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Coach Mills


dave

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14 hours ago, Old Titan said:

If I had to guess, this is merely angling for a raise for himself and his assistants, unless someone just throws stupid money at him.

The job I worry about opening up is Baylor, if Scott Drew gets Texas or Louisville.  Mills would have to be high on their list...

I agree that Baylor is more than likely our biggest risk.  I'm hoping Baylor can keep Scott Drew happy and Scott sees what a great situation he has there. 

Drew has proven he can win at Baylor and they just built him a new arena.  He seems to get the talent he needs to win.  So if I'm him and looking at Texas or Louisville its really about money and drama.  Both programs have a lot of each. 

According to the internet, Scott makes $2.8M. 

Kenny Payne at Louisville is making $3.4M.  So there's a possible bump there.  Does Louisville really want to walk one year into his deal?  If they wait until March to fire him the buy out drops to $8M.  If you're Scott Drew do you want to walk into that circus?  Is there still risk of further NCAA sanctions?  Someone thinks there is because Payne's contract has provisions that extends him at favorable terms if the Cardinals are put on probation....again.  Back to money, if Louisville sacks Payne one year into his deal they will probably have to sweeten the pot to attract their next coach.

Texas is interesting.  I wouldn't have anything to do with any coaching job in a major sport at Texas except maybe baseball.  Their deep pocket alums are crazy and big time meddlers.  My non UT friends and I believe in the curse of the Longhorn network.  If you look at their success in major sports since they launched it you will find very little.  Diving and Volleyball they do great in however.  Anyway, they would pay Scott $5M or more but is it worth it...only to get canned  3 years later because some Houston area oil man doesn't like your NET ranking?  I don't think so.  Coach at Baylor for $3M+ a year for the next 15 years.

Plus Baylor aligns with his values and at that salary he can afford the nicest house in Waco after Chip and Joanna Gaines.  But I'm a banker...I don't think like a coach so what do I know?

(if the Mods want to move this to Coaching Carousel I won't quibble)

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15 hours ago, Old Titan said:

If I had to guess, this is merely angling for a raise for himself and his assistants, unless someone just throws stupid money at him.

The job I worry about opening up is Baylor, if Scott Drew gets Texas or Louisville.  Mills would have to be high on their list...

Do you think Mills would be chosen over Jerome Tang? He seems to be doing a pretty nice job at Kansas State. Much bigger fish in a much bigger pond. It certainly would be interesting to see what Baylor would do with two former assistants who are great friends. And if my memory is correct, didn't the ORU job come down to between Mills and Tang? May come full circle again......

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Good call on Tang. Kansas State will work hard to keep him though - given the job he has done to revitalize the Wildcats. It would be interesting to see if Tang would leave. 

Tang was the first interview, but I heard he told us we could not afford him - and then proceeded to tell us to hire Mills. I think Mills took a pay cut to leave Baylor and take the ORU job. 

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I think Drew is at Baylor for life. I would be surprised to see him leave.

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TheEagleman thinks Coach Mills is going to get a nice raise.....especially if ORU wins the Summit League Tournament in March.....the Administration better be prepared to pony up.....:hc_mills:

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On 2/21/2023 at 2:42 PM, Otis 83 said:

I agree that Baylor is more than likely our biggest risk.  I'm hoping Baylor can keep Scott Drew happy and Scott sees what a great situation he has there. 

Drew has proven he can win at Baylor and they just built him a new arena.  He seems to get the talent he needs to win.  So if I'm him and looking at Texas or Louisville its really about money and drama.  Both programs have a lot of each. 

According to the internet, Scott makes $2.8M. 

Kenny Payne at Louisville is making $3.4M.  So there's a possible bump there.  Does Louisville really want to walk one year into his deal?  If they wait until March to fire him the buy out drops to $8M.  If you're Scott Drew do you want to walk into that circus?  Is there still risk of further NCAA sanctions?  Someone thinks there is because Payne's contract has provisions that extends him at favorable terms if the Cardinals are put on probation....again.  Back to money, if Louisville sacks Payne one year into his deal they will probably have to sweeten the pot to attract their next coach.

