Steele has said there’s no reason Miami can’t be Gonzaga east of the mississippi…he may have said it in jest. That requires a long term vision and commitment. I’d hope there’s been some scenario planning to make it happen including Arena, increased staff budget, NIL, scheduling etc. The first part is becoming a winner and making some noise in the tourney.
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I do not see a 2-3 yrs scenario, unless the team seriously collapses down the stretch for some reason. Either:
- Steele earnestly wants to stay, and the university is serious about keeping him. 1M+. I understand he has wealthy family - that isn’t really the point. It’s a commitment to taking basketball seriously, and paying him his market value.
- If EITHER isn’t true - he leaves for a P5 program after this season. This is a “strike while the iron’s hot” situation.
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Steele asked his players to commit to the long-term plan to their financial detriment in some cases, I assume. Now, for him to leave would do that which his players chose not to do. I can’t imagine a team meeting where he announces he is leaving after this season. I believe he is committed to being at Miami for at least the next few years. He is building a solid core. All of the pub will benefit recruiting. He’s comfortable. He’s been at a “bigger” school and getting fired is no fun.
Let’s hope he stays. If not, it will be a very attractive job and will attract some terrific candidates.
Long-term plan? These guys are there 4 years! I’m sure some guys turned down slightly more money for a good situation with guaranteed playing time. But don’t delude yourself. If Steele is not given a sharp raise, and if he doesn’t genuinely want to stay - he will leave. He may not want to stay. Only he knows that, really. But he also needs to be taken care of.
I don’t understand this argument. No one except the head coach cares about how much the head coach makes.
I trust DS to know if Steele wants more money or not, and if it’s an amount of money Miami can afford or not. Backing up the dump truck of money just cause would be silly.
to know if Steele wants more money or not
I heard him say this too, and he sounded dead serious. Trying to accomplish this would be at least as challenging as coaching at a bigger program.
Steele accepted $300K for his first contract which was well below his market value and what he could/should have received. What I heard is that he took less in order to pay his assistants more to get and keep quality assistants. If this is fact, it is clear that his personal income is second to building his program the way he wants it built.
I try my best not to delude myself at every opportunity. I sometimes fail, but I continue to try my best.
And yes, for a college player, a long-term plan is four, maybe 5 years. Remember, these guys are 18-22. “Long-term” is a relative term. At 75, four years isn’t much. To them, it is close to an eternity. Remember when.
Re: Gonzaga: Before Dan Monson, Gonzaga was pretty much known for John Stockton. Monson comes in, guides the Zags to a few tourney runs and takes the job at Minnesota in 1999. Enter Mark Few, who turned Gonzaga into a national power, title runs, and has a $1.8M salary.
Monson was HC at Minnesota for 7 years, then Long Beach State for 17, and is now at Eastern Washington in his first season.
Beyond the practical of limitations of getting to that level, the institutions are completely different. Gonzaga, a small Jesuit university in a decently sized metro area with no other major sports teams (and no DI football/hockey to support), is in a far different situation than we will ever be in. Doesn’t mean we can’t be ambitious but it’s a weird comparison.
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Something I’ve said many times over the last few years to people: there are 1000 reasons why Miami can’t become the Gonzaga of the Midwest, but there are 0 reasons why we can’t do what Wichita State, Drake, or Northern Iowa have done (make 4 or 5 or more NCAAs in a decade stretch).
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Nm
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Why not try to do a Mark Few? That’s as tough, to me, as coaching a NIL-infused juggernaut.
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That Sporting News article is one of the best pro-Miami arguments I have seen yet.
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