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Is Gruden worth any amount of money he wants?

  • Just for speculation's sake...

    If Gruden wants $7m/yr for himself and $5m/yr for his staff, do we find a way to pay it?

    What about $10m?

    I've given up trying to figure out what's actually happening, but I do know that negotiations hinge on leverage (who has the upper hand between the two parties), options (what else can the parties do if negotiations fail) and to a lesser extent preferences (what does each party really want).

    We can all safely assume that Gruden has a ton of leverage (hottest name on the market, easy) and lots of options (can pursue NFL job, can stick with cushy broadcast gig, etc). His preference (i.e. does he want to coach at UT or NFL) is at the very least up for debate.

    But what about Hart? Yes, the UT Football brand is suffering, but does he have any leverage?

    And what about Hart's options and preferences? I'm all in for Gruden, but if it would take a total of $15m/yr to sign Gruden and his staff and we could get a legitimate coach (Strong, Fedora, etc) and a great staff for, say, half that amount, doesn't that at least require some thinking?

    This post was edited by Son of a Butch on 11/30/2012 at 10:20 AM

    Son of a Butch

  • In a word, YES!

    Jersey Vol

  • Yes and it isn't close.

    JPSke

  • Depending on the staff, yes.

    silver fox

  • No

    signature image

    -Em

    smilenem

  • No, Hart should have a limit.

    Gruden does not buy you a guaranteed turnaround. Great hire for the brand, many reasons to think he will be succesful here, but there is still risk because he simply hasn't done it as a HC of a college program before. There are several NFL coaches that have come to college and failed (Monte, Weinsteadt, etc...)

    Hart is in a horrible bargaining position too and I am not sure how he can escape it. The best alternative to Gruden is not perceived as close to the fanbase and it is tough to play hardball when you don't have a strong alternative to fall back on.

    bavw

  • Obviously he's not worth anything he wants. But he is worth being paid what he could get from another organization either in the NCAA or the NFL. You have to pay him his value. He can't ask for $10mm a year and get it obviously. But if the reports we've seen that he wants to be paid slightly more than Saban are true, I don't think that is asking too much given that we are competing with NFL jobs for him. I'm not saying he's a better coach than Saban either.

    VolBaller33

  • Oh jesus, the answer is NO. And anyone who says YES, well yikes.

    ¡Viva La Revolución! Twitter : @ecuamerican

    ecuamerican

  • VolBaller33 said...

    Obviously he's not worth anything he wants. But he is worth being paid what he could get from another organization either in the NCAA or the NFL. You have to pay him his value. He can't ask for $10mm a year and get it obviously. But if the reports we've seen that he wants to be paid slightly more than Saban are true, I don't think that is asking too much given that we are competing with NFL jobs for him. I'm not saying he's a better coach than Saban either.

    +1 I agree with you 100%.

    VolForce1202823

  • Not any amount but 10-12 mil for his whole staff? Yes

    JPSke

  • bavw said...

    No, Hart should have a limit.

    Gruden does not buy you a guaranteed turnaround. Great hire for the brand, many reasons to think he will be succesful here, but there is still risk because he simply hasn't done it as a HC of a college program before. There are several NFL coaches that have come to college and failed (Monte, Weinsteadt, etc...)

    Hart is in a horrible bargaining position too and I am not sure how he can escape it. The best alternative to Gruden is not perceived as close to the fanbase and it is tough to play hardball when you don't have a strong alternative to fall back on.

    I totally agree with Part 1. As for Part 2, I don't think Hart or UT is in bad of a shape in terms of bargaining with other coaches. It's been noted we are the best open available job in the country, and a good amount of coaches we are interested in are also interested in UT. I believe the Gruden thing should not or will not affect getting the next coach.

    ¡Viva La Revolución! Twitter : @ecuamerican

    ecuamerican

  • If you can GUARANTEE me that Gruden will deliver more success than what Saban has accomplished at bama then yes. If you can't then NO.

    volinfranklin

  • No, there's no way he's worth whatever he wants. Those in the financial departments for UT Athletics have a lot more idea on this than I do, but we can't risk him to financially ruin us in the future if things don't work out.

    I think he would be successful. But what IF he isn't. There's always a risk of that with any coach. There's no sure thing. And if that happens, we could break the bank and end up having to get a Division 2 coach in three or four years.

    Rocklion2000

  • VolBaller33 said...

    Obviously he's not worth anything he wants. But he is worth being paid what he could get from another organization either in the NCAA or the NFL. You have to pay him his value. He can't ask for $10mm a year and get it obviously. But if the reports we've seen that he wants to be paid slightly more than Saban are true, I don't think that is asking too much given that we are competing with NFL jobs for him. I'm not saying he's a better coach than Saban either.

    I agree, and obviously the $10m/yr thing was hyperbole. It seems to me that Gruden wants to install an NFL operation at the college level, and however unspeakably awesome that would be, it's also an unprecedented amount of money...probably extends way beyond comparing salaries of head coaches and coordinators.

    Just so my own preferences are clear: if Hart does pony up and install the Gruden War Machine in Knoxville, I'm probably maxing out a credit card to buy season tickets for 2013. It will be the best nine months since Peyton came back for his senior year.

    But after the honeymoon, when it comes to wins and losses, 2014, 2015, 2016...does that investment hold its value better than, say, Fedora and his staff and extra investments in facilities, recruiting budget and so on?

    I really don't know.

    This post was edited by Son of a Butch on 11/30/2012 at 1:27 PM

    Son of a Butch

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