Big Time Pay for Jones? No.

Harry · April 17, 2012

BATON ROUGE -- Johnny Jones will be introduced at 1 p.m. today as Louisiana State's men's basketball coach. He took a job no one overtly qualified wanted. He should be paid accordingly, which means not that much compared to the coaches at the more successful programs.

Jones probably will make more than $1 million a year, but he should not. Former coach John Brady did not clear $1 million until after he took LSU to the Final Four in 2006. That was six years ago, but the philosophy made sense. Earn it first.

When Les Miles replaced Nick Saban as head football coach in 2005, he made significantly less than his predecessor and rightfully so because had Saban not left LSU, Miles likely would have remained at Oklahoma State for years. He was coming on, but he was not exactly hot. Eventually, Miles got more money for what he did on the field.

Jones was making $440,000 at North Texas. He should be able to double that at LSU, but not much more. Jones is clearly not a slam-dunk hire as Miles was not at the time, and he should not be paid like one until he performs like one.

Former coach Trent Johnson came in making $1.2 million a year and left drawing $1.5 million a year. When you look at the job he did -- the two worst back-to-back seasons by the same coach in LSU basketball history and seven signees lost in four years -- he was grossly overpaid. But to get him to come from Stanford, the LSU athletics director had to throw some money at him.

Alleva believes he had to do the same thing to attract rising women's basketball coach Nicki Caldwell from UCLA last year. Alleva had to throw money at softball coach Patrick Murphy to get him away from Alabama -- if only for a weekend last summer. He did not have to deliver nearly as much to Florida International's Beth Torina to "replace" Murphy.

Therefore, Alleva should not have to break the bank to hire a coach from North Texas who is an alum who may have come to LSU for the same salary.

Read more: http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20120416/SPORTS/204160321/Guilbeau-Big-time-pay-Jones-No

greenminer · April 17, 2012

What is this, an opinion piece?

If I'm a local paper/news source, why am I spewing onto the LSU tigers about how little I think they should pay their coaches?

CMJ · April 17, 2012

I have a feeling JJ's price went up after some of those big whales LSU tried to get turned them down.

Harry · April 17, 2012

Yeah it really rubbed me the wrong way. Instead of welcoming Johnny with open arms this guy is bitching about how much they should pay him. Yeah Glen, LSU's athletic budget is really rough. Cry me a river.

Rudy · April 17, 2012

I hate it for Johnny that so many are pissing on his hiring. I will enjoy rubbing their words back in their faces when he proves to be a successful coach there.

UNTcrazy727 · April 17, 2012

Yeah it really rubbed me the wrong way. Instead of welcoming Johnny with open arms this guy is bitching about how much they should pay him. Yeah Glen, LSU's athletic budget is really rough. Cry me a river.

But he's right, IMO

CMJ · April 17, 2012

Jones was the first person LSU interviewed, about four days before they hired him. I am not sure he was really their first choice (but felt like in order to pacify their basketball alums they had to at least make an effort to consider him), so they probably floated a low ball type offer thinking he'd probably tell them he'd think about it or something to that effect (which is what he did in my theory).

Then they went hunting for that big splashy name. No one bit, so they came back to JJ. However, now he had leverage knowing that they'd been turned down by a few bigger targets, and they didn't want to be embarrassed being turned down by an ALUM coaching at NORTH TEXAS of all places --- so he was able to negotiate a deal for more money.

wardly · April 17, 2012

i would rather be LSU hiring J.J. than SMU hiring Larry Brown. what are they smoking on the hilltop?

CMJ · April 17, 2012

Oh....also that rumor that JJ had contacted SMU about their opening. It wouldn't surprise me if he did in those open days. Not because he actually was interested in the gig, but he wanted to scare LSU once it became apparent that their "wish list" targets were turning them down. LSU might have been afraid of getting into some sort of bidding war, so once all their other options were coming up empty, they felt they needed to write Jones a bigger check to take away any sort of perceived doubt in JJ's mind.

In ther words, I think JJ completely destroyed the LSU AD in a game of high stakes poker.

oldguystudent · April 17, 2012

I hate it for Johnny that so many are pissing on his hiring. I will enjoy rubbing their words back in their faces when he proves to be a successful coach there.

Heh! Yeah, showed you guys, LSU fans! You guys totally went to the final four with Johnny! Suck it!

eulessismore · April 17, 2012

Some LSU folks just feel insulted that they ended up hiring a coach from UNT. In the meantime, some WFU fans feel insulted that UNT could hire a coach away from them. First time I've used this word but, "meh".

THOR · April 17, 2012

Some LSU folks just feel insulted that they ended up hiring a coach from UNT. In the meantime, some WFU fans feel insulted that UNT could hire a coach away from them. First time I've used this word but, "meh".

so the sun belt falls between the sec and the acc??? i'll take that!

GrandGreen · April 17, 2012

Some of these LSU supporters act like JJ is being paid with the their money. Saw the same thing from some UT ignoramuses when Aston was hired. I guess they would be happier if they hired a bad coach from a name school and paid him more.

eulessismore · April 17, 2012

Oh....also that rumor that JJ had contacted SMU about their opening. It wouldn't surprise me if he did in those open days. Not because he actually was interested in the gig, but he wanted to scare LSU once it became apparent that their "wish list" targets were turning them down. LSU might have been afraid of getting into some sort of bidding war, so once all their other options were coming up empty, they felt they needed to write Jones a bigger check to take away any sort of perceived doubt in JJ's mind.

In ther words, I think JJ completely destroyed the LSU AD in a game of high stakes poker.

I like your theory. So, basically, JJ just playing off SMU against LSU to get a sweeter deal. Conspiratorial, yet elegant. AND...insulting to SMU. What's not to like?

CMJ · April 17, 2012

I like your theory. So, basically, JJ just playing off SMU against LSU to get a sweeter deal. Conspiratorial, yet elegant. AND...insulting to SMU. What's not to like?

Also would put to bed any doubts LSU might have that they were the only school interested in JJ. Fairly brilliant if you ask me.

Edited April 17, 2012 by CMJ

rjmunthe · April 17, 2012

Some LSU folks just feel insulted that they ended up hiring a coach from UNT. In the meantime, some WFU fans feel insulted that UNT could hire a coach away from them. First time I've used this word but, "meh".

Good. I was insulted to have an LSU alum coaching my team.

(sorry Johnny)