It's just another step in the process and not yet consequential but Nevada Coach Marl Fox has interviewed with Cal AD Sandy Barbour.
Various rumors -- and therefore names -- are floating about both in newspapers and the blogosphere but it just makes sense that the Cal opening is between St. Mary's Randy Bennett and Fox.
Bennett's tango with Oregon State ended abruptly, apparently foundering on salaries for assistant coaches and travel means and expenses for road games. In my mind, OSU needed Bennett more than he needed OSU although San Diego's Bill Grier would be a nice consolation prize for Corvallis.
Curiously, Bennett lives about two miles for Sandy Barbour but he wasn't a shoo-in. Early on, Cal 'reached' for a couple of other coaches, got its hand slapped and now is seriously deciding between Bennett and Fox. What also makes this a very good pairing is that Bennett wouldn't have to move if he was offered and took the position in Berkeley.
Fox absolutely deserves to be in contention based on what he has accomplished on the court in Reno. His landing of talented players at Nevada has always been excellent so imagine what he could accomplish in recruiting if at Cal?
Fox's players also have a history of showing improvement from season-to-season and his teams likewise demonstrate such. He will command the respect of whichever group of players he is coaching and he also won't be out-worked, areas which contributed to Ben Braun's demise. A fire always seems to reside in Fox's belly, if you will.
Fox will come cheaper than Bennett who seemingly is adamant that all he feels is necessary be in place for him to say yes be on the table and then in writing. Braun's buyout has to be hurting Cal a bit financially so why not go for Fox?
Not based on any particular signal, expect Cal to have a new men's basketball coach by the end of this week.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Mark Fox has interviewed with Cal
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3 comments:
Why would Bennett cost more than Fox? I haven't seen anything about that in the many articles I've read. I think I read that Bennett makes $300k while Fox makes $500k and Fox has far more success than does Bennett with a better record, more consistency, more trips to the Dance and better recruiting. Are you sure about that? Also, Fox has a buyout clause of about $250k IIRC. That's not a lot for Cal, but not peanuts either considering their Braun buyout.
Fox is at $425k but we don't know what, if any, incentives would make the total go higher.
I based the comment on Bennett being more costly primarily on two factors:
1) Bennett wanted his assistant coaches to be very well compensated if he was to truly consider the OSU openings
2) Bennett also wanted a guarantee of charter flights if he was to helm the Oregon State squad.
These two factors would have resulted in hefty dollars beyond whatever salary Bennett would have earned and it resulted in his candidacy being a non-starter in Corvallis. I imagine he would have required something similar if things had gotten very serious with Cal.
Now this is not to say that Fox wouldn't have required similar situations -- it just isn't known how far things got in his discussions with Cal.
So it isn't just a matter of the head coach salary -- but no, I can't say in all honesty that I am 100% sure.
Plus, it doesn't matter anymore considering the latest news. Let's find out what Mike Montgomery is to be paid.
IIRC Fox gets $25k for making it to the NCAA tourney and something like $5 per round for advancing. He also received a one time $100k bonus last year from boosters after he turned down the Nebraska job. His base salary also goes up $25k per year. Also, about your thread on coaching salaries, and again I'm going by memory from researching this on a message board last year, I think Cleveland makes around $500k as well.
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