This ought to be good for some serious venting and flaming…..but consider this…
We “HAD” Shaka Smart. Shaka was considered as THE prize catch from the Atlantic 10….much as Archie has taken over THAT role now. VCU is 3 time larger than Dayton….
Remember, we HAD Shaka…It was his hormone charged PG wife that killed the deal. No SPECULATION. Pure facts. His agent/attorneys and our ours spent all night in Richmond hammering out his “LOI”. Then around noon, his wife said..”I ain’t going”. Shaka languished around Richmond for a few years….
AT UT, his first year 20 – 13 or .606 and 11 – 7 in conference. Gott’s first year 25 – 13 or 0.658 and 9 & 7 in Conference
Shaka, this year, his second, is 10 – 15 or .400 and 4 – 8 in conference.
Gott’s second year was 23 – 12 or .658 and 11 – 7 in conference.
YES, after the second year….it has been a a death spiral. BUT, my point….Shaka was considered to be THE NEW and UPCOMING COY. He was pursued each year and each year VCU called on more of the alumni to prostitute their wives and daughters to pay his NEXT Salary increase….which is what has happened at Dayton.
Don’t know if Shaka will recover nor do I know what his talent pool was compared to ours. BUT, the results are NOT what we would have wanted….and we would be griping MORE and MORE.
This is NO, ABSOLUTELY NO defense of where we are now…nor might it be an “indicator” of what Archie would do.
All it is a historical review of WHAT HAPPENED….and a comment that we need to do a THOROUGH evaluation of WHOM we hire. Shaka SURE LOOKED GOOD and he had all the moves and personality. The EYES of Texas are upon him now and it ain’t, at least this year, a pretty sight….
It PROBABLY will take a $3 Million Buyout for Archie to get out of his contract….based on the typical ratio of Guaranteed to Total pay. YES, we can probably double his Salary…. YES, it will cost us an additional $2.5 Million to get rid of Gottfried. We also need to kick in another Million PER YEAR to upgrade the Assistants salaries.
Changing coaches, which I am TOTALLY IN FAVOR OF, will NOT be a petty cash deal. We need to make sure that we have the BEST qualified candidate(s) NOT the sentimental favorites…
