnes' salary, what has Brad Underwood done to deserve being the 7th highest paid coach in America? He's never been to the 2nd week of the NCAAT.

We're not complaining because of comparisons to other coaches' salaries who haven't done anything in the tournament. We're saying that our coach who is paid $5,500,000 each year hasn't earned it. Results are what counts, and if this was out in the real world, that employee would have been fired at that high a level salary.

 

[VolGee4]

More are ahead of Barnes now. Georgetown is paying Cooley $6 million, and he has one SS in 12 years. I also saw that Scheyer makes $7+ million at Duke. Would be interesting to see what Pitino makes.

The Barnes raise was about timing. He will continue to get small raises, but more big times hires will be ahead of him, too.

 

[VolGee4]

We're not complaining because of comparisons to other coaches' salaries who haven't done anything in the tournament. We're saying that our coach who is paid $5,500,000 each year hasn't earned it. Results are what counts, and if this was out in the real world, that employee would have been fired.

No he wouldn’t. There are a number of metrics that are considered, and ticket sales and money generated are a big part. Barnes more than paid for the raise he got. As long as TBA fills up, apparel is sold, and the team wins (Barnes has a majority of the program’s 25 win seasons), then no one is getting fired. That’s nonsense.

 

[NighthawkVol]

We're not complaining because of comparisons to other coaches' salaries who haven't done anything in the tournament. We're saying that our coach who is paid $5,500,000 each year hasn't earned it. Results are what counts, and if this was out in the real world, that employee would have been fired.

You’re not paying a cent of it.

 

[tennrich1]

CLEARLY….there are some who MUST have someone to blame. It’s constant non stop. It CLEARLY borders on ridiculous. I’m just going to move on …SMH though. This is what happens when we get to serious about a basketball game.

 

[DuckInAPen]

We're not complaining because of comparisons to other coaches' salaries who haven't done anything in the tournament. We're saying that our coach who is paid $5,500,000 each year hasn't earned it. Results are what counts, and if this was out in the real world, that employee would have been fired at that high a level salary.

Do you work in a profession more competitive than coaching major college basketball?

An employee in "the real world" who makes that kind of money gets a golden parachute after he's raided his company's assets for a short-term boost in the stock price.

 

[lifeisdeep]

We were a popular final four pick most of the season until the late collapse. We let another great bracket opportunity slip by. FAU won based on effort and great coaching to get open shots. We lost due to poor effort and what is clearly a major deficit on the offensive side of the ball that we all know needed fixed last year. We had way too many late clock desperation shots away from the paint for a team with such a height and strength advantage. Kansas State was a great match up for us too. They were major overachievers during the season and in the tournament just waiting to run into a defense like ours. Especially after the energy they had to spend to beat Michigan State. Losses like this are extra painful because of the match ups we were looking at. Even the final four match ups would have been about as good as you could ask for.

Stop making sense! UT has never won the NCAAT or even made the final four, which obviously means we don't deserve it and have to be happy with what we get. Just because we have resources and a budget that dwarfs dozens of teams that have made final fours and won NCs, doesn't mean we should expect those to be properly utilized! It's more important not to deprive someone who clearly is a nice man of his cushy job, even if he routinely, predictably fails at the most critical stage of it.

 

[PreacherVol2]

We were a popular final four pick most of the season until the late collapse. We let another great bracket opportunity slip by. FAU won based on effort and great coaching to get open shots. We lost due to poor effort and what is clearly a major deficit on the offensive side of the ball that we all know needed fixed last year. We had way too many late clock desperation shots away from the paint for a team with such a height and strength advantage. Kansas State was a great match up for us too. They were major overachievers during the season and in the tournament just waiting to run into a defense like ours. Especially after the energy they had to spend to beat Michigan State. Losses like this are extra painful because of the match ups we were looking at. Even the final four match ups would have been about as good as you could ask for.

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of FAU. Let's review: they beat #8 seed Memphis, #1 seed Purdue, #4 seed Tenn, & #3 seed KS St. And they have only lost 3 games this whole year. I think there may be more to Tennessee's loss than merely Tennessee's "poor effort." FAU is proving that this team deserves to be in the Final Four.

 

[Schasz]

If memory serves me well Rick Barnes got his boost when UCLA was knocking on his door to become their HC. Coach Barnes has had a fine soon to be HOF career once he retires. Lots of HC's never win a NCAA Tourney and are still considered among the best HC's. The NCAA Basketball Tourney is one of the biggest crap shoots in all of sports college or the pros. Wonder how people who are complaining did on their brackets this year just to illustrate what a crap shoot it was. I did not do a bracket but I'm certain I would not have had any of the Final Four. Pretty sure Coach Barnes has 2 more years on his contract and at 68 years old I don't see him signing a new one. My advice if you are a Vols fan is get on board and support the team and Coach Barnes. Best to discuss as some do in other threads the possible improvements UT can make to the roster of players staying next year. I'm going to be hoping to see the kind of players who can keep us in contention in the SEC and who knows make that run in the NCAA Tourney that would make everyone proud.

