Lakers Going After Hurley

[Uncle Rico]

JR and Krause:"Players don't win championships, organizations do". How's that organization done post MJ?

As well as the organizations Jordan has been part of since then

[tower912]

It appears that Mrs. Hurley was not a fan of going to LA, at least initially.   This tracks with Hurley's answer when asked about Kentucky.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

I saw this yesterday as a way to pay an NCAA coach.  Interesting that Yale already does this.



https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/dan-hurley-endowed-chair-19514002.php

Dan Haar: Naming rights for Hurley? UConn can pay its coach with an endowed chair
By Dan Haar,
Hearst CTInsider Columnist
June 14, 2024

There are two ways to view our automatic assumption that the $5 million-per-year coach of a public university basketball team, already under a long-term contract, should see a huge, guaranteed, multi-year raise over and above that absurdly high pay after winning a second straight national championship.

It's a testament to the power and the glory of America's true religion, market competition.

It's a window into the underbelly of insider capitalism.

Now that my colleague, Mike Anthony, has reported UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley will ink a deal for $50 million over the next six years — $8.33 million a year — we can see Hurley's pay as a perfect illustration of that great debate over who collects how much, and why.

Adding to the debate, we still aren't sure where Hurley's money is coming from, unlike in the professional sports leagues. We presume it's some combination of cash from UConn's regular operating budget and donations from boosters.

Maybe this first year's $3 million bump-up will come from the state's dwindling federal pandemic funds, an odd suggestion earlier this week from Gov. Ned Lamont, who previously warned UConn to use its share of the so-called ARPA money strictly for one-time projects.

There's a better way to finance Hurley's pay hike: An endowed chair. It plays directly into the theme of American-style capitalism. 

Before we get into the details of how this would work, consider: All the other sources of money come with big downsides. Paying Hurley from operations drains money from a university that's already fighting for more state aid to maintain programs and is already in a five-year, 15 percent cutback in non-academic spending, as I reported last month.

Ultimately, paying Hurley from operations comes out of the hides of students and their families, who pay higher tuition for tighter resources. "I am worried. The cost of a college education has skyrocketed over the past several decades," state Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, told me late Thursday. He's an ardent supporter of state grants to UConn as co-chair of the higher education spending panel — and his district includes UConn's main campus.

"It's really students who are going to pay," Haddad said, in part because the athletic programs lose millions of dollars, with UConn not in a "power conference."

Regular donations would seem sensible as a source of new money for Hurley, all the more since his presence is bound to increase the size of boosters' checks. But that money is typically earmarked for buildings, special programs, equipment and student financial aid. Diverting donations to pay the coach risks raising state borrowing costs or squeezing some of those other areas.

Using federal pandemic money, which runs out next year, only kicks the spending can down the road unless Hurley jumps to the New York Knicks in 2025, which we hope doesn't happen.

There's no question UConn needs to pay Hurley the higher amount especially after he spurned the reported $70 million Los Angeles Lakers NBA coaching offer to stay in Connecticut. As Hurley said Thursday, he already had leverage for a raise before the Lakers called. Then Lamont sealed it by saying Connecticut would make the basketball scion from New Jersey the highest-paid college coach in the land.

As New Yorkers used to say about their former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, like Lamont the heir to a fortune, he's spending our money like we had his money. Fortunately Lamont is typically tight with taxpayer dollars and spends wisely.

Which brings us to the endowed chair or professorship.

This is an arrangement under which corporate or individual donors pay into the school's endowment, which now hovers around $500 million, not large as these things go. (Yale's endowment is north of $40 billion.)  In exchange, the university names a chair, or professorship, in the donor's honor.

UConn currently has 124 endowed chairs in all of its schools. They attach to some of the top faculty members such as Richard Pomp, a renowned tax expert and the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at UConn.

UConn ought to be able to attract a donor to pony up the millions needed to link his, her or its name to Hurley's. Think of this as naming rights, as we see in stadiums and on all manner of buildings, classrooms, hallways and courtyards at universities.

