We are being materially outspent

$5M just for men's basketball?
I get that Avila would be expensive. maybe Bennett from Dayton.
but who on VCU should be getting like $500k???

not sure how accurate JOC's numbers are.
 
sman said:
$5M just for men's basketball?
I get that Avila would be expensive. maybe Bennett from Dayton.
but who on VCU should be getting like $500k???

not sure how accurate JOC's numbers are.
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This is where I agree with one of the recent statements from Mooney. There is no established “range” of payments as the market is still new. There are obviously plenty of schools that are overpaying athletes and these inflated payments are causing the uncertainty. The only people who are pushing the narrative that the payments are too low are the agents, who of course are looking for more for themselves.

What I want to know is who are the “people” that Mooney indicated may be more interested now? I guess it has to be the University administrators and I have a hard time believing that a true institution of higher learning is interested in paying inflated salaries to what equates to sports mercenaries. All of this revenue has to come down to TV rights and I find it very hard to believe that there is a large pool of dollars available for a mid-major league like the A10. The big schools in the major markets will always win in the TV wars.
 
Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription but can anyone share if this is only NIL or does it include house settlement funds too? If the former, then UR - if it really wants to walk the walk and not just talk the talk - should supplement the difference to get us to $5 million.
 
RichmondNative said:
... I have a hard time believing that a true institution of higher learning is interested in paying inflated salaries to what equates to sports mercenaries.
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college sports is a business and it always was, though it was heavily pro-management and the pendulum has swung pro-labor.
you can either invest in it and make it worthwhile, or choose not to and put out a substandard product that students, alumni, fans and donors don't participate in.
 
What difference would more NIL money really make for the program. The coach has not shown me he can coach up players even before the NIL changes.
 
Maybe I’m just getting old, but it feels crazy to think we need to be spending $5m on player salary alone just to compete in the A10. If we currently are at $2m, that’s about $130k per player (15 players) plus a scholarship that pays for all their travel, food, housing, etc. I’d be very happy to be making $130k with no expenses.
 
Spider17 said:
Unfortunately I don’t have a subscription but can anyone share if this is only NIL or does it include house settlement funds too? If the former, then UR - if it really wants to walk the walk and not just talk the talk - should supplement the difference to get us to $5 million.
Click to expand...

true we r one of the wealthiest schools in the country we can pay what we want. It’s an expense line item.

JOC has never once asked Moon why our record is such crap b4 paying athletes but he’s quick to put out a cover story sourced from PQ on why it will continue to be crap.
 
First of all, great article by JOC. I’ve been a little hard on him lately but this was informative and a great insight. More of this please.

Secondly, glad to read the tone of the article that UR understands the importance of basketball at this university and it sounds like we are going to up our game with funds. Some notable quotes.

“When UR announced it would join the NCAA revenue-sharing model in February of 2025, the school’s vice president and director of athletics, John Hardt, said the Spiders’ plan was to remain relevant in “this new era of collegiate athletics,” and position UR to compete for A-10 basketball championships”

“Basketball is important at UR, Mooney emphasized, and said administration members are “aware and really trying to help in every way (they) can to make sure that we’re competitive and have a chance to be a great basketball program.”

“With a relatively small alumni/donor base, very small compared to VCU, UR moving forward is expected to pump more university resources into payment of basketball players.”

Thirdly, these are some hard questions I would want to ask if I was going to be donating significantly more to our basketball program from a donor or university prospective.

1. Did Mooney’s results this year reflect a $2 million funding? In other words, should we have gotten more bang for our buck.

2. Would another coach with $2 million have done more?

3. If we give Mooney $5 million next year, how confident would we be that our results will reflect that investment?

Now to be fair like I always try to be with my opinions, are there tangible differences our staff can point to and say that having more funding would’ve led to different outcomes. For instance player X, Y, Z would have come here had we given more NIL and those players were known difference makers.

The way I see it is this. It’s clear that Mooney isn’t leaving after this year. It’s also clear, at least from what I read and hear, that UR cares about basketball, as we should. So between NIL/house settlement let’s give Mooney one chance with a $5 million budget and see what he can actually do. If we do really well, then it reinforces the financial backing as a key part. If he doesn’t and we have yet another underwhelming season then rather than giving Mooney an extra $3 million the following year (from $2 million to $5 million to match VCU, Dayton, VCU) use that money to buy-out his contract and give the next coach a budget of $2 million to work with and see what he does.
 
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Gkiller said:
true we r one of the wealthiest schools in the country we can pay what we want. It’s an expense line item.

JOC has never once asked Moon why our record is such crap b4 paying athletes but he’s quick to put out a cover story sourced from PQ on why it will continue to be crap.
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At least we actually have tangible data we can work with and see. Before it was all these nebulous and ambiguous statements that no one could either confirm nor deny. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still using NIL as an excuse but at least there are objective numbers behind the excuse this time.
 
Yep more excuse mongering. Back before NIL, it was ACADEMICS. Just like back then, Moon is being a defeatist and very reactionary. Being reactionary allows him to have an excuse at all times. His speaking points on this article all point to guy that is a follower and not a leader being paid 1.5 mil plus perks. Come the eff on. This makes me like Mooney less. Get out there and get the Dollars you whiner. My god.
 
"The VCU vice president and director of athletics, Ed McLaughlin, said that the Rams planned to budget about $5 million to pay athletes directly during this school year, adding that the goal was for VCU to spend on men’s basketball as much as other top teams in the A-10, and rank in the top 35 nationally."

"Saint Louis and Dayton, according to sources, are also paying $5 million or more, while Richmond’s $2 million outlay ranks at about the midpoint in the 14-team A-10."

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so these aren't just men's basketball numbers. this seems to be total athletics NIL.
 
Spider B said:
Looks like it's time for some of the " new fans" BB said they would find to step up!
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Spot on.

It’s like they have zero sense that maybe just maybe we r a little behind bc we don’t have a consistently good program & we have alienated most of our donor & fanbase with our garbage 3 NCAAs in 21 years and our 9-28 record vs vcu.

What was that saying from Shawshank…how can you be so obtuse.
 
Not on a computer or I would break out all the sorry A$$ quotes from moon. One I particularly like and found super duper inspiring was "we are doing the best we can".

Made me want to run through a brick wall for Richmond Basketball.

What a leader.
 
Spider17 said:
3. If we give Mooney $5 million next year, how confident would we be that our results will reflect that investment?
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unless we're pulling a total overhaul, not sure a big increase in NIL would help next year. we have 13 of 15 spots filled.
yes, we could offer big money to 2 guys. probably have to at center.
or we could push some guys out and open up spots.

I don't know what AA is getting, but you need to bump him up. I don't see anyone else earning an increase.
5 guys come off the books, but the freshmen will eat into that.
 
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