With the tradition, history, and unparalleled fan support, why would the university have to pay above market rate?
- Our tradition is a plus to fans. The resources that follow from that tradition is what is attractive for coaches but the tradition itself may not be. When a coach walks into a practice facility and can sell a program to recruits with 8 national championships, it’s a plus. However, our tradition isn’t the end-all be-all. For fans, we look at the totality of everything from 1903 to today — most of the kids in the high school circuit today have vague memories of Kentucky being among the elite class of programs. It’s a sad but honest truth — tradition matters less than brand relevance in the current era. We are down.
- Our history, continuing the thought of the last point, is alluring for sure. But coaches know they are being compared against it. We can correctly say that some coaches are going to embrace that history and want all the smoke. Truthfully, being compared to history is soul-crushingly difficult and that’s why it may be easier to build that history yourself like Oats is at Alabama, so that your greatest accomplishments are not being held against, say the 2010-2015 run by Calipari, the 1993-1997 run by Pitino, the 1975-1978 run by Hall, the 1948-1954 run by Rupp.
- Our fan support is a complex matter. Yes, we will pay as much as anyone because of our passion. We will be loud and cheer, filling massive arenas bringing with us a “home environment” almost anywhere in the country. We are also very quick to vocalize our frustrations in a very severe manner. We have garnered just as much of a negative outside perception as we have a positive one within our bubble. I’m sure me even acknowledging this will catch me hell again, because most fans want this to be as simple as fan base “good” or fan base “bad” but it’s actually both to such an extreme level that it can be very unattractive.
- One of the most important things for coaches is, regardless of how good they are, stability. We offer resources that surpass most every school, but the gap has tightened significantly. As fans, we have a certain expectation of winning based on our history that won’t allow for the bar to be lowered and rightfully so. From the standpoint of coaches though, in a college basketball world that is now more optimized than ever, with deep parity of talent, and higher variability due to increased demand to win now thanks to portal — this is all a recipe for coaches to have more down years than would have been expected in say the late 80s or early 90s where you could somewhat expect the “haves” to beat up regularly on the “have-nots.” Coaches are aware this job, compared to any other (even versus other bluebloods), has no room for slack to it. There is no job security.
In short, we can debate whether or not it is the best job in the country. It is, without question, the most demanding job in the country. You don’t have to be here to win anymore and any coach who comes here is assuming a massive risk. For a coach to take a calculated risk, especially with our recent history, massive pay will be required.