Imagine, for example, at every game the announcer introduces "D'Amelio Family Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley," named for booster extraordinaire Marc D'Amelio, a consumer goods entrepreneur and the father of the clan known as the "First Family of TikTok."

D'Amelio, formerly of Norwalk, now living in West Hollywood, Calif., already founded the D'Amelio Huskies Collective, to raise and disburse name, image and likeness marketing money to UConn athletes.

The D'Amelio family has a popular reality show on Hulu, which could dovetail nicely with a named chair for Hurley, whose own family maintains a high profile.

The money is out there. Daniel Toscano, the UConn trustees chairman, endowed a chair in finance at the school of business along with his wife, Tresa, and the family has its name on the UConn ice hockey arena. The Neag family, in another example, not only has the name of UConn's Neag School of Education but also 10 endowed chairs and professorships.

How's this? "Ned and Annie Lamont Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley." No comment from the governor's office.

Since we're talking about a lot more for Hurley than a typical endowed chair, it could be a company such as a hedge fund. Imagine "Bridgewater Associates Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley. Pratt & Whitney already has five endowed chairs in the UConn College of Engineering. Eversource Energy has three in engineering, one in medicine and one in the business school.

Other universities do it for coaches who are, of course, master teachers. Yale, for example, has Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Men's Basketball James Jones — and that title is on every press release, every reference to Jones that Yale churns out. The Smilow family is getting its money's worth.

This arrangement is different than the normal use of donations because it creates a new asset, the named professorship. So it's not bleeding from existing gifts. The UConn Foundation, the university's fundraising arm, should make it happen.

"I'm sure there's somebody out there," Haddad said, who will "step up and pay for what I think is a state treasure."

dhaar@hearstmediact.com

SENIOR EDITOR AND COLUMNIST
Dan Haar is columnist and senior editor at Hearst Connecticut Media Group, writing about the intersection of business, public policy and politics and how the issues affect the people of Connecticut.

[The Sultan]

A lot of schools do this.

[willie warrior]

So how much is UCONN paying Hurley after the lowball Lakers offer. It appears he left about 20 million over 6 years on the table.
What is also very interesting about all this are all the accolades Hurley is getting from many
Great culture builder
Code cracker of college bb recruiting
Big time coach etc.
Is this causing ,even a bigger gap between UCONN and rest of league?

[The Sultan]

So how much is UCONN paying Hurley after the lowball Lakers offer. It appears he left about 20 million over 6 years on the table.
What is also very interesting about all this are all the accolades Hurley is getting from many
Great culture builder
Code cracker of college bb recruiting
Big time coach etc.
Is this causing ,even a bigger gap between UCONN and rest of league?

Yes. Marquette is doomed.

[Nukem2]

So how much is UCONN paying Hurley after the lowball Lakers offer. It appears he left about 20 million over 6 years on the table.
What is also very interesting about all this are all the accolades Hurley is getting from many
Great culture builder
Code cracker of college bb recruiting
Big time coach etc.
Is this causing ,even a bigger gap between UCONN and rest of league?

Hurley has a huge challenge after 2 natties and turning down the Lakers. Lots of heavy duty expectations here. We shall see.

[Uncle Rico]

I saw this yesterday as a way to pay an NCAA coach.  Interesting that Yale already does this.



https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/dan-hurley-endowed-chair-19514002.php

Dan Haar: Naming rights for Hurley? UConn can pay its coach with an endowed chair
By Dan Haar,
Hearst CTInsider Columnist
June 14, 2024

There are two ways to view our automatic assumption that the $5 million-per-year coach of a public university basketball team, already under a long-term contract, should see a huge, guaranteed, multi-year raise over and above that absurdly high pay after winning a second straight national championship.

It's a testament to the power and the glory of America's true religion, market competition.

It's a window into the underbelly of insider capitalism.

