@bballtalk , with all due respect, it appears that what you have characterized as what many LSU fans "think" is actually what certain LSU WBB fans "wish."
With LSU hiring a new, aggressive AD in Scott Woodward, a lot of LSU fans think his first plan is to maybe get Kim Mulkey from Baylor.
First, football is king at LSU. AD Scott Woodward hired Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State, where Fisher had won a national championship and which, historically (if not presently), has been a football power. The contract at A&M was for 10 years and $75 million. Most notably, however, is that this contract does not have a buyout provision.
Woodward and Fisher worked together at LSU in the early 2000s, and Fisher said Woodward's presence at Texas A&M swayed him to accept the job. LSU had a rough transition from Les Miles to Ed Orgeron; being able to draw a major college coach and bring LSU up to where it can challenge Alabama is going to be the top priority, not women's basketball. And remember, Woodward hired Chris Petersen at Washington, who completely turned around the Huskies and led them to the playoffs a few years ago. Woodward's track record is one of splashy football hires.
Second, while Will Wade was reinstated as LSU men's basketball coach after serving a suspension for over one month, issues linger. Wade was suspended for not meeting with LSU to answer questions about his relationship with Christian Dawkins, the agent who has already been convicted in the prior FBI trial and who is on trial again next week. Remember, in early March, Wade was reported to be caught on wiretaps talking to Dawkins about a "strong-ass offer" for a recruit.
Depending on what emerges during Dawkins' second trial, it is a possibility that Woodward would have to make a change at the helm of the men's basketball program, which is a much more pressing priority than the women's basketball program.
She’s from Louisiana, she recruits Louisiana very well (ala Kalani Brown), and LSU would be willing to pay her.
In October 2018, the LSU Board of Supervisors
approved three-year contract extension for LSU WBB HC Nikki Fargas. Fargas' base salary of $350,000 per year did not change, although incentives based on success were added. The extension runs through the end of the 2021-22 season.
In 2016-2017, Baylor WBB HC Kim Mulkey's
base salary was $1,840,366. She also received $43,840 in other Baylor University compensation. While the 2016-17 figures for non-university compensation and maximum bonus were not available for Baylor/Mulkey, we can look back to calendar year 2014 to see that
Mulkey was reported with more than $2.1 million in total pay, with nearly $1.85 million as base pay.
And if you want to go back an even greater amount of time, Baylor signed Mulkey to a contract extension back in 2007 (two years after her first national title) for 10 years,
with an annual salary of over $1 million. Again, this was back in 2007 -- compare that to what LSU is paying Fargas now.
Using the 2016-2017 base pay figure for Mulkey (and assuming it applies in 2018-2019 or a number close to it) and the contract extension base pay amount for Fargas, Baylor pays approximately $1,490,366 more to its WBB coach than LSU does.
There is absolutely
zero evidence that LSU "would be willing to pay" Mulkey at least $1.5 million more than it currently pays Fargas., especially considering that WBB is a non-revenue sport.
Nikki Fargas year after year has brought LSU’s program lower and lower, but still kept getting extensions from Joe Alleva. I feel like it would be easier to get players to come to LSU (Baylor sexual scandals). But Idk just putting it out there.
The Baylor scandal was the result of numerous allegations of and convictions for sexual and non-sexual assaults committed by students, mostly football players, at Baylor University between the years 2012 and 2016.
Here are recent recruiting class rankings for Kim Mulkey's Baylor program:
espnW/Dan Olson
Prospects Nation
All Star Girls Report
- Baylor had the #1 recruiting class in 2018, per All Star Girls Report (ASGR).
- Baylor had the #5 recruiting class in 2017, per All Star Girls Report (ASGR).
- Baylor had the #1 recruiting class in 2016, per All Star Girls Report (ASGR).
- Baylor had the #8 recruiting class in 2015, per All Star Girls Report (ASGR).
There is no evidence that the Baylor sex scandal has any detrimental impact on recruiting for its women's basketball program.
There is also no evidence to support the statement that it would be easier to get players to come to LSU because of the Baylor sex scandal.
Like on the LSU boards the most talked about things right now are maybe stealing jimbo from A&M and getting Kim Mulkey. During the WW absence people was talking about hiring her for the men’s basketball head coach lol
A radio station in Shreveport set off the discussion of Kim Mulkey to LSU while Will Wade was suspended.
Tim Fletcher, the morning host on 1130 The Tiger (KWKH) in Shreveport, suggested that Baylor Women's Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey would be the best option for LSU. A source contacted Mulkey while the show was on the air, and she responded by saying, "I like that."
I would not characterize this as people having serious (or even remotely semi-serious discussions of Mulkey leaving Baylor to coach the LSU men. This was not he administration having discussions with her. Heck, the school just reinstated Will Wade, notwithstanding potential ramifications from Dawkins' second trial.
More important, back in 2017,
LSU signed Will Wade to a six-year deal worth $15 million ($2.5 million per year). The contract does
not include a buyout. This means that if LSU fires Wade, the school would owe him the entire remaining amount if he were to be fired. The contract has four years remaining, meaning LSU would have to pay Wade a total of $10 million dollars if he were to be fired right now.
In reading your post (and again, this is not intended as a personal attack, but rather analysis of and commentary regarding your post, I was reminded of a line often uttered in my Phoenix Suns group on Facebook:
"I'm a fan first and, at a very distant second, a realist."
In dissecting the statements from the original post, my point is that discussions on messages boards very often have little in the way of facts or rational thought behind them, but more often than not express the desire of an ardent fan base.
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