SIAP: Bakich is lowest paid coach at CWS (and it is not close)
Article is a few days old. Did a search and didn't see anything else referring to this, but obligatory SIAP.
PAY THE MAN HIS MONEY!! Bakich is at $450K/year with next lowest CWS coach at $600K/year. I'm thinking if FSU is paying the outgoing Martin $700K, that needs to be the floor to keep Bakich. Best recruiting class in the history of the Big Ten, 1st CWS in 35 years, National Coach of the Year? There is going to be a ton of interest in him, but Warde needs to step up and get a deal done (with a high buyout this time).
Given Warde's well-documented shrewdness, I fully expect Bakich to be running a MLB team by the 4th.
I wish I had a version with Warde's name - would be a handy default response to comments like this.
To be honest, if Mickey Callaway can't get it together in New York, I wouldn't mind take a shot with Bakich :-)
I remain rather amazed that the guy who hired Mel Pearson, handled the Beilein-to-Howard transition pretty well, and otherwise has kept out of the spotlight pisses off so many people to such irrational degrees.
I may be biased because I used to work with Warde, but I think he is recognized as one of the best ADs in the country. Also, let's not forget that all the coaches that he has hired so far have done well and some (e.g., Women LAX) have done amazingly well.
I would assume most of the highest paid coaches are in the South or West Coast...PAC10, ACC and SEC. Those are the most competitive leagues. Greater competition, in whatever market, creates greater demand for talent which drives salaries. Simple Economics.
Perhaps around the country, yes. But on here he is the default scapegoat at whose feet blame is laid whenever someone gets a whiff of an idea that something is wrong.
And when whatever it is that they complained about turns out fine, they go on to complain about the next thing. This has happened dozens of times, from coaching searches to handling the logistics of the plane crash and the subsequent scheduling of games at the B1G tournament (remember that? People were FURIOUS at Warde and it turns out he was doing exactly what the team wanted him to do, and they won the whole thing) to ticket distribution at UCLA (a couple people on the board griped about tickets, but it turns out that Michigan held on to hundreds of tickets and there was a great group of fans at the super regional) to the basketball coaching search that somehow was dragging on too long even though it took less than two weeks.
People literally complain about Warde just to complain. Every scrap of evidence used against him has been proven to be false or in fact a mark in his favor. But next time something comes up, they'll blame him again.
Excellent summary. I totally forgot about the basketball tourney. That's hilarious.
Yeah, on the UCLA ticket thread, there were people who said (paraphrased), "If Warde gave away our tickets he should lose his job". That was before anybody even knew the situation. We're going to fire the Athletic Director because of college baseball ticket scarcity in friggin' Los Angeles.
I can't think of a single thing Manuel has done wrong since he was hired, with the lone possible exception of not knowing the community's temperature when they hired the gymnastics assistant. And even that was resolved quickly and without issue. In most of these threads, I'll ask a guy like Putin to please list the mistakes Warde had made. Nobody ever responds.
Dammit Warde!!!!!!
I have no quibble with the big guy.
I just like stirring the pot.
Next time I'll include the "/s" for transparency.
Transparency? From you? The only transparency in your regime is in the plastic wrap in which you cocoon enemies of the state prior to feeding them to your pet timberwolves.
Plastic isn't as cost-effective as an unlocked window.
Pet timberwolves? Nah...Wu's pigs.
My favorite "let's blame this on Warde" is the ongoing football scheduling where both MSU and OSU are home-away on the same years. Despite the fact this happened before he arrived and would require TWO RIVALS to accept a change in their schedules and eat a home game, there is a vocal minority who scream about it every year that he should throw Michigan's proverbial junk around and DEMAND that the two rivals be switched to alternating years without UM being the one to eat a home game. It's madness.
What I've come to understand is that a lot of people (myself included on a number of matters) are just powerless about things, and that ignorance creates a lot of anger that gets directed at the closest, most prominent party.
Go WLAX!
Yeah, it's rather astounding that a guy who has done, by all objective accounts, a pretty good job running one of the biggest ADs in the country and taking over for the tire fire left behind by the last guy gets this much shit. I still remember people getting mad at him because the kid from Providence reported a lie that he was going to offer Cooley a contract, and literally none of that was due to anything he did beyond meet a viable candidate for a job.
Just my two cents, but I wouldn't be shocked if some of it stems from a person's political ideology, especially given the tribal nature of partisanship. UM went from Dave Brandon, who is very Republican (rumored to be a gubernatorial candidate for governor at one point), but was a terrible AD and by all accounts, not a great person, to Warde Manuel, who apparently is a good human being and person to work with, while being more liberal than Brandon.
I can just see how that could rub certain people the wrong way. I know there is the whole NO POLITICS rule, but people would be ignorant to think that ideology has nothing to do with why a segment of the fanbase has been looking for any excuse to tar and feather Warde Manuel (despite there really being no criticisms to warrant this level of disdain). Partisanship colors how so many people see things anymore, and I don't see why this would be any different.
