Coaching Changes

[Kyle]

longer the budget woes continue in cedar falls, the more likely coach jake leaves

Why? The basketball program is self sustaining and doesn't take any money from the general fund. Coach Jake's 10 year contract is also paid for using 100% private funds.

The schools budget problems are only putting the non-revenue sports at risk.

[DoubleJayAlum]

longer the budget woes continue in cedar falls, the more likely coach jake leaves

Why? The basketball program is self sustaining and doesn't take any money from the general fund. Coach Jake's 10 year contract is also paid for using 100% private funds.

The schools budget problems are only putting the non-revenue sports at risk.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense. If Hoops is generating a profit, that profit is being used to fund the other sports, meaning there is less to be re-invested in hoops. If basketball is just breaking even, that means there isn't money for raises for Ben or the assistants, that there isn't money to increase the recruiting budget, etc.

[unipanther99]

I might believe that if we didn't have a bluejay assistant leave Creighton to join our staff last year.

[Kyle]

DJA, do you not understand how private donations work? They are almost always earmarked for a specific use. The AD can't just funnel the donations to whatever area he wants. Donors who write big checks to pay for a new coaching contract or facility upgrade tend to get a little upset when the AD decides to use the cash to buy new tennis rackets or golf balls.

The athletic department at UNI has been in a budget crunch for about a decade. Despite this financial hardship UNI managed to give Jake a 250% raise, build a $28 million dollar arena, and complete many other significant facility upgrades (locker rooms, weight room, human performance center, etc).

According to your logic, none of that should be possible.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I might believe that if we didn't have a bluejay assistant leave Creighton to join our staff last year.

Correction --- you had the Creighton DOBO leave to become an assistant, a promotion even at cash strapped UNI.

[DoubleJayAlum]

DJA, do you not understand how private donations work? They are almost always earmarked for a specific use. The AD can't just funnel the donations to whatever area he wants. Donors who write big checks to pay for a new coaching contract or facility upgrade tend to get a little upset when the AD decides to use the cash to buy new tennis rackets or golf balls.

The athletic department at UNI has been in a budget crunch for about a decade. Despite this financial hardship UNI managed to give Jake a 250% raise, build a $28 million dollar arena, and complete many other significant facility upgrades (locker rooms, weight room, human performance center, etc).

According to your logic, none of that should be possible.

I understand how donations work just fine. I also know that the primary donor who funded the arena filed bankruptcy both personally and for his business, so I suspect he won't be making any more significant charitable donations in the near future.

What you suggest is that there are enough donations to cover all of the expenses of the basketball team currently and any future growth as well. Neither you nor I believe that. Anything less than that and the funds can be reallocated at any time. As I stated before, it also means that there are not significant funds for future pay increases, for expanding recruiting budgets, etc. The good news is that there is a lot of unused seats that could still be sold. The bad news is that even a sweet sixteen lead to nothing more than a temporary bump, if even that, in ticket sales. On top of that, both Iowa St and Iowa basketball programs look to be on the way back up, making it an even more crowded marketplace.

[Kyle]

Double Post.

[Kyle]

DJA- How did Ben manage to get a raise in 2010 when UNI was in the same financial position it is in now?

[Kyle]

What you suggest is that there are enough donations to cover all of the expenses of the basketball team currently and any future growth as well. Neither you nor I believe that. Anything less than that and the funds can be reallocated at any time. As I stated before, it also means that there are not significant funds for future pay increases, for expanding recruiting budgets, etc. The good news is that there is a lot of unused seats that could still be sold. The bad news is that even a sweet sixteen lead to nothing more than a temporary bump, if even that, in ticket sales. On top of that, both Iowa St and Iowa basketball programs look to be on the way back up, making it an even more crowded marketplace.

Dannen understands the value of having a self sustaining program in the midst of a cash strapped athletic department and will do everything he can to keep it that way. He knows without a high quality product, basketball might not continue to generate a profit. He can't afford to take that risk and therefore will always focus his energy on the revenue generating sports (football and basketball).

History has shown UNI has enough private donors to continue increasing our coaches salary and upgrading facilities. The same can be said about recruiting budgets, as these details are typically written directly into a coaches contract.

You act like UNI has tapped out all of it's private funding sources. How long do you think it took Dannen to raise the money for Jake's new $6 million dollar contract after the sweet sixteen run?

[getreal4]

low men's basketball budget, facility budget, not having what your peers have, all factor into stay/leave decisions. i think coach jake should get MVC sainthood for staying in cedar falls instead of taking a big payday elsewhere.

is the UNI men's bb budget in the top half of the MVC?