This year $8-9 Million was the average and what you needed to compete. This article agrees with the 25% inflation I predict for this Spring. $10-12M will likely be the average this season.
Seton Hall is always years behind the trends in the industry. Currently we are missing the boat on revenue creation. Schools are amassing staff to make corporate deals, find opportunities to leverage the OOC schedule, generate ticket sales and run fundraising campaigns. Sure we had Mike McBride for a year but we need more than 1 crony for a year. You have to spend money to make money.
Until we figure out the revenue creation, the University needs to pony up. At the very least we need to pick our spots strategically when it makes sense to invest more on the roster. Maybe we can spend extra one out of every 3 years. Maybe we spend more for 2 straight years then go into a "rebuilding" period where we spend less and try to develop younger/cheaper players. We are better served using a staggered budget than spending the same insufficient amount every year.
Say we have $6M per year allocated for the next 4 years ($24M over 4). That's not enough to be successful. So rather than be a bubble-team at best each year, stagger that $24M over 4 years. I'd rather see us spend $10M, 10M, 2M & 2M. Go for it for 2 years and rebuild for 2 of the years.
This is just an example but we must think differently and be bold otherwise we'll keep getting left out of the NCAAT.
Now is the time to raise the budget. We have 2 difference-makers - a 2nd team All-BE PG and a potential all conference Big man. In addition we have 4-5 other rotation players who can return. A cash infusion now would go a long way in bringing back the core and leave money to build around them.