They Want Coach Drew

[valpotx]

I guarantee that Vandy's PR person will have a hard time getting Bryce to kick his 'you know' speech habit.  I have to think that they will want a little more polish from his press conferences.

[valpo64]

Aaaah, ummmmm,,aah, ummmm a  , umm

[blackpantheruwm]

I guarantee that Vandy's PR person will have a hard time getting Bryce to kick his 'you know' speech habit.  I have to think that they will want a little more polish from his press conferences.

You know, I'd be astounded if they're really worried about it. These are minor details.

[valpopal]

Bryce's press conference at Vanderbilt expected to take place tomorrow (Wednesday), and I hope Valpo acts very quickly to name a successor (preferably Powell). It is important to our current players and to possible recruits that continuity be evident. As everyone has indicated, speculation about Bryce moving elsewhere has existed for a few years; therefore, plans should already have been in place for such a situation.

[a3uge]

He owes Valpo a statement first.

[covufan]

Hate to have been right on this one.   Vanderbilt made too much sense.   

I don't want to ruin a day for anyone, but I would bet you Homer will move to Nashville.    Grandkids are quite a tug and he may feel like he would be lurking in the stands as a shadow over a new coach. 

We should wish this amazing family well and just look forward to the next chapter.  I would be really happy with either Powell or Tonagel.

I'm guessing little rock, ark. About halfway between Nashville and Waco

[valpotx]

He doesn't really owe Valpo anything lol.  He put the school on the map on a more national level, and has us positioned well for the next coach.  As long as ML can convince Powell to be our coach, we should be a really strong team next season, and going forward.  If Felder is gone to the NBA, even if Peters caves in to Power 5 pressure, we would still be a top 2 team.

[valpotx]

Do you think that ML is soliciting feedback from our players, similar to what Wright State did?

[valpo tundra]

I understand that Coach Bryce doesn't owe Valpo anything. However, one could make the case that he actually owes Valpo 7 and a half years more of coaching.  His contract didn't need to be so long just to have the poacher pay us for the remaining years.  It could have been for fewer years with a clause dictating that the future poacher needs to pay x amount to release him from the remainder.  He does owe his Valpo players an explanation in private.  That being said, Coach Bryce is a great guy and has been fantastic for the university community. I wish him the best.  I don't see Alec going to a Power 5.  It would be more likely that Gonzaga would sell him on being the missing piece to their Final Four ambitions. And why not bring back Jake Diebler as the main assistant coach?

[a3uge]

He doesn't really owe Valpo anything lol.  He put the school on the map on a more national level, and has us positioned well for the next coach.  As long as ML can convince Powell to be our coach, we should be a really strong team next season, and going forward.  If Felder is gone to the NBA, even if Peters caves in to Power 5 pressure, we would still be a top 2 team.

Whatever. The whole "people matter, not results" article a week ago... No, $2.7 million matters. Yeah, I would have done the same thing - any of us would have, but when you can't make it completely through your first recruiting class because $2.7 is a lot more money and you might be able to get much better results, just don't go and pretend it's all about the people, because it's not.

He might not owe Valpo anything, but without Valpo, Homer doesn't exist. "The Shot" doesn't exist. Bryce is just a fringe NBA player if he even gets drafted, and isn't handed a D1 job in his 30's. Half the people here are predicting doom and gloom now; I see this as an opportunity to finally move past the legacy of one shot that has given Valpo 0 NCAA tournament wins since that year.

Edit: sorry, maybe a bit harsh - I trust ML though.

[vusupporter]

Bryce made it through his first recruiting class seven years ago.

[nkvu]

On the surface a contract is between two parties where both intend to fulfill the terms.  However today contracts between schools and coaches are apparently much more complicated. They protect coaches if they are unsuccessful and the school wants to replace them. They protect schools if the coaches are successful and want to move to bigger schools who can pay more. Seldom do they really represent a true commitment that a coach intends to stay till the end of the contract or that a school wants to keep a coach for the full term if they are total failures. Coaches are not truely committed nor are schools.  A mid major cannot keep a coach who wants to move to a power five. The power five school can always pay whatever is necessary to buy out the coach's contract. The best the mid-major's school can hope for is enough compensation to advance the program a bit. Sucks but that is the world we live in.

