We are now at April 10th and still no word on Travis Steele.
I know some of you are going to say he is already under contract so what needs to be said but I am calling BS on that
Box and Noreen were under contract and announced their extensions weeks ago
Everything I read is it was more money for assistants and for NIL and for him. So why hasnt he signed an extension?
Do you think signing an extension would prevent him from leaving within 24 hours if he chose to do that?
He’s busy recruiting
Steele signed an extension last year. I doubt he’s in a rush. There’s literally nothing to be worried about as there’s no open jobs left (except for a couple mid and low major jobs he’d never go to)
No but it never impacts that.
But it would make me feel better that he will be coaching next year. We have very little good news since the season ended. We have speculation that Kriby- Ipsaro and hopefully Skaljac are coming back. We lost 3 great players. Momentum is being lost
No speculation necessary
Get it together champ, this is the world we live in. I don’t think Steele is going to change his process just to help you sleep better. This is what it is and the people who sign the checks are ok with it.
If we need momentum at this point, we’re in trouble. John Cooper and Jack Owens, had momentum at times, and they needed it badly
I’m not experiencing any heartburn over the lack of extension news. However, since it was placed on the table and discussed by Sayler and Steele publicly, it should be addressed. If for nothing more than to kill the topic and assumption (until proven otherwise) than he hasn’t signed it. And if he hasn’t signed it, that could be interpreted as not being happy with the offer.
Again, I’m not losing any sleep over it. But I get it.
Send your questions to Sayler. He made the public gesture, he should have to answer for it publicly, he enjoyed the publicity when it served him, despite how cringe it was at times.
Its also worth noting losing only 3 players is the best retention of any MAC team. No other team is returning as much talent. We are the only MAC team returning an all-MAC team player, and Evan is coming back from injury as well.
So to summarize: we are returning the MAC coach of the year, the only All-MAC team player still in the conference, our star PG from injury who would probably have been our leading scorer, and two other additional players who played 17+ mpg each in Kirby and Almar (so 4 total previous rotation guys back).
If this is losing momentum, what do you call Kent and Akron who basically return nothing? Kent is returning ONE player in their rotation over 10mpg (Woidke) and have 9 players in the portal. Akron is returning ONE player in their rotation over 10mpg (Halligan) and have 6 players in the portal. They also lost their head coach.
We are having by far the best off season in the MAC.
Wouldn’t a new contract mean a much higher buyout? Why would he sign a new contract now if it makes him less attractive to other jobs (assuming he’s looking)?
buyout amount is part of the negotiation. Everyone uses whatever leverage they have across the board. Salary, asst salary, travel, buyout, resources, car, golf club, parking space, polo thread counts, amount of free shoes and socks, time in and out of office, attendance at on campus events, off campus events, office chair quality, etc
I don’t think Travis really wants to leave. My sources tell me that the new contract will make him 2nd only to the UMass coach in MAC BB coach salaries.
Travis isn’t leaving the area. He actually enjoys the 45 minute drive. The only job I personally see as a threat would be Ohio State.
I’m of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think it’s odd we haven’t heard anything, but on the other hand I know nothing about the negotiations. Sayler let it be known publicly that we offered him an extension so if/when something gets done, I’m certain we’ll know about it.
From Steele’s perspective whatever the buyout is I can’t imagine it would be big enough to scare off other schools from pursuing him. I’d guess he could sign the contract today and take another job tomorrow. Also, why not make more money in the meantime? I’m more just curious, on a tabloid level, what the holdup is. Assistant coach’s salaries, NIL commitment, something else? It does no good to speculate. What I am confident in is that he’ll be our coach next year. As many have pointed out, there aren’t any jobs left. UNC hiring Mike Malone ensured that. So, unless he wants to become a power conference assistant, he’s our coach for at least one more year.
Basically, I’m not worried. Is it a little curious we haven’t gotten a formal announcement on Steele, or Ipsaro, Skaljac, Atlason for that matter, yes, it is? (One thing the portal has taught us is players love a social media announcement) Am I worried about losing momentum? Not really. Assuming everything holds, we did alright on the retention front, we kept our coach and we’re getting a new arena in a few years.