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Interesting take from Gregg Doyel on the state of NU hoops

The Impaler

The Impaler

Cake or Death?
15 Year Member
By Thursday, college basketball will have infiltrated Nebraska. Kansas and Missouri will be there, the highest-seeded teams in the Omaha pod. Two-time champion Florida will be there. Virginia will be there. Purdue. Hell, even I'll be there.Know who won't be in Nebraska?
Nebraska.


This is a problem, but not a surprise. Nebraska has played in the NCAA tournament six times in 74 years. All-time tournament victories: zero.
That's ridiculous, even nonsensical. Nebraska has one of the more complete athletic departments in the country, starring that monster football program that has won five national titles, but with lots more. The baseball team has three College World Series appearances in the past decade. The women's gymnastics team has made six Super Six appearances in nine years, and the men's gymnastics team is even better, with eight NCAA titles.


Wrestling? Nebraska has finished in the top 10 nationally 18 times. Track and field? The men and women dominated the Big 12, taking 22 of 56 indoor and outdoor titles since 1996. Three national championships in volleyball, too.


I would say Nebraska is good at pretty much everything but basketball -- but that wouldn't be fair to the women's basketball program, which reached the Sweet 16 in 2010, a season the Huskers started by winning their first 30 games.
Nebraska basketball: 30-0. That was 2010. The women.


Nebraska basketball: 12-16. That's this season. That's every season, or seems to be, for the men.
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More here.

My favorite line is:
When I emailed the college hoops specialists here at CBSSports.com about my plans to write on Nebraska, one replied, "Why are you writing this? No one cares. Not even Nebraska fans."
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That's a perception that really needs to change. We "don't care" beacuse the product has been godawful for too long.
 
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Not much to disagree with. I think that he is right to wonder why Nebraska can be so competitive in about every other sport but Men's Basketball. It shouldn't be that way and there is no reason why the University can't make the commitment to improve that program.
 
I, also, agree. My perception is, we don't try hard enough to get a premier coach, and we don't work hard enough in recruiting, aiming for "5-Star" players.

Nebraska's facilities are second to NONE!! Hopefully, we will find a 5-Star coach, who has the ability to sell ice to eskimos!! :banghead:
 



Interesting that he would write about NU basketball, but props to him for doing so, and even putting in some research on the "Olympic" sports. There's no reason why NU can't be a top half B1G team, other than apathy in the athletic department. Sadly there's been apathy toward basketball by multiple athletic directors for the past 20 years.
 
Part of the problem IMO is that basketball facilities until just recently were poor. Maybe even substandard. In the span of a couple of years TO and company have changed that. The next step is to supplement that with a solid solid coaching hire along with money to pay really god assistants.

We got the facilities it would be almost criminal not to surround them with top-notch coaching.
 
If were gonna pay almost 2 mill for a real good coach, why not pay 3 mill for a great coach, that will bring immediate attention to the program, and bring immediate recruits and results too. Just pay the man, we have the money in the athletic program to overpay for a bb coach, so lets just do this and fill that new arena with people, expectations and a few ncaa tournament wins. It will be financially painful for a few years, but it will balance out within about 5 years time. Its really an investment.
 
Power of Corn said:
If were gonna pay almost 2 mill for a real good coach, why not pay 3 mill for a great coach, that will bring immediate attention to the program, and bring immediate recruits and results too. Just pay the man, we have the money in the athletic program to overpay for a bb coach, so lets just do this and fill that new arena with people, expectations and a few ncaa tournament wins. It will be financially painful for a few years, but it will balance out within about 5 years time. Its really an investment.
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I agree. There has been an investment in upgrading facilities, now invest in a coach that can move you to the next level.

Only 3 B1G teams failed to make the NCAA or NIT (NU, PSU, ILL)
 




wcbsas said:
Part of the problem IMO is that basketball facilities until just recently were poor. Maybe even substandard. In the span of a couple of years TO and company have changed that. The next step is to supplement that with a solid solid coaching hire along with money to pay really god assistants.

