Money will be an issue for Fox
Tuesday, Apr. 8, 2008 @ 1:32 am
At a certain point, it’s always about the money.
The Nevada men’s basketball program may have escaped the first major threat of the annual “Mark Fox is leaving the Wolf Pack and the world is over” scare with its head coach still in place, but that doesn’t mean the madness won’t soon win out.
Fox has shown great commitment by staying at Nevada for a huge discount in recent years, but he’s also shown that he’s willing to listen as power conference offers come.
The right offer is out there, and eventually it’s going to hurt Nevada.
I don’t mean to say that Fox is money-driven, because he’s not. I believe athletic director Cary Groth when she says that money isn’t Fox’s first priority, mostly because Fox has proven that by turning down seven-figure contracts to stay at a place where he makes a little more than $400,000 a year.
Fox is about winning and creating successful student-athletes above all else.
He’s a goal-driven kind of guy, and his list of accomplishments includes items like “Final Four,” “national championship” and “beating the crap out of UNLV whenever possible,” not dollar bills.
Thing is, though, eventually winning comes down to money, and Nevada doesn’t have a whole lot of it.
If you look at the mid-major programs with the most success over the last five to 10 years, you inevitably come to a list that includes the likes of Nevada, Gonzaga, Creighton, Southern Illinois and a few others.
All those programs have one thing in common – continuity.
People like to use coaches like Mark Few and Dana Altman, who have stuck with the Zags and Creighton, respectively, despite overtures from bigger programs, as reasons to hope that Fox is in Reno for the long haul.
But those comparisons are like saying that Reno’s downtown is in the same sphere as the Las Vegas Strip.
Altman reportedly makes $1 million a year and Few, whose salary is private, reportedly makes a little bit less. That’s high-major money.
Nevada simply can’t afford that kind of contract at this point, which makes Fox one of the biggest bargains in the nation and the school vulnerable to coach poachers everywhere.
And money goes beyond a fat paycheck.
I could buy Fox passing up big-time scratch to stay somewhere he can win, but money also means support, budget and resources.
Look at what Fox brought in with this recruiting class and imagine what he could pull in with a high-major budget.
Fox has said before that he thinks he can get to a Final Four at Nevada.
Maybe he can, maybe he can’t, but the road’s sure as hell a lot less winding for a program shelling out millions of dollars for facilities and other resources.
The bottom line is that Nevada’s bottom line doesn’t include enough zeros, and unless the booster contributions or fundraising pick up in a big way, that’s not changing anytime soon.
The good news it that Fox won’t be leaving for just any big-time job thrown his way. The Kansas job isn’t likely to come open any time soon after last night, and, quite simply, the Nevada job is a pretty good one at the moment, even if it doesn’t include a gigantic payday.
Fox has helped build something special at Nevada – partly because he’s found a way to win without tons of money. With the talent he’s grouped for the coming years, Fox can be content in Reno and patient in selecting his next job should he choose to leave.
To the athletic department’s credit, the administration’s done all it can to make Fox happy. With a practice facility on the way to go with the new student union, knowledge center, and student-athlete study center, Fox has a pretty good campus to sell recruits on – better than most other mid-major schools.
Add all the new banners hanging at Lawlor Events Center, and all of sudden Nevada doesn’t look so bad.
Because of all that, Fox can afford to focus on things more than money.
For now.
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on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 1:32 am and is filed under Men's Basketball, Sports.
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