Texas is interesting.  I wouldn't have anything to do with any coaching job in a major sport at Texas except maybe baseball.  Their deep pocket alums are crazy and big time meddlers.  My non UT friends and I believe in the curse of the Longhorn network.  If you look at their success in major sports since they launched it you will find very little.  Diving and Volleyball they do great in however.  Anyway, they would pay Scott $5M or more but is it worth it...only to get canned  3 years later because some Houston area oil man doesn't like your NET ranking?  I don't think so.  Coach at Baylor for $3M+ a year for the next 15 years.

Plus Baylor aligns with his values and at that salary he can afford the nicest house in Waco after Chip and Joanna Gaines.  But I'm a banker...I don't think like a coach so what do I know?

(if the Mods want to move this to Coaching Carousel I won't quibble)

Scott Drew probably makes north of $3.5 Million all in with bonus $$ and living expenses and cars and such. No way he takes the Louisville job as that job is not as good as the Baylor job.

I am a Texas fan so i won't go into it much. 🙂 The football team has massively underachieved for the last decade. Other than that, they won the directors cup last year which is a nice accomplishment. 

They thought they had a perfect coach in Beard for the program.( Until he was an idiot) State of the art facility. and as much NIL $ as needed. Now it will be interesting in who they hire in April. Again i would not leave Baylor for the TX job but say a $2 million dollar raise for 5 years? Who knows? 

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On 2/25/2023 at 6:50 PM, dave said:

They have to. Just take a look around campus and see the positive fallout from the publicity and good will the basketball team brings to the university. Libraries, Performing Arts Centers, Athletic Complexes, Arena Renovations, Welcome Centers, and future baseball stadium makeovers, increased enrollment are just some of the effects the basketball program has had on ORU. He is the guy who would have taken the blame if it didn't go well. He's the guy that should be compensated for the fact it is trending waaaaay up. In basketball you feed the guy who has the hot hand. Guess what, Mills is on fire right now. 

So if you are the AD for ORU what is the max you are paying Mills? $1 million? $1.2 million? It will be interesting as you start making that much then expectations start going WAY up. Like making the NCAA tournament 4 out of 5 years type of expectations. 

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2 hours ago, darrenj said:

So if you are the AD for ORU what is the max you are paying Mills? $1 million? $1.2 million? It will be interesting as you start making that much then expectations start going WAY up. Like making the NCAA tournament 4 out of 5 years type of expectations. 

First of all, I may be totally wrong, but I don't think ORU is willing to pay a coach that much. Maybe after two deep runs into the NCAA Tournament maybe they would at least consider it.  Secondly, I think to meet the expectation you mentioned we'd need to be in a league capable of receiving more than one bid. Both SDSU and NDSU are capable of fielding very good teams, and others are on the rise. Counting on that level of domination would be problematic in our conference. Who needs that level of stress? While big paychecks are very alluring, in truth there is only so much money you can spend. A coach that settles in for ten years at $600,000/year will be if very good financial shape at the end of that period. I know there is always the ego element, that says why should I settle for $600,000 here when I could be making $2 million over there? If you can find a coach that will be happy with the first option rather than requiring the second, I think ORU is a pretty great place to coach. Low stress (relatively speaking), adoring fans (voice excepted), and an administration that allows a coach to be himself as much as anywhere. If Mills moves on to a higher paying job, those benefits disappear quickly.

But he knows that.

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The coach at College of Charleston just signed a new deal for 1.2 million per annum, long-term.

Let me put it this way:  you can bet the farm that, within approx. 60 days, Paul Mills will be making $1 million or more per season for multiple years.

WHERE he's making that extra bank is the only question...

