How much is that?

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Mack is believed to be around $1.7 after a raise and extension last year post final 8 run (roughly $1.2 to 1.3 previous). My guess would be close to or at $2mm for Porter for 5 years. We can combat that with length in the contract we offer.

What do you think is the max we'd be willing to offer? I think we need to dip into the coffers and offer close or at 1mm. The Board and "higher-ups", by this point, need to see the benefits this run is having for the school. National publicity like never before. Alumni engagement through the roof. It's worth it.

Double edged sword if we make it to the final four. On one end, if we make it, the administration is going to have no choice but to be aggressive to keep him. On the other end, his stock is going to skyrocket and he’s going to be No. 1 on every schools list that has a coaching vacancy.

My hope would be that we can be close to if not tops in the Valley, which would mean in the $850-950k range, I think. To do that, I think fundraising would need to improve pretty dramatically.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Money is obviously important - but even more important is what's important to Porter? Is he someone who wants to be in a Power 5 conference? Does he want to coach in front of 15,000 every home game? Fly charter on recruiting visits? Recruit students who Loyola would consider "marginal" in terms of admissions? All of those types of things have both upsides and obvious downsides.

In terms of money, I'm sure it can be found especially with this run in the tourney. It prob won't come from the tuitiion - like other schools, it will be big names writing some checks (like Al Norville has done over the years).

I have no idea what's important to Porter, but my experience in any negotiation is understanding what the person wants and then finding a way within the organization's structure, budget, and culture to give them that.

I think the Gonzaga comparison is really good - he has the opportunity to get everything he wants here, always be near the top of the league, get into the tournament regulary, start to go up against bigger teams in non-conf, etc. and continue to do it the Loyola way (and his way).

Jim Larranaga at George Mason lasted five seasons and went to two more tournaments before Miami pried him away. He was making about 700k according to reports at the time.

Brad Stevens followed up his Tournament Final appearance with ANOTHER Tournament Final appearance, and then had two more years at Butler before the Celtics got him. He and Butler had to fend off a lot of offers, and Butler had his salary up to $1.2 million as of 2011. It took a $3 mil offer from an NBA team to get him away. He's making $3.6 mil now.

Shaka Smart was another Final Four coach from a mid major program. He stayed four years at VCU after his Final Four in his second year as a head coach. He got VCU into the A10 from the Colonial and was making about $1.8 at VCU by the time he left, and VCU was almost (but a quarter million short, reportedly) able to match his P5 offer. He went to Texas for $3 million.

However.... All these coaches had really good seasons before their deep tournament runs. Shaka Smart won the CBI the year before his Final Four appearance, Brad Stevens was a combined 56-10 with two NCAA appearances in two seasons before his first Final Four, and Larranaga had seven straight winning seasons with two tournament appearances before his trip to the Final Four.

Either way, Loyola's going to have to make a serious bump, like 50% or more at the end of this season, and be prepared to do another big raise if Moser's success is sustained. Thankfully, there will be some NCAA Tournament revenue coming our way to offset. But we need fans buying season tickets and showing up for games to add revenue that includes ticket sales, advertising, merchandise, etc.

Could the school dip into the endowment? I wonder what the process for that would be.

I read somewhere that our endowment has recently grown to about $750 million! About 5 years ago, I recall the endowment was roughly $400 million. That's pretty significant growth thanks to a great bull market. Wouldn't hurt to put away around 5-10 million bucks from the endowment and use it to match donations for a major athletics fundraising campaign.

Now is the time for Loyola to try and raise money! Heck, maybe they should be sending out texts and e-mails with links to a fundraising page right after the games. Most of us would probably be much looser with our wallets after 3 or 12 drinks!

The reality is this: Stevens and Smart were immediately coveted with their teams making the run. Larranaga - does not exactly fit the eye test for the leader of your program (fair or unfair). The salaries you mention JCT were 7 years ago. Since that time, they have increased dramatically. Georgia paying Crean $3.2mm a year for 6 years as the most recent example.

What has Crean done? Final 4 with an NBA hall of famer at Marquette. Then iffy at best at IU. The fact is - we are 1 win away from going to the final 4 without so much as a player that will log NBA minutes. It is stunning. The players deserve the accolades and the coaches deserve praise for recruiting the right type of system players and coaching them well.

The only hope we have to keep him is to offer him enough years so that his youngest son (grade school) will be able to graduate high school with Porter Coaching (9-10 year type deal). I for one think he is a tremendous ambassador for the University and has built a program to last. It would be incredibly short sighted to not make him the highest paid coach in the MVC. Let Porter become become the long time coach of Loyola. Let's play a national schedule (Gonzaga type). Let's watch applications and donations skyrocket. It is right there for the taking. I hope we do, because this success will not be replicated by a replacement if he leaves.

Nicely done RAMBLING !! BUT you might be forgetting THREE things to add--
--An AD who knows what he is doing FINALLY
--An ADMIN --Pres et al who KNOW what is neede and is and WILL be doing it--rg--practice facility
--LOYALTY on all sides !! IT IS NOT ONLY ABOUT $$$$

GREAT POST R