 

[cncchris33]

Side note, we made it without our PG. some forget that. Amazing run IMO.

So many of our fans are casual basketball fans who are simply uninformed. A lot of people who are upset that we lost to Florida Atlantic were ecstatic a week earlier when we beat Duke, thinking we had kicked down the doors of college basketball's crystal palace, which tells me that had we beaten Louisiana, then FAU, and lost to Duke in the S16, they'd have found that a more acceptable outcome. In other words, they can't see past the name on the front of the jersey. Losing to FAU is unacceptable because they couldn't tell you where FAU is located. Their ignorance is their excuse to be upset.

I can't say I wasn't upset that we lost to FAU because we controlled the game for 28 minutes, but there is also some perspective to take into consideration, too. We had no point guard. Guard play in March is king. Making the S16 without one is an accomplishment in its own right. I'm fine with being upset that we lost, but continually going back to the well about Barnes and the postseason doesn't really fit this season. In my eyes, he met or even slightly exceeded expectation after we lost ZZ.

 

[volbound1700]

Half the top 10 highest salaries sitting in the SEC is probably going to be fairly standard ratios going forward as the SEC currently enjoys an embarrassment of riches, but has only had five (5) final four participants in the last 10 years, Kentucky (2014, 2015) Florida (2014) South Carolina (2017) and Auburn (2019) but no titles in that window, the last men's basketball champion from the SEC was Kentucky in 2012.

The run and title rate has obviously been much better on the football side given the way the teams are build for speed, power and punishment on defense, but now on the baseball side, four of the last five College World Series champions have been from the SEC and we are looking at world series lineups where half the teams have come from the SEC.

Issue in Basketball is the move towards 3 point shooting. I am not 100% a fan of the strategy but the best alternative would be to press hard which is what we did with Pearl but is not a part of Barne's tactics. Barne's system won't work without great rebounding and shooting. This failed us against Florida Atlantic.

Barnes system only worked so far when we had great shooters like Grant Williams. Vescovi was a decent shooter but Florida Atlantic stayed on him very well which push other players to have to score points. We used our size some with Plavsic and a little with Aidoo (but Aidoo got into foul trouble).

The big issue is players like JJJ, Key, and ON not hitting any shots of merit in that game. They need to improve their game as shooters. If I was their coach, I would have them just shooting in practices and nothing else, perhaps make them shoot on a dribble to practice. Phillips was a no show as well. I sometimes wonder if it is more confidence than skill. When these guys get it, they have it. Confidence is hard to coach into a player.

 

[brockytop]

For those complaining about Barnes' salary, what has Brad Underwood done to deserve being the 7th highest paid coach in America? He's never been to the 2nd week of the NCAAT.

Looks like Illinois got “Jimmy Sexton’ed” on that deal. Good grief.

 

[brockytop]

So many of our fans are casual basketball fans who are simply uninformed. A lot of people who are upset that we lost to Florida Atlantic were ecstatic a week earlier when we beat Duke, thinking we had kicked down the doors of college basketball's crystal palace, which tells me that had we beaten Louisiana, then FAU, and lost to Duke in the S16, they'd have found that a more acceptable outcome. In other words, they can't see past the name on the front of the jersey. Losing to FAU is unacceptable because they couldn't tell you where FAU is located. Their ignorance is their excuse to be upset.

I can't say I was upset that we lost to FAU because we controlled the game for 28 minutes, but there is also some perspective to take into consideration, too. We had no point guard. Guard play in March is king. Making the S16 without one is an accomplishment in its own right. I'm fine with being upset that we lost, but continually going back to the well about Barnes and the postseason doesn't really fit this season. In my eyes, he met or even slightly exceeded expectation after we lost ZZ.

Explain last year with Kennedy Chandler then.

I’m not advocating for firing Barnes or anything that stupid, but you can’t blame “guard play” or “bad luck” or anything else as the reason this guy hasn’t advanced past the Sweet Sixteen in 15 years. My goodness, he’s been coaching at Texas and Tennessee—two programs with vast resources and support—over this time frame.

 

[cncchris33]

We're not complaining because of comparisons to other coaches' salaries who haven't done anything in the tournament. We're saying that our coach who is paid $5,500,000 each year hasn't earned it. Results are what counts, and if this was out in the real world, that employee would have been fired at that high a level salary.

Imagine believing that someone's salary and job status was entirely determined on something they did in a single event that spanned a total of 19 days and patently ignored what happened during the other 346 days.

An attitude emblematic of our JG Wentworth fanbase.