CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:If Lusk has success, MSU will pay him top dollar.
Define top dollar. Has any MVC team other than WSU and Creighton EVER paid a coach more than $1 million a year?
Creighton, the team that was averaging 17k fans a game, and WSU, the team that averages 10.5k fans a game and charges by far the highest ticket prices, season and otherwise, of any Valley school? If any other school has any chance at joining that club, it's Bradley.
I have no doubt MSU will pay him MORE if Lusk has success. Maybe even second in the Valley. It's simply impossible to pay him "top dollar," or to even match what a low-level Power 6 school could offer, without developing a significant sugar daddy at a school like MSU. Even without the football program as a drain on finances, MSU can't draw fans, and even if they were selling out the arena for every game, can't charge the prices that WSU can.
And even without football expenses, and even with by FAR the highest attendance in the Valley, and by FAR the highest prices in the Valley, WSU still struggles to pay "top dollar."
Missouri State's reported revenue from basketball, 7/2012 - 6/2013: $2,105,340
Wichita State's reported revenue from basketball, same period: $5,369,577
Have some common sense about finances. Money has to come from somewhere. You can't pay "top dollar" when MSU makes 39% of the revenue of WSU.
No team is going to keep a successful coach at this level while averaging 55% of arena capacity.