Which CU coaches should get long-term contracts?

[Buffnik]

For football, I believe the norm for the 10 (soon 11) coaches is as follows:

HC = 5 year deal
OC/DC = 3 year deal
Asst = 2 year deal

Is that the model CU should follow? What about non-coaches like Drew Wilson (S&C), Laura Anderson (Nutrition) and Katie Bason (Academics)? All great people who have been huge for The Rise and I think we'd want to reward and not risk losing.

There is also the question on other athletic staff like key people in the athletic department such as Lance Carl and Ceal Barry, along with people in all other positions.

Outside of football, should all head coaches be on long-term deals? Certainly need to commit long-term to coaches like Ann Elliott, right? What about assistants in sports other than football? Would 2-year deals for an assistant make a big impact for other sports?

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Is there no limit on multi-year deals now? What's the downside with all the above in your post?

 

[Buffnik]

Is there no limit on multi-year deals now? What's the downside with all the above in your post?

Downside is that if you fire the HC you're on the hook for all the assistants who would be let go. There doesn't seem to be a limit, so CU is formulating its multi-year contract strategy over the next couple months.

 

[Buffnik]

For background, here's some stuff from the Daily Camera:

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_30869680/new-law-allows-cu-offer-more-multi-year
the new law will go into effect 90 days later, on Aug. 9.

For several years, CU has used all six multi-year contracts in athletics. Currently, athletic director Rick George, head football coach Mike MacIntyre, football defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, head men's basketball coach Tad Boyle, head women's basketball coach J.R. Payne and head women's volleyball coach Jesse Mahoney have multi-year contracts.

http://www.buffzone.com/ci_30943507/buffs-working-policy-coaches-contracts
"What we have to do is we have to put together our policy and what that's going to look like," George said. "We'll be thoughtful about it, and we won't probably finalize the policy until sometime in June."

George and his staff are consulting other schools that have been able to use more multi-year contracts.

Utah, for example, has in the past limited football coordinators to two-year deals and other football assistants to one-year contracts.

CU will also look into the timeframe for contracts and how they will differ per sport. A football coach contract might run from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, while a basketball coach contract might go from May 1 to April 30.

"We've begun to dive into that and look at all of that and then we'll put together a plan and a policy that we'll put in front of the chancellor and the board," George said. "We'll have a lot of data because we're talking to our peers in the conference and we'll talk to some peers around the country and hopefully have something done by June."

 

[Big Jim]

Not Ceal Barry; just employees that are not hostile towards penis-Americans.

 

[TDforTD]

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Downside is that if you fire the HC you're on the hook for all the assistants who would be let go. There doesn't seem to be a limit, so CU is formulating its multi-year contract strategy over the next couple months.

As things sit today for football, I think your model of 5yr for HC, 3yr Coordinators, and 2yr other asst seems right. Does Chev get a 3 year along w Lindgren? And yes, Drew Wilson absolutely needs to be included in that.

 

[ScottyBuff]

Well now this comes back to bite CU in the pocketbook.

MacIntyre and Eliot were already on long-term contracts so their buyout is a wash under the "old" vs the "new".

By giving everyone except Bernardi 2 or 3 year contracts, we added $3,682,200 to the buyout figures. Eliot adds $700,000. I just hope that they implemented included a a mitigation provision (50%?).

Add that to MacIntyre's contract buyout of $9,975,000 for a grand total of $14,357,200 in termination buyouts; unless there is a mitigation provision would could reduce it down to $12,161,100.

For the record, I'm not saying that we shouldn't have supported for that change; it just sucks that the timing off it hurts us in the pocketbook when we could have used it more than ever.

 

[Buffnik]

Well now this comes back to bite CU in the pocketbook.

MacIntyre and Eliot were already on long-term contracts so their buyout is a wash under the "old" vs the "new".

By giving everyone except Bernardi 2 or 3 year contracts, we added $3,682,200 to the buyout figures. Eliot adds $700,000. I just hope that they implemented included a a mitigation provision (50%?).

Add that to MacIntyre's contract buyout of $9,975,000 for a grand total of $14,357,200 in termination buyouts; unless there is a mitigation provision would could reduce it down to $12,161,100.

For the record, I'm not saying that we shouldn't have supported for that change; it just sucks that the timing off it hurts us in the pocketbook when we could have used it more than ever.

Timing sucks. Don't care. Had to change this dynamic while re-setting the pay scale here. They'll all find jobs or be retained and it won't cost anything at the end of the day.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

Are we probably assuming Drew Wilson is gone or do you see S&C coaches last through different regimes? I’ve felt he’s been pretty good, but low bar to clear from his predecessor, and it’s arguably the 2nd or 3rd most important hire for the program.

 

[JMBuffs]

Roper has been instrumental this year...if we can hang on to him that would be huge.

 

[Buffnik]

Are we probably assuming Drew Wilson is gone or do you see S&C coaches last through different regimes? I’ve felt he’s been pretty good, but low bar to clear from his predecessor, and it’s arguably the 2nd or 3rd most important hire for the program.

He was quietly given a multi-year way ahead of anyone on the actual football coaching staff. Those running the AD seem to like him in charge of S&C at CU Athletics. I think he's safe unless a HC is hired who wants to bring a specific S&C Coach.

But this brings up another point I've made in the past and is a big deal if CU wants to compete for championships again. We still lag a bit on the size of our S&C staff.

Take a look at Texas Tech, which I don't think any of us would consider to be a program that is above CU in the college football pantheon: https://texastech.com/coaches.aspx?path=football

Here are the TTU S&C staff positions for football:

1. Head Football Strength & Conditioning
2. Associate Director of Strength & Conditioning
3. Director of Mobility & Agility
4. Director of Speed & Power
5. Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach
6. Strength & Conditioning Graduate Assistant

We've built this out under Rick George and Mike MacIntyre. It's no longer just 1 guy. Drew Wilson now has 3 Assistant Directors under him for football. But that's still not quite where it needs to be. We've also built out Sports Nutrition staff, Academics staff and are launching Psychological Health & Performance staff. This is an area of performance infrastructure that has significantly come up in recent years, but there's still more to do.