Odds that Donahue stays?

[YankeeLobo]

Found a great blog post on the NCAA Hoops Head Coach Meat Market

http://thesportseconomist.com/2010/03/notes-from-ncaa-hoops-head-coach-meat.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheSportsEconomist+%28The+Sports+Economist%29

"At St. John's, they're not getting certain types of players because they're doing things the right way."

They made great sport of this on WFAN.  Essentially, St. John's fired its coach for being ethical.

They fired him because he didn't win games.  I would say the majority of university administrations don't care how you win as long as you win, it's basically a Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy and that goes for college fooball and basketball.  Think about it, Kentucky hired John Calipari for God's sake!  A guy who has had 80 wins and 2 final fours vacated!  They don't care about ethics, in fact they like guys like Calipari because they HAVE the connections to all the crooked people that pay off kids to go to their schools.

There's big money at stake in both sports, so naturally human beings are going to do unethical things to get their hands on it.  It's the same reason why handing the government the power to spend trillions of dollars is akin to asking for politicians to be crooked, their $150K salary isn't enough to satisfy their greed or their ill-gotten lifestyle, the same way it's tough for a poor high school basketball player to turn down $30K from a college booster. It's too easy to entice recruits with under the table offers that are a lot to them, but amount to peanuts in the big picture of college sports money.

[KeithK]

Similar to politics, the only sure way to keep (crooked) money out of big time college sports is to take the money out of college sports (tickets, TV, endorsements).  Horse, barn door, etc.

[YankeeLobo]

Similar to politics, the only sure way to keep (crooked) money out of big time college sports is to take the money out of college sports (tickets, TV, endorsements).  Horse, barn door, etc.

Taking the money out of politics makes sense, taking it out of sports doesn't.  Sports is something people actually want and are willing to consume.  Politics is the opposite, more of it = you have less to spend.  One way to fix it is implementing massive penalties for breaking the rules - i.e. lifetime ban from the sport if you're proven to have violated the rules.  I'm sure fewer baseball players would use HGH if they knew getting caught meant the end of their careers.  Instead, they get a slap on the wrist.  The performance increase from using it, and corresponding financial benefits, make it a smart economic decision to use it for many of them (i.e. Albert Pujols, do you really think the guy is clean?)  

Provide people the right economic incentives/disincentives and, unless they're stupid, they act in accordance with the rules.  Economics 101.  Calipari should have been banned from coaching a long time ago.

[Al DeFlorio]

The New York Times weighs in: http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/with-jobs-open-cornells-donahue-stays-on-point/

[Roy 82]

Here is a dumb question:

Why doesn't Cornell just offer Donahue a bigger salary next season?

The indirect financial benefit to Cornell by having a successful BBall program would more than make up for the cost.

[KeithK]

Similar to politics, the only sure way to keep (crooked) money out of big time college sports is to take the money out of college sports (tickets, TV, endorsements).  Horse, barn door, etc.

Taking the money out of politics makes sense, taking it out of sports doesn't.  Sports is something people actually want and are willing to consume.  Politics is the opposite, more of it = you have less to spend.  One way to fix it is implementing massive penalties for breaking the rules - i.e. lifetime ban from the sport if you're proven to have violated the rules.  I'm sure fewer baseball players would use HGH if they knew getting caught meant the end of their careers.  Instead, they get a slap on the wrist.  The performance increase from using it, and corresponding financial benefits, make it a smart economic decision to use it for many of them (i.e. Albert Pujols, do you really think the guy is clean?)  

Provide people the right economic incentives/disincentives and, unless they're stupid, they act in accordance with the rules.  Economics 101.  Calipari should have been banned from coaching a long time ago.

We could get money out of college athletics if schools decided to put athletics at the priority level that it is in D3.  People would still be able to "consume" sports through professional leagues, where there's a lot less corruption because the owners are up front about the fact that they're doing it for the money.

I'm not saying that college sports should go all the way to a D3 philosophy, though as a supporter of the no scholarship rule in the Ivies I would prefer some movement in that direction. I just don't see it happening. Thus "Horse, barn door, etc.".

An analogy (sports/politics) doesn't have to be perfect to be instructive.

[Al DeFlorio]

Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post weighs in: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/college/basketball/cornell_wants_coach_to_stay_well_nQJumIftUbZWy1FESC86vN

[mnagowski]

Here is a dumb question:

Why doesn't Cornell just offer Donahue a bigger salary next season?

The indirect financial benefit to Cornell by having a successful BBall program would more than make up for the cost.

I have no doubt that Cornell will try to increase his salary to retain him. But it's not clear to me that there's a huge financial benefit. Are you increasing your annual giving because the team went to the sweet sixteen? If not, who is?

