The MVC going into 2020 and beyond....

[Mikovio]

Right, I know that but I don't count non-scholarship football for these purposes, because they have little impact on the budget. With all the tuition dollars they generate it can even be profitable.

My only reservation with Murray State is that their budget of $1,957,966 would rank last in the Valley. I guess the question that should be asked is, how do we know their success is sustainable? They can't/won't pay their coach more than $400k. How much turnover can you endure without hitting a Chris Lowery?

This is a good read:

https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/2019/03/27/b ... y-mcmahon/

For the better part of 30 years, this Racer program has been in constant rebuild-mode. To the credit of the coaches, and the program as a whole, the rebuild always happens and success always follows. I just think it’s time to find a way to stop the coaching turnover and the natural step-back that comes with change. Going back to the end of the Steve Newton era, there is almost always a decline the year after a coach leaves for greener pastures. There may be myriad reasons for that, but it happens. For this example, I won’t include Tevester Anderson’s departure, since he didn’t leave Murray State to springboard to a bigger school.

[valleydays]

I'm pretty sure Murray State said it was prepared to increase its athletic budget if it had joined the MVC several months ago. And it recently improved the MBB head coach's salary to $500,000 annual base, so there's that.

[IllinoisState]

As our most famous resident from Illinois once said:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand....It will become all one thing, or all the other."

A drastic change to the MVC is on the Horizon. It's inevitable!

The Horizon must be way in the distance then.

[IWokeUpLikeThis]

I'm pretty sure Murray State said it was prepared to increase its athletic budget if it had joined the MVC several months ago. And it recently improved the MBB head coach's salary to $500,000 annual base, so there's that.

This is correct. The president says it on video.

Objectively, there shouldn’t be doubt about Murray sustaining success as they’ve done it for 30 years. If they ran into a bad season, odds are they’d bounceback much like New Mexico State did after Henson’s final season.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/sc ... ico-state/

[Sir Sci]

Right, I know that but I don't count non-scholarship football for these purposes, because they have little impact on the budget. With all the tuition dollars they generate it can even be profitable.

My only reservation with Murray State is that their budget of $1,957,966 would rank last in the Valley. I guess the question that should be asked is, how do we know their success is sustainable? They can't/won't pay their coach more than $400k. How much turnover can you endure without hitting a Chris Lowery?

This is a good read:

https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/2019/03/27/b ... y-mcmahon/

For the better part of 30 years, this Racer program has been in constant rebuild-mode. To the credit of the coaches, and the program as a whole, the rebuild always happens and success always follows. I just think it’s time to find a way to stop the coaching turnover and the natural step-back that comes with change. Going back to the end of the Steve Newton era, there is almost always a decline the year after a coach leaves for greener pastures. There may be myriad reasons for that, but it happens. For this example, I won’t include Tevester Anderson’s departure, since he didn’t leave Murray State to springboard to a bigger school.

So what you're saying is that Murray State has had enough success over the last 30 years that they keep on having to rebuild whenever their coach leaves for another program due to that success? Doesn't sound like such a bad problem to have.

[RacerJoeD]

Right, I know that but I don't count non-scholarship football for these purposes, because they have little impact on the budget. With all the tuition dollars they generate it can even be profitable.

My only reservation with Murray State is that their budget of $1,957,966 would rank last in the Valley. I guess the question that should be asked is, how do we know their success is sustainable? They can't/won't pay their coach more than $400k. How much turnover can you endure without hitting a Chris Lowery?

This is a good read:

https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/2019/03/27/b ... y-mcmahon/

For the better part of 30 years, this Racer program has been in constant rebuild-mode. To the credit of the coaches, and the program as a whole, the rebuild always happens and success always follows. I just think it’s time to find a way to stop the coaching turnover and the natural step-back that comes with change. Going back to the end of the Steve Newton era, there is almost always a decline the year after a coach leaves for greener pastures. There may be myriad reasons for that, but it happens. For this example, I won’t include Tevester Anderson’s departure, since he didn’t leave Murray State to springboard to a bigger school.

