Balas: Herbert wanted to stay, but M wouldn't give him the long-term deal he wanted

Submitted by Communist Football on January 29th, 2024 at 3:40 PM

According to Chris Balas ($), Ben Herbert wanted to stay at Michigan, and told Michigan what it would take to keep him, and Warde Manuel didn't give it to him. Manuel said at the Sherrone press conference that he was doing his "due diligence" on Herbert. Apparently he didn't do enough of it.

So we can blame Harbaugh all we want but this seems like Warde Manuel's fault for not doing what it takes to retain the most important coach in the program.

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WirlingDirvish

January 29th, 2024 at 3:46 PM ^

From the RUMORS I heard, Herbert wanted 10 years. That's an insanely long timeframe, especially when the HC only has a 5 year contract. It handcuffs any HC's ability to make staff changes if necessary when they have a contract that long. 

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UMForLife

January 29th, 2024 at 3:50 PM ^

They don't have the money? What are they doing with all the money they are not paying the players. If it doesn't work out pay him the 10 year money and move on. Unless UM is suddenly going to pour all the money they are making to the students, I don't get why not spend it to retain the best. Not aimed at you OP but just doesn't make sense. 

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crg

January 29th, 2024 at 4:06 PM ^

Exactly - this red herring about mountains of cash being hoarded by schools because "the players aren't being paid!" is rather absurd... especially when we are seeing players getting easily 5, 6 and 7 figures/year from NIL now.

People want to see where that money goes?  Look at the mass expansion of the program staff (coaches, trainers, analysts, assistants, nutritionists, etc.) - and their exponentially growing salaries.  Look at the explosion in facilities that put most things accessible to the *normal students* to shame.  And this is all on top of the very sweet deal they *already get* by being on full ride athletic scholarships (for tuition *alone*, out of state cost is >$50k/year for undergrad... so a typical 4-year scholarship is > $200k real world value.... super-seniors (with medical and covid redshirts) could nearly double that... and if some of those are *graduate level* years we are talking potentially $1M in tuition alone - meaning it does not include room, board, living expenses, etc.)

Yes, there may be a better "market value" somewhere if you factor in Uncle Bob's Totally Legit NIL Deal advertising over at Oil Daddy U or wherever the (formerly dirty, now technically OK) money originates, but... that's really *not* what school sports are meant to be, are they?

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Ghost of Fritz…

January 29th, 2024 at 7:52 PM ^

And....therein lies the problem.  A grand total of 500 people care about 22 of those 26 other sports.  Stop diverting the cash that football generates into stuff that is irrelevant.  Spend as much on keeping football elite (we finally got there in the last three years after a 20 year absence!!!) as is necessary.  And too bad for field hockey etc.

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MrWoodson

January 30th, 2024 at 9:45 AM ^

No, it's not. Herbert wants protection in case Sherrone Moore doesn't work out and ends up getting replaced. It's not unreasonable. Moore has never even been a HC before let alone at a program like Michigan. Giving Herbert a 10 year deal does two things. One, it gives him security that be is covered no matter what happens with Moore. Two, it probably protects Michigan (and Moore) from having Herbert being poached by another cfb program. You know what it doesn't do? Prevent Moore/Michigan from firing him. Michigan can fire him. They just have to pay him out if he gets fired. Assuming Moore lasts five years, at worst Michigan would owe Herbert the remaining five years on his contract. It's more than worth that risk.

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MIFANinMD

January 29th, 2024 at 3:47 PM ^

I realize we've had a lot of fire warde here but he clearly is looking for a program on the cheap....pay these guys and let's keep winning. Awful look here. Fire warde now 

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Heptarch

January 29th, 2024 at 7:28 PM ^

Agreed. And I will remain open-minded about its veracity until it's either proven or disproven.

I'm just saying that if it IS true, then I've had enough of Warde. If he's the only person in the building who doesn't understand Herbert's value to the program, then he has no business overseeing the program.

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Medic

January 29th, 2024 at 3:50 PM ^

At some point, you should no longer be surprised. 