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16 minutes ago, tmh8286 said:

First of all, I may be totally wrong, but I don't think ORU is willing to pay a coach that much. Maybe after two deep runs into the NCAA Tournament maybe they would at least consider it.  Secondly, I think to meet that expectation you mentioned we'd need to be in a league capable of receiving more than one bid. Both SDSU and NDSU are capable of fielding very good teams, and others are on the rise. Counting on that level of domination would be problematic in our conference. Who needs that level of stress? While big paychecks are very alluring, in truth there is only so much money you can spend. A coach that settles in for ten years at $600,000/year will be if very good financial shape at the end of that period. I know there is always the ego element, that says why should I settle for $600,000 here when I could be making $2 million over there? If you can find a coach that will be happy with the first option rather than requiring the second, I think ORU is a pretty great place to coach. Low stress (relatively speaking), adoring fans (voice excepted), and an administration that allows a coach to be himself as much as anywhere. If Mills moves on to a higher paying job, those benefits disappear quickly.

But he knows that.

Yes sir. People mention the Big 12 and that place is a grind every single night. Look at the OSU coach as pretty good team but i don't think they make the tourney this year. His seat is going to get really warm pretty soon and now with the NIL schools don't really have to hire Cade Cunningham's brother for $200K for a year. Now they can just write them a check. Say Mills follows Drew at Baylor? Imagine the pressure of that job compared to ORU. Night and day. 

Scott Sutton passed up 3 Missouri Valley jobs that would have paid 2 to 3 times what he made at ORU but then lost his key assistants and everything went downhill from there. I promise you he thought about those jobs that he passed up. 

Say Mills wins an average of 18 to 20 games in the next 2 to 3 years after Max is gone and no tournament appearances. He is losing i think 5 of his top 7 players this spring so next year will be a rebuild. If he is going to leave this would be the year. 

If they make the tourney he will have to make some tough decisions. ORU can only offer so much. 

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Hello,

Mills has done a great job and I’m sure gets offers. However, like his mentor and former boss Scott Drew, he may stay for the long term to build and establish growth and success. Drew was at Valpo before making Baylor home. He got a Baylor team with lots of baggage and had a rough few seasons. Look where Baylor is now due to stewardship and hard work. If mills leaves that’s understood, but if he stays and I hope he does, he has long term plans at ORU.

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1 minute ago, darrenj said:

Scott Sutton passed up 3 Missouri Valley jobs that would have paid 2 to 3 times what he made at ORU but then lost his key assistants and everything went downhill from there. I promise you he thought about those jobs that he passed up. 

I knew about Wichita State and Bradley; what was the third?

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Did Nebraska want Scott Sutton after the 27-7 NIT year?  Seems like he was offered the position but I could be wrong.

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2 minutes ago, Keenan Henderson said:

Did Nebraska want Scott Sutton after the 27-7 NIT year?  Seems like he was offered the position but I could be wrong.

Not sure it was offered; he did interview for it.

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Mills and ORU are perfect for each other....is a state or public school going to give him the same open forum to discuss Jesus Christ??....uh....no.....Coach is bringing a lot of positive publicity and donations to university so TheEagleman guesses the school would sweeten the pot a little bit which is the right thing to do....people have said that Mills has a vision for ORU to be the Gonzaga of the Midwest.....why not?....going to a bigger school for more $$$ does not mean more happiness as we all know....just saying.....TheEagleman currently is working for a company that I actually went to for LESS $$$ and I am so much happier and content......sometimes the grass is not always greener.....but i am sure i am preaching to the choir.....I would be surprised if Coach Mills bolted unless he doesn't like his bosses or something like that...... :hc_mills:

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28 minutes ago, Old Titan said:

I knew about Wichita State and Bradley; what was the third?

I believe one more as well. Of course, i would have to ask someone to make sure.:) I think the job he always wanted was Arkansas.  

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Oh yeah....I could see Scott Sutton at Arkansas trying to keep all those Hog nuts happy.....poor Scott would have had a nervous breakdown within 3 seasons......Image result for Scott Sutton ORU

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