Matt McMahon just got a raise to over $500k per year for 4 years. Just FYI

[glm38]

Right, I know that but I don't count non-scholarship football for these purposes, because they have little impact on the budget. With all the tuition dollars they generate it can even be profitable.

My only reservation with Murray State is that their budget of $1,957,966 would rank last in the Valley. I guess the question that should be asked is, how do we know their success is sustainable? They can't/won't pay their coach more than $400k. How much turnover can you endure without hitting a Chris Lowery?

This is a good read:

https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/2019/03/27/b ... y-mcmahon/

For the better part of 30 years, this Racer program has been in constant rebuild-mode. To the credit of the coaches, and the program as a whole, the rebuild always happens and success always follows. I just think it’s time to find a way to stop the coaching turnover and the natural step-back that comes with change. Going back to the end of the Steve Newton era, there is almost always a decline the year after a coach leaves for greener pastures. There may be myriad reasons for that, but it happens. For this example, I won’t include Tevester Anderson’s departure, since he didn’t leave Murray State to springboard to a bigger school.

So what you're saying is that Murray State has had enough success over the last 30 years that they keep on having to rebuild whenever their coach leaves for another program due to that success? Doesn't sound like such a bad problem to have.

I agree. And it's just kind of a fact of life in mid major basketball that when a program has significant success the major programs come calling and try and lure the successful coach away. Oftentimes the mid major program just can't compete from a monetary standpoint.

Every once in a while a coach stays like Jacobsen used at UNI but that's an exception to the rule.

Murray state has done very well for themselves in men's basketball despite the coaching carousel. And should be applauded for that.

[BCPanther]

Imagine taking about the most successful Valley programs in the last decade and not referencing UNI to fit your narrative.

UNI has been able to have immense basketball success while having a Top 15 FCS budget at the same time. The two aren't Murray exclusive. It comes down to allocating resources appropriately, fundraising your ass off and hurting good coaches. There's not some secret formula.

[Mikovio]

It's oversimplifying to say it's "life as a mid-major" to have coaching turnover every few years if you enjoy success. Obviously, budget plays a huge part in whether you keep that coach and which schools can afford to hire him away. Wichita had the money to keep Gregg. If Loyola was paying Porter $400k I guarantee he'd be gone to some AAC or Mountain West school. He still might if some B1G school comes calling with millions but Loyola is able to ward off the middle tier, why? Budget. You call turnover a "good problem to have" but if you have constant turnover you'll eventually roll snake eyes and some Chris Lowery will crater your program. Luck is not a strategy.

Good to hear that Murray raised McMahon to $500k. Hopefully they raise his recruiting budget and assistant coaches salaries too. A $100k bump to their budget puts them in a virtual tie with Indiana State.

MVC Average Budget $3.08M
1. Loyola $6,194,444
2. Bradley $3,555,837
3. Evansville $3,231,007
4. Missouri St $3,070,453
5. UNI $3,024,333
6. Drake $2,696,222
7. Valpo $2,693,562
8. Illinois St $2,209,131
9. SIU $2,127,894
10. Indiana St $2,055,794
Murray State $1,957,966.00
Budgets as per US Dept of Ed


And yes, UNI is the best at balancing football and basketball of all the athletic programs in the Valley even though they've been a bit down lately. It's awesome that they can pay Jacobson what they do and hang onto him after all the success he's had. If they didn't he'd probably be in the MWC at least. But most programs can't afford to do both so well, and that can hamper their ability to make the coaching moves they want, like with Greg Lansing and Barry Hinson. You end up with mediocrity in both sports. There must be gold in them thar corn fields in Cedar Falls.

[RacerJoeD]

A budget increase in case of an invitation to the MVc was already approved by the Board of Regemts.