Now that my colleague, Mike Anthony, has reported UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley will ink a deal for $50 million over the next six years — $8.33 million a year — we can see Hurley's pay as a perfect illustration of that great debate over who collects how much, and why.

Adding to the debate, we still aren't sure where Hurley's money is coming from, unlike in the professional sports leagues. We presume it's some combination of cash from UConn's regular operating budget and donations from boosters.

Maybe this first year's $3 million bump-up will come from the state's dwindling federal pandemic funds, an odd suggestion earlier this week from Gov. Ned Lamont, who previously warned UConn to use its share of the so-called ARPA money strictly for one-time projects.

There's a better way to finance Hurley's pay hike: An endowed chair. It plays directly into the theme of American-style capitalism. 

Before we get into the details of how this would work, consider: All the other sources of money come with big downsides. Paying Hurley from operations drains money from a university that's already fighting for more state aid to maintain programs and is already in a five-year, 15 percent cutback in non-academic spending, as I reported last month.

Ultimately, paying Hurley from operations comes out of the hides of students and their families, who pay higher tuition for tighter resources. "I am worried. The cost of a college education has skyrocketed over the past several decades," state Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, told me late Thursday. He's an ardent supporter of state grants to UConn as co-chair of the higher education spending panel — and his district includes UConn's main campus.

"It's really students who are going to pay," Haddad said, in part because the athletic programs lose millions of dollars, with UConn not in a "power conference."

Regular donations would seem sensible as a source of new money for Hurley, all the more since his presence is bound to increase the size of boosters' checks. But that money is typically earmarked for buildings, special programs, equipment and student financial aid. Diverting donations to pay the coach risks raising state borrowing costs or squeezing some of those other areas.

Using federal pandemic money, which runs out next year, only kicks the spending can down the road unless Hurley jumps to the New York Knicks in 2025, which we hope doesn't happen.

There's no question UConn needs to pay Hurley the higher amount especially after he spurned the reported $70 million Los Angeles Lakers NBA coaching offer to stay in Connecticut. As Hurley said Thursday, he already had leverage for a raise before the Lakers called. Then Lamont sealed it by saying Connecticut would make the basketball scion from New Jersey the highest-paid college coach in the land.

As New Yorkers used to say about their former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, like Lamont the heir to a fortune, he's spending our money like we had his money. Fortunately Lamont is typically tight with taxpayer dollars and spends wisely.

Which brings us to the endowed chair or professorship.

This is an arrangement under which corporate or individual donors pay into the school's endowment, which now hovers around $500 million, not large as these things go. (Yale's endowment is north of $40 billion.)  In exchange, the university names a chair, or professorship, in the donor's honor.

UConn currently has 124 endowed chairs in all of its schools. They attach to some of the top faculty members such as Richard Pomp, a renowned tax expert and the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at UConn.

UConn ought to be able to attract a donor to pony up the millions needed to link his, her or its name to Hurley's. Think of this as naming rights, as we see in stadiums and on all manner of buildings, classrooms, hallways and courtyards at universities.

Imagine, for example, at every game the announcer introduces "D'Amelio Family Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley," named for booster extraordinaire Marc D'Amelio, a consumer goods entrepreneur and the father of the clan known as the "First Family of TikTok."

D'Amelio, formerly of Norwalk, now living in West Hollywood, Calif., already founded the D'Amelio Huskies Collective, to raise and disburse name, image and likeness marketing money to UConn athletes.

The D'Amelio family has a popular reality show on Hulu, which could dovetail nicely with a named chair for Hurley, whose own family maintains a high profile.

The money is out there. Daniel Toscano, the UConn trustees chairman, endowed a chair in finance at the school of business along with his wife, Tresa, and the family has its name on the UConn ice hockey arena. The Neag family, in another example, not only has the name of UConn's Neag School of Education but also 10 endowed chairs and professorships.

How's this? "Ned and Annie Lamont Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley." No comment from the governor's office.