Please explain your lack of confidence. I'm all ears.
Yep, Michigan needs to pay him or else someone else will. If we want a big program baseball coach, he needs to get paid like a big program coach
Well, this is his first WS, and everyone else has been there before.
Yes, $450K may be appropriate for this year, but starting next year, he really needs to be in another financial league. A resume like his screams "NEXT BIG THING," especially since he is only 41. Either Warde pays up or he is gone.
Looked at B1G coaching salaries - some of the data is sketchy but here is what I found with a quick "don't have a lot of time" search (by order of finish for the top 6):
1. Indiana: $225,000
3. Illinois: $340,000
4. Nebraska: $300,000
5. Minnesota: $213,590 (this was from 2014 so is almost certainly wrong but Minny data hard to easily find
6. OSU: $334,265 (OSU had by far the easiest way to find coach salary info).
bottom line - great run by the team and I suspect he'll get a raise but depending on how you define his peer group it is not misaligned.
The bigger question is where does UM want this program to be? Does it want to be the big fish in the BIG Ten? Or a national power similar to the softball team? If national power is the goal, then they have to pay Bakich like they are one. I think the baseball team found their Hutchinson.
I agree - if we really want the program to be a perennial contender (and my view is of course we should) and Coach Bakich is the right guy then we should differentiate and pay against the CWS folks, not the B1G. My point was just that it depends what you view as the peer group. Would love for us to be the exception as a program that is always going to the CWS; the men's counterpart to our softball program.
He should give him an extension and raise right away. Or it’ll be Beilein situation all over. Maybe FSU will try and hire him
Beilein didn't leave because of how much money he was making or lack thereof. He was the 7th highest paid coach in the country at 3.8 million total over the length of his remaining contract. He left because he was tired of dealing with all the BS in college basketball.
Did someone forget to tell him about all the BS in pro basketball?
The problem was that there was no buyout and in the assistant pay.
People complain that Warde didn't put a buyout in Beilein's contract. But what if Beilein told him he wouldn't sign with a big buyout? Hard to know the specifics there, as it appears Beilein already had one foot out of the door and was going to jump at any NBA opportunity.
Beilein situation all over? Are you saying Beilein left because of his contract? He just got a raise and extension a year ago. He was in the top 10 of college coaches. Beilein left because he wanted a new challenge. He earned the right IMO.
Bakich is a top 10 coach who isn't paid like one. So yes, Warde needs to step up. But to equate the Bakich and Beilein situations is off base.
Beilein situation all over? What was Warde supposed to do? That was Beilein wanting a new challenge, to stay close to the area, and be done with the recruiting and rotating door in college ball.
He wasn’t supposed to go to South Africa. He was supposed to cut Beilen’s phone line and sit in his driveway with a shotgun threatening anyone who tried to come or go.
I thought we fired that guy...
You probably think Keith Jackson is dead, too...
Try to keep up, Sam!
According to this Daily article from last Fall, he was making less than Hutchins ($539K versus $400K). I wonder how many schools pay their softball coach more than their baseball coach. In our case--given Hutchins's track record and longevity--I think it was warranted. I agree that Bakich deserves a big raise now though!
My guess is he will get a raise, but in all fairness UM is the only northern school in the CWS and most of the others are ranked in the top 25. That'd kinda be like expecting the Indiana football coach to make the same amount as the UM football coach. B1G baseball teams generally don't make it to the CWS very often since the new tournament format was put in place.
This is a false equivalency. If Indiana made the college football playoff and wanted to maintain that program with an up-and-coming young coach, then yes, they should pay the coach like a national contender. Otherwise, they should expect to fall back into mediocrity. Once you are competing at an elite national level, the conference they play is irrelevant. Villanova isn't in a power conference, and yet they pay Jay Wright like they do.
This is a false equivalency.
I considered a better example and one didn't come to me. The point is less about the comparison and more about the resume of the two programs (FSU et. al vs UM) are quite different and hence the coaches don't warrant the same compensation.
Villanova isn't in a power conference, and yet they pay Jay Wright like they do.
The Big East is a way better basketball conference than the B1G is a baseball conference.
If Indiana made the college football playoff and wanted to maintain that program with an up-and-coming young coach, then yes, they should pay the coach like a national contender.
Can you think of an example? I can't. The top 10 coaching salaries in football are all at blue blood programs and/or have very successful resumes. I don't see the rationale for putting a UM baseball coach in the same league as a top 10 salary.
Again, I don't understand why a program's past resume should matter? If you are at an inflection point in your program, then you make a choice. Either remain in the past or move forward and hopefully enter a new level of success.