[rogerwilco]

So, does anyone know what Vandy will pay Valpo as the buyout clause of Bryce's 10-year contract extension?

[HC]

I would be surprised if a number is announced.  I would think it would be at least the value of his remaining contract, but I have no idea.

[VULB#62]

My uninformed guess would be a percentage of the full value of the remaining years. For Valpo's sake I would hope that would be north of 50%. That alone should be sufficient to fully fund a new 4 year contract with the next HBBC.

[valpotx]

I completely agree with Greeny on this topic:

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15145613

It is an absolute joke that kids have so many transfer restrictions put in place, but a coach can leave at any point and make tons of money elsewhere.  Basically, a coach can leave behind a 'screw you' note to his players that got him the massive pay raise, but kids have to sit a year and can't transfer to certain schools (not saying this is related to Bryce, but rather just in general). 

[VU2014]

I don't really want to get into the whole, "Should schools pay players and consider them employees?" discussion. If they start considering the student athletes to be employees then they should strip away the student part all together. It would be an a really bad thing for non-Power5 conference schools like Valpo because we wouldn't have the resources to pay the kids. Plus at that point why would young athletes even be connected to schools? Why wouldn't the NBA just form a minor league at that point and they could sign kids right out of high school rather then with a collegiate school?

It's a very tricky topic and clearly student athletes get taken advantage of all the time but its a free education for playing a kids game and platform for an athlete to get noticed by the pros. Although I am for students getting a very small stipends for food, travel expenses, misc expense, etc. But no matter what there will still be corruption, back door deals, and under the table $ always with boosters at many of these big schools.

[valpotx]

I wasn't saying anything regarding paying players.  I was more speaking about how schools can restrict a kid from transferring to specific schools, while coaches can go wherever they want and make more $$.

[zvillehaze]

My uninformed guess would be a percentage of the full value of the remaining years. For Valpo's sake I would hope that would be north of 50%. That alone should be sufficient to fully fund a new 4 year contract with the next HBBC.

The buyout is negotiated, so can range quite a bit from contract to contract.  Here are two examples I could find easily:

Tony Bennett - 7 years at $2 million per for total contract of $14; his buyout (amount he owes to leave) started at $1.4 and dropped by $0.2 each year.  Basically 10% of amount remaining on contract.

Shaka Smart at VCU - 10 years at $1.5 for total contract of $15 million; buyout was "only" $600k in year 1 and dropped by $100k each year.  Texas paid VCU $500k when they hired him last year.

My take is that coaches like Smart (who have plenty of options to move up) can negotiate much lesser buyouts in exchange for staying at their current school.  My guess is that when Bryce signed his new deal a few years ago, he probably had the upper hand in dictating the buyout provision.  Just my  .

[HC]

What in the world is taking this so long to be officially announced 

Lets get it over with so Valpo can start answering some of their own quesitons.

[VULB#62]

What in the world is taking this so long to be officially announced 

Lets get it over with so Valpo can start answering some of their own quesitons.

   Lawyers.

[VU2014]

...

[ValpoFan]

Coaches are professional adults who are being paid to do the job. Students, on the other hand are "Amateurs" with their only benefit supposedly being a free education. That is why coaches can be recruited while students should not be. I don't expect Greeny to understand that difference because at his level of thinking, everyone is a professional. 

[sliman]

Not sure where to post this, but Bryce now has at least one scholarship available at Vanderbilt:  http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040516aaa.html

[valpopal]

What in the world is taking this so long to be officially announced 

Lets get it over with so Valpo can start answering some of their own quesitons.

I've been told Bryce is scheduled to be officially introduced this afternoon and to give media interviews later in the day.