Lovie Smith receives 2-year contract extension through 2023

#126      

Greensboro

Greensboro
Greensboro
Worldly Illini said:
Please show me, with accurate statistics when we have been stable since the 1950's..... You newbies need a lesson in Illinois Football.....
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And just what is the statistic for stability? prior to White there were certainly some very dark times, but from memory I would say we were stable in 1983+ a couple years under White until his fall, coming off a Big Ten championship from a dumpster fire, he had been there 3 years + and at that point I think most everyone would have predicted he would have been around for awhile so without the benefit of hindsight I would say we had stability at that point. I think the end of Mackovic era sure looked good and stable until he jumped to Texas.
 
#128      

RoundBalcs

RoundBalcs
RoundBalcs
IlliniCaboose said:
And you know guys like this in the media are going to have it both ways too. If Lovie gets fired after next year then Whitman will be slammed for firing a guy he just extended, trying to make him look completely incompetent.
I'm certainly not happy with the situation we find ourselves in either, but given where we are this was the only move to make (barring having some wunderkind coach willing to come here all lined up for next year for HC, the likelihood of which is infinitesimally small).
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My thoughts exactly. Even if we fired him tomorrow, who is the replacement? I doubt the grass is THAT much greener, and this job can't be easy to sell. We knew this was one of the youngest teams in the NCAA. IMO, assuming that the buyout $$ has not increased, it makes sense to give him one more year/offseason to develop his guys.
 
#129      

Calvin

C
Calvin
ChocolateThunder said:
I know very little about the economics of the athletic programs, where does buyout money come from? For example:

On a warm, sunny day last month (2016) at the University of Iowa, head football coach Kirk Ferentz wore a white shirt and gold-striped tie to a special announcement about his future. He had just signed the deal of a lifetime — the biggest contract of his life, with enough guarantees to make him a rich man well into his retirement, win or lose.

The new contract included several generous provisions:

► Even if he’s fired after this season for not winning enough games, the 61-year-old Ferentz would be owed more than $25 million, payable in monthly installments until 2026.

► He’s guaranteed an additional $22 million from 2021 through 2025 if he sticks around and wins at least seven games each season through 2020. It wouldn’t matter if he’s dismissed in 2021 after finishing 0-12.

► If that’s not enough, those guarantees wouldn’t even be reduced if Iowa fired him and he took a lucrative new job somewhere else.
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The money can come from many sources*, and the AD makes decisions about the athletic dept budget similar to running it like a business. Although people compare college to the minor leagues, there's no comparison in terms of how much money it brings in.

* Media contracts, supplemental sponsorship contracts, ticket sales, other event revenue and merchandising, boosters and fund-raising events, student fees, and although it's not actually revenue, intangible benefits command additional budget as though they were revenue. For example, perceived admissions increases.
 
#130      

BRucks

BRucks
BRucks