Since we're talking about a lot more for Hurley than a typical endowed chair, it could be a company such as a hedge fund. Imagine "Bridgewater Associates Head Coach of Men's Basketball Dan Hurley. Pratt & Whitney already has five endowed chairs in the UConn College of Engineering. Eversource Energy has three in engineering, one in medicine and one in the business school.

Other universities do it for coaches who are, of course, master teachers. Yale, for example, has Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Men's Basketball James Jones — and that title is on every press release, every reference to Jones that Yale churns out. The Smilow family is getting its money's worth.

This arrangement is different than the normal use of donations because it creates a new asset, the named professorship. So it's not bleeding from existing gifts. The UConn Foundation, the university's fundraising arm, should make it happen.

"I'm sure there's somebody out there," Haddad said, who will "step up and pay for what I think is a state treasure."

dhaar@hearstmediact.com

SENIOR EDITOR AND COLUMNIST
Dan Haar is columnist and senior editor at Hearst Connecticut Media Group, writing about the intersection of business, public policy and politics and how the issues affect the people of Connecticut.

A lot of schools have this.

[MU82]

Yes. Marquette is doomed.

I hear the rest of the league has already canceled next season. Why even bother playing?

[NCMUFan]

Yes. Marquette is doomed.

Wrong thread.
https://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=48600.0

[Billy Hoyle]

I saw this yesterday as a way to pay an NCAA coach.  Interesting that Yale already does this.



https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/dan-hurley-endowed-chair-19514002.php

This isn't something new, but it has spread beyond "elite" private schools recently. Many Ivy League coaching positions are endowed. Michigan football and basketball are endowed positions, Duke has endowed assistant positions. Mid and low major programs have endowed coaching positions (a friend recently endowed the women's basketball coaching position at his mid-major alma mater so the assistants could be paid more from departmental funds) and not just for the high profile sports. THis is something MU should look into with the big athletics donors we have.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/10473550/endowments-exchange-namesakes-new-trend-coaching
https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-state-gift-endow-coaching-position/
https://www.soccerwire.com/news/notre-dame-mens-soccer-head-coach-position-receives-endowment/

[StillAWarrior]

THis is something MU should look into with the big athletics donors we have.

I kind of like the sound of the "MUScoop Endowed Men's Head Basketball Coach"


In all seriousness, though, I find it obnoxious when references to an endowed position list the full title of the position (which includes the person who endowed it). I 100% "get it" and understand why it is done, but it's annoying to read, "BigWig Donor Endowed Men's Basketball Head Coach John Smith" (first example I found). It's even worse when they speak the full title.

[The Equalizer]

I kind of like the sound of the "MUScoop Endowed Men's Head Basketball Coach"

In all seriousness, though, I find it obnoxious when references to an endowed position list the full title of the position (which includes the person who endowed it). I 100% "get it" and understand why it is done, but it's annoying to read, "BigWig Donor Endowed Men's Basketball Head Coach John Smith" (first example I found). It's even worse when they speak the full title.

This is hardly a new development. and UConn would not even be first in the Big East. Sean Miller's title at Xavier is officially the "Sedler Family Men's Basketball Head Coach," and the endowment dates back to 2015.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/xavier/2015/01/19/donation-endows-xaviers-mens-basketball-position/21989653/

[MuggsyB]

It sounds like Reddick is a lock for the LAL  Why I have no idea. 

[tower912]

Because Hurley was smart enough to listen to his wife and say no.

[wadesworld]

It sounds like Reddick is a lock for the LAL  Why I have no idea.

There's 3 letters that answers the 3 letter "why" question.

[Jay Bee]

There's 3 letters that answers the 3 letter "why" question.

cis?

[Billy Hoyle]

There's 3 letters that answers the 3 letter "why" question.

It's probably written into his contract he has to support drafting NepoBronny.

[tower912]

6 years.  $50 million.   Congratulations.

Don't mess with happy.

[MU82]

Plus incentive bonuses.

Good for Hurley, good for UConn, good for the Big East.