The first good news of what should be a very wild off season came out yesterday as Brad Stevens has committed to the Butler program. First, lets get the details out of the way. Stevens is 33 years old and this is a 12 year deal. According to this deal, Stevens will be on the Butler sideline until he is 45.
I am not sure what the annual salary is but I am sure it is not on par with what the likes of Oregon, Clemson, Wake Forest would have offered.
Some people are saying Stevens is missing his one window of opportunity to cash in and make it to the next level. This is why I am here to level some sense into the debate.
To start, Brad Stevens is very, very young. After 12 years he will be 45 years old which is still very young in college basketball coaching years. To put this in perspective, he was the youngest coach in the Sweet Sixteen, the College Basketball Promised Land. He was six years younger than the next youngest. The average age for a coach in this year's Sweet Sixteen was 47.3. If you take out mid-majors (which are jobs that would not have lured Stevens from Butler), the average age is 50. When you slim the list down to the Final Four, you have Izzo (50), Huggings (56), Coach K (63), and Stevens (33). Translation: the guy is a baby.
That being said, there is no rush for Stevens to throw himself into a bigger program with way more demands, competition and expectations. Even if he never recreated his success from this year, he can still have a very successful 12 seasons in the Horizon League and earn a shot at the big schools.
Would it be crazy for Stevens to win 10 Horizon League titles in the next 12 years? Let's even go conservative and give him only 6. In the new world of 96 team gluttony, he is still playing in 10 or 12 tournaments (excuse me while I throw up).
Bottom line for the window-of-opportunity-closing debate- Stevens' window has just opened and he has plenty of time to prove his worth in the Horizon League before exposing himself to the next level of pressure and expectations.
On the other hand, you have someone like Steve Donahue who is leaving Cornell for the ACC to coach Boston College. Much different scenario. Donahue, at 48, is in his coaching prime. He has brought the Cornell program to its peak and he is graduating lots of seniors. Next year will be a down year for Cornell and Princeton is getting better. He left at just the right time.
That is not to say Donahue will have it easy in BC. They have a talent gap that needs to be filled quick. Donahue will have his hands full hitting the recruiting circuit hard and heavy to have BC in the mix. Despite three years of success at Cornell, recruiting for the Ivy League is nothing compared to the ACC.
Going back to Stevens, what does he have to gain from a move like that? More money perhaps. But think about what he has to lose? He has a solid program with tons of returning talent (pending Gordon Hayward's decision). He has the Gonzaga-factor which is a recruiters gem (see what the Gonzaga program has been able to do thanks to early success on the backs of Frahm and Santangelo). He is coaching in Indiana, a fertile flat-bed of basketball talent, in an era where Indiana University is way down, meaning Butler is the number one choice for in-state ball. The buy is beloved in Indy. He has job security. What more could a young, aspiring coach ask for?
Now, let me play devil's advocate for a moment. What if Stevens isn't so wide-eyed and honest as we take him for? Consider Sean Miller, who inked a 13 year extension with Xavier but soon thereafter bolted for Arizona. That was pure dollars. Miller left behind a very solid contender for a team in a power-six in rebuilding mold. Good for him. Arizona is a challenge with lucrative payouts.
Look around the college landscape now. The best jobs available are Oregon (yawn), Clemson (yawn), Wake Forest (potential but certainly not Arizona-caliber potential). After that, the drop off is huge. Rutgers, Charlotte, and thats about it. Stevens has given himself a wonderful hedge. He has 12 years of guaranteed money with a school and state that loves him. He can build a name for himself at a quality, nationally recognized program where a huge portion of the success will be given to him. And whenever a lucrative spot opens, he can bolt for greener grass.
The way I see it, Stevens didn't commit to Butler as much as he committed to guaranteed money in a down market. If Kentucky or Indiana were calling at his door, I don't think Stevens would still be with Butler.
I love Stevens and I love that he will be with Butler for the foreseeable future. But I have a feeling we won't be seeing him live out those 12 years.
In other coaching news, Corliss "Big Nasty" Williamson is the new head coach at Central Arkansas which is a huge PR-win for CA. Corliss is most remembered for leading the '94 Arkansas team to a National Championship.
Two other coaching hires I am really looking forward to are Steve Lavin at St. Johns and Fran McCaffery at Iowa. Lavin has worked for ESPN for the past few years and will have to work really hard to secure a chunk of NYC Metro area talent. This is one of the greatest areas for talent and as of late, local schools have really struggled to keep kids close. Just look at this years final four. De'Saun Butler, Wellington Smith, Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Darryl Bryant, Danny Jennings, Brian Zoubek, and Lance Thomas are from the NYC Metro area. That is some serious talent!
Fran McCaffery is leaving the Northeast where he has had tremendous success to battle Iowa out of the Big 10 basement. He will probably convince some Northeast talent to travel out to the Midwest so that, too, should be interesting.
Posts