Cornell research has actually shown that increased winning for sports teams doesn't necessarily increase giving:

http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/news/collegesports.html

[ugarte]

Here is a dumb question:

Why doesn't Cornell just offer Donahue a bigger salary next season?

The indirect financial benefit to Cornell by having a successful BBall program would more than make up for the cost.

I have no doubt that Cornell will try to increase his salary to retain him. But it's not clear to me that there's a huge financial benefit. Are you increasing your annual giving because the team went to the sweet sixteen? If not, who is?

Cornell research has actually shown that increased winning for sports teams doesn't necessarily increase giving:

http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/news/collegesports.html

By winning 2 games, Cornell has won $2.4 million for the Ivy League. That money is distributed to the member schools, though I'm not sure if it is distributed evenly or if there is a winner's bonus. There are a lot of ways to spend that money, but a competitive raise for the guy who earned it isn't a bad one.

At the same time, if it comes to a bidding war, an Ivy League school will lose. The Athletic Department budget, much less the budget for just basketball, isn't nearly as large as those in the major conferences. If you asked Andy Noel - who I'm sure wants to retain Donahue - if he would match a $2 million offer from St. John's, he would smile, decline and say "I hope he at least buys dinner when I'm in town to watch the hockey team at MSG."

Thanks, Al, for the Post article, which includes this quote:

"I would be shocked if there weren't a lot of offers after this season because there were a lot of offers the past two seasons...I'm thrilled for Steve. He deserves attention he receives, but I certainly don't want to lose him. I'll do anything and everything in my power to make Cornell as attractive a job as it can possibly be for him with hopes he can stay many years and become the Pete Carril for Cornell.

So, at least we know that he's being selective and LIKES coaching Cornell. That's reassuring, but not totally reassuring because I think the offers this year will blow the last two years out of the water. That said, like Coach Donahue, I'm going to enjoy this run and not think about "replacements" until I hear that someone has stolen him away.

[mnagowski]

Here is a dumb question:

Why doesn't Cornell just offer Donahue a bigger salary next season?

The indirect financial benefit to Cornell by having a successful BBall program would more than make up for the cost.

I have no doubt that Cornell will try to increase his salary to retain him. But it's not clear to me that there's a huge financial benefit. Are you increasing your annual giving because the team went to the sweet sixteen? If not, who is?

Cornell research has actually shown that increased winning for sports teams doesn't necessarily increase giving:

http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/news/collegesports.html

By winning 2 games, Cornell has won $2.4 million for the Ivy League. That money is distributed to the member schools, though I'm not sure if it is distributed evenly or if there is a winner's bonus. There are a lot of ways to spend that money, but a competitive raise for the guy who earned it isn't a bad one."

My understanding is that the Ivy League doesn't give any of that money to its member schools. They keep it for their own staff salaries, etc.

http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/03/18/ncaa-tournament-bid-aids-university-finances

The third component of income for Cornell Athletics is the financial payment that teams receive if they qualify for the NCAA basketball tournament. However, according to Quant, the Ivy League conference office keeps the payment to help fund operations. Cornell does not receive the extra money directly, whereas in other conferences the schools may benefit from the payments.

Although it might be different if you win a game or two.

[Al DeFlorio]

My understanding is that the Ivy League doesn't give any of that money to its member schools. They keep it for their own staff salaries, etc.

http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/03/18/ncaa-tournament-bid-aids-university-finances

The third component of income for Cornell Athletics is the financial payment that teams receive if they qualify for the NCAA basketball tournament. However, according to Quant, the Ivy League conference office keeps the payment to help fund operations. Cornell does not receive the extra money directly, whereas in other conferences the schools may benefit from the payments.

Although it might be different if you win a game or two.

Providence Journal article says the same: http://www.projo.com/news/content/NCAA_COLLEGES_MONEY_03-15-10_28HNTUS_v32.3b40a1e.html

[scoop85]

Fordham apparently has offered Hofstra's Tom Pecora the job (as per ESPN), so that's one less place he could land.

[phillysportsfan]

Fordham apparently has offered Hofstra's Tom Pecora the job (as per ESPN), so that's one less place he could land.

That is huge, I bet Donahue stays now, because that was the one place I could see him getting an offer from and accepting. None of these Big East schools like St Johns who offered Billy Donovan $3 mil or Depaul or Seton Hall will want Donahue since they are willing to offer too much money, they will want a bigger name guy.

This Sweet 16 run might be what keeps Donahue here because it kept him off the coaching market for an extra week

[Willy '06]

Northern Iowa just locked up their coach for 10 years.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5025035

[Luke 05]

Though giving may not increase due to team success, the purchasing of school branded merchandise and applications certainly increase and are direct sources of revenue to the school. I'm not sure how many t-shirts the school would have to sell to offset at $2m raise, but I'm sure someone with time can figure that number out...