Edit: It honestly doesn't even matter if the article is completely accurate or not because we have these things called outcomes. Warde's are trending down, especially on something that most people considered a slam dunk retention.

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stephenrjking

January 29th, 2024 at 4:01 PM ^

We’re missing crucial facts here. But the purpose is not to have facts. It’s to give people an excuse to be mad. 

I would like, for example, to see some data on what elite program assistant coaches make and how long their contracts are, and how that compares to Michigan’s staff.

Thus far we have lacked any of this information, and all loud conclusions appear to be based on rumor. There is a rumor, for example, that Herbert asked for a 10 year contract. I’m inclined not to believe that rumor, because 10 years sounds like waaaaay longer than any other coach’s contract ever lasts. Sherrone just signed on for five years. I have no idea how long assistant contracts even last.

But I could be wrong! Maybe the SEC bigwigs give 8 year contracts to top S&C coaches. If there’s a guy at LSU on an 8-year deal and he makes almost as much as Herbert, it’s reasonable for Herbert to want a couple more years or a bit more pay. 

Or: maybe most S&C coaches get three years, Herbert asked for four, Moore wanted to give it to him, and Warde said no. That would be pretty bad. 

But we don’t know. This is all rumor! Let’s just get mad! 

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stephenrjking

January 29th, 2024 at 4:22 PM ^

You are literally arguing “it’s true because I believe it.”

Every AD has coaches leave, unless they lose their job quickly.

Assistant coaches, especially, leave. It is not remarkable. The only reason it happened less under Canham and Goss and Martin is because Michigan used to be genuinely cheap with assistants and couldn’t afford to hire people that could get paid more elsewhere. Now they do. No matter that Herbert was already the highest paid S&C coach in the country or that Michigan was willing to make Harbaugh the highest paid HC in the country; you perceive that he’s cheap.

BTW if we wind up getting a toxic leak war between factions in the athletic department orbit it’s because insiders know they can count on ridiculous internet overreactions like what we’ve seen on the board today. 

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schreibee

January 29th, 2024 at 5:45 PM ^

It's hard to believe a person as erudite as yourself needs "perception becomes reality" explained, Stevenjrking!

Especially in a situation where, as you have pointed out multiple times, in multiple posts, across multiple threads today, we don't have all (or even most of) the facts.

The perception that Michigan is losing these highly valued staff members because they refuse to meet their contract demands or match their other offers IS THE REALITY until Warde puts specific numbers about what the AD offered of the public monies he administers to the public employees he supervises. 

There is zero need to keep any of this confidential once they accept other offers & resign from Michigan. 

 

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Michigan4Life

January 29th, 2024 at 6:18 PM ^

I can speak to the assistant coaches. Their contract is usually a one year contract but it rolls as long as the HC is there. Why would anyone give them more than a year when they can leave for a promotion? 

Herbert's contract is as long as the HC's contract most of the time but his was the highest paid in the country. To grant him a potentially 5 years longer than Moore's contract is quite unusual and against the standard protocol for football staff contracts. 

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The Maize Halo

January 29th, 2024 at 3:52 PM ^

holy shit warde.  we already have -- consistently -- one of the top revenue producing athletic departments in the nation.

you can build a better baseball complex and pay an awesome strength coach every once in a while and not make as many dollars for the department that year.

Like.  my god.  with the current level of tv deals you can't just care a teeny, tiny bit about winning and money!?!?

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bronxblue

January 29th, 2024 at 3:52 PM ^

Chris Balas is...not usually right about a lot of stuff.  Again, it may be that Warde Manuel, after paying Herbert a million dollars and signing him to a 5-year contract only last year, suddenly had a change of heart.  But I've seen other insiders (like Josh Henschke) say that Harbaugh wanted Herbert to come and paid way more for him than UM was going to pay for a S&C guy.

So we'll see what happens, but Balas is probably the least reliable insider out there so I get that wanting to burn Warde at the stake for everything leads people to believe anything that supports that claim but that doesn't mean Balas knows anything.

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