And the point about Jay Wright still stands. Your argument is essentially that if no else in the league is that good then, one team shouldn't pay a coach that much more than the average for that league. Jay Wright is the 8th highest paid coach in the country. The next highest coach in the Big East is 36th in the country followed by the 58th highest. Villanova realizes what it has in Jay Wright and pays him accordingly. UM should do the same with Bakich. It doesn't matter how much the other coaches make in the BIG.
Really, we are talking about $200K to keep an elite coach for a heavily resourced athletic department like Michigan. If $200K is all that separates UM from being a national power, that would seem like a drop in the bucket.
Again, I don't understand why a program's past resume should matter?
The past matters because northern schools can't compete with southern schools. They can't just hire a big time coach or pay big time money and turn into a national power.
And the point about Jay Wright still stands. Your argument is essentially that if no else in the league is that good then, one team shouldn't pay a coach that much more than the average for that league. Jay Wright is the 8th highest paid coach in the country.
The Big East puts teams into the late rounds of the basketball tournament. The B1G rarely does so in baseball. It is much easier for a Big East program to recruit and retain a high level basketball coach than it is a B1G program to do so in baseball.
Villanova realizes what it has in Jay Wright and pays him accordingly. UM should do the same with Bakich.
Bakich is a good B1G coach. That doesn't make him a top national coach. He has one conference title and one CWS appearance.
Really, we are talking about $200K to keep an elite coach for a heavily resourced athletic department like Michigan. If $200K is all that separates UM from being a national power, that would seem like a drop in the bucket.
I'm sure they could pay him more if they wanted to. I doubt it's the money. I mean that's part of it, but I'd guess what keeps elite coaches out of the conference is the same thing that keeps players out...weather. Nobody wants to play baseball in the cold and always have to travel.
You are arguing that northern schools can't compete while UM is in the CWS and Bakich has already pulled in a national top ten class. If northern schools can't compete, how did those things happen? And why is softball a perennial power? It is not any warmer where the softball team plays.
You are arguing that northern schools can't compete while UM is in the CWS. If northern schools can't compete, how did those things happen?
This is the first time UM has made the CWS since the tournament format changed in 1999. That's one CWS appearance in the last 20 years. Do you consider making the CWS 5% of the time successful?
Bakich has already pulled in a national top ten class.
What rankings are you using that has UM a top 10 class?
Re: $700k needs to be the floor...
Being $250k/year below someone with that resume, given Bakich's resume, seems...appropriate?
$700k for the FSU coach that:
- 2,021 - 730 record
- 73% win%
- First coach to ever achieve 2,000 wins
- Won 18 ACC tournament championships
- Won 9 ACC regular season championships
- Appeared in 16 College World Series
- 7 time ACC coach of the year recipient
$450k for the coach that:
- 256 - 160 record
- 62% win percentage
- Won 1 Big Ten tournament championship
- Won 0 Big Ten regular reason championships
- Appeared in 1 College World Series
- 1 National Coach of the year
That said, who cares, pay the man.
No B1G baseball coach deserves to be in the same salary ballpark as a successful ACC baseball coach. The conferences have quite a bit of difference in level of competition. All you have to do is look at how many CWS the ACC teams make versus the B1G.
That is a misleading representation because the Big Ten has a severe recruiting disadvantage. Having to play baseball in snowy conditions in January is ridiculous and obviously gives southern schools a huge advantage in acquiring talent. The fact that he has made it to a CWS in such a short amount of time with all the obstacles being in the north gives him is extremely impressive.
the Big Ten has a severe recruiting disadvantage.
Agreed
Having to play baseball in snowy conditions in January is ridiculous and obviously gives southern schools a huge advantage in acquiring talent.
Agreed again
The fact that he has made it to a CWS in such a short amount of time with all the obstacles being in the north gives him is extremely impressive.
Agree as well, but I think you're making my point for me
That is a misleading representation
I don't understand what you think is a misleading representation. You're giving lots of reasons for why Bakick did a good job. I agree with you. My argument is for why the UM baseball job does not warrant a top ACC baseball job salary. Those are two different things.
Salary is not based on level of difficulty of the job, it is based on supply and demand. If you are someone doing the hiring and you limit yourself to the idea that the position you are hiring for shouldn't pay a certain amount because you think it doesn't "deserve" it, then you may very well find yourself with a lower caliber of job candidate.
Salary is not based on level of difficulty of the job, it is based on supply and demand.
You are correct in that salary is supply and demand. You are incorrect in thinking that the demand is not higher for baseball coaches in the ACC than in the B1G.
but the demand side of this equation for Bakich will be what ACC/SEC schools are willing to pay him at some point in the near future when there are coaching openings & if Michigan wants to maintain our supply of Bakich, M will need to pay up.
Only time will tell. If Bakick is a top national coach then UM is going to have to at least double his salary or even triple it. I'm not sure I see that happening. They might give him a $200k raise, which is about a 50% increase, but that's still not in the ball park of the top national coaches. There are 9 guys that make over a million per year with Vandy's Corbin making $1.3 as the highest paid coach in the nation.