In Reply to: Re: We'll see real delusion when the 'next coach' threads begin posted by SehornBlew on January 09, 2025 at 11:42:57
Hold on—let’s get this straight. I never said 'couldn't'; those are your words, not mine. You can assume I think they wouldn’t, but 'couldn’t' is entirely different. They probably can—I just don’t know. I have no insight into their financial situation or what their checkbook looks like.
This topic has been debated endlessly on this forum. I’m not sure how long you’ve been posting here, but it seems like you’ve been around for a while. Others might want to dive deeper into the finances of being a state school versus a private school, or the dynamics of being a school where sports center around the university. But honestly, that’s not something I’m well-versed in.
What I do know is that we don’t pay coaches top-tier salaries. Even with Cronin, paying him Top 10 money was a significant step up for us. Despite that, his salary is still nearly half of what the highest-paid coaches are earning. I’m not sure how the reduction in the football coach’s salary ties into this—it actually supports my point that UCLA isn’t aiming to pay at the highest level.
As for the claims about investing to recoup, or having more funds because of the new conference, I can’t speak to those either. My guess is that the move to the new conference simply leveled the playing field rather than giving us an edge. After all, every other B1G school is getting a similar financial boost, right? And conferences like the SEC might still be generating just as much, if not more.
At the end of the day, I don’t know enough to say for sure. Maybe I’m wrong, but my opinion and it's just an opinion, is that we would not be willing to give Hurley more than 8 million a year to take a job here. Currently, I don't think we're looking to pay any coach over 8 million dollars to coach basketball here. This I base on previous coaching hires and the type of candidates we have looked at. I do not feel the new conference affiliation has changed any of that.