We got the facilities it would be almost criminal not to surround them with top-notch coaching.
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It might just take that :Biggrin:
 
Power of Corn said:
If were gonna pay almost 2 mill for a real good coach, why not pay 3 mill for a great coach, that will bring immediate attention to the program, and bring immediate recruits and results too.
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Probably for the same reason we don't offer $10 million for the position. The athletic department does not have an unlimited pile of money sitting around. Yes, they will have to make an attractive offer to get a good coach, but every dollar that goes to basketball will also result in one fewer dollar for the other programs.

I don't think anybody really knows how much money will be needed to attract a good coach. But I doubt that spending $3 million will assure Nebraska of attracting a "big name" coach. Recruiting to Nebraska will always be a problem due to its small population. And I really doubt if many "established" coaches will throw their hats in the ring. I think they will be able to attract some excellent candidates with a $2 million/year salary.
 
carrolltonsker said:
Probably for the same reason we don't offer $10 million for the position. The athletic department does not have an unlimited pile of money sitting around. Yes, they will have to make an attractive offer to get a good coach, but every dollar that goes to basketball will also result in one fewer dollar for the other programs.

I don't think anybody really knows how much money will be needed to attract a good coach. But I doubt that spending $3 million will assure Nebraska of attracting a "big name" coach. Recruiting to Nebraska will always be a problem due to its small population. And I really doubt if many "established" coaches will throw their hats in the ring. I think they will be able to attract some excellent candidates with a $2 million/year salary.
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1. Remember that improved attendance will help make up some of that difference. The new arena will be sold out (or nearly so) for at least a couple years no matter what.

2. If the coach is a winner the arena will be filled for years beyond the initial couple.

3. NU athletic department revenues will increase when they become a full financial partner in the Big 10, yes? Again, that will help or completely offset an increase in bball funding.

4. NU cannot afford to lose a coach because of money. Hiring another failure will be a disaster.
 



Power of Corn said:
If were gonna pay almost 2 mill for a real good coach, why not pay 3 mill for a great coach, that will bring immediate attention to the program, and bring immediate recruits and results too. Just pay the man, we have the money in the athletic program to overpay for a bb coach, so lets just do this and fill that new arena with people, expectations and a few ncaa tournament wins. It will be financially painful for a few years, but it will balance out within about 5 years time. Its really an investment.
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It most definitely is an investment.

But there are only a couple, if that, viable options that would be worth shelling out that kind of money for.

Shaka Smart? I'm wondering if he really is as great as everyone assumes he is. But he's definitely a "wow" hire. Let's say Illinois is after him too. What will they pay him. Weber was getting $1.5. I imagine, if they want Smart, he could get $2m out of them. Salary being equal there's no chance he takes the NU job. Illinois is simply a better job. So you would have to "overpay" to get him. Would another $.5M do it? Another $1M?

Groce? Illinois may be after him too.

Marshall? He's got ties to South Carolina. What premium could NU pay to convince him to stay in the midwest?

Doyle even mentioned Drew on the radio. His thinking was maybe Drew thinks Baylor has maxed out and with conference instability maybe he'd be open to the discussion. But wouldn NU's conference stability be enough? It's gonna take a bunch of money.

These "wow" hires are possibly unlikely to jump at the Nebraska job for "market rate". You want that kind of hire you're going to have to pay up in a big way. Is Nebraska willing to do that?

And no matter how big a rock star Smart or Groce are there's ZERO guarantee of "immediate recruits and results".

For what it's worth. Here's a list of the top 10 college coaching salaries. $3M gets you a tie for 4th. $2.3M gets you in the top 10. http://www.careerbuilder.com/Articl...-the-highest-paid-college-basketball-coaches/

I have a feeling that the eventual hire is going to "disappoint" many fans initially.
 
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