September 19th, 2006

[Dish]

What a great article. I'd add comments/my opinions, but the quotes in bold pretty much say it all.

Crean gets extension
He'll guide Golden Eagles through 2016-17 season
By TODD ROSIAK
trosiak@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 19, 2006
Marquette University on Tuesday put the wraps on a contract extension that will keep eighth-year men's basketball coach Tom Crean in charge of the Golden Eagles through the 2016-'17 season.

Terms were not disclosed but based on Crean's previous salaries, the new deal figures to keep him in the upper echelon of college basketball coaches in the country.

The Journal Sentinel reported in March that Crean was paid $1.65 million for the year ending June 30, 2005, a bump of about $525,000 from the previous year.

Athletic director Bill Cords said he approached Crean about the extension a few months ago and that both parties agreed in principle quickly before the details were finalized over the past few days.

"Tom has such a tremendous commitment. He's all about commitment and relationships," Cords said. "We just felt that this was a strong and powerful commitment to make to him and, in turn, it's a powerful commitment that he's making to the university and the community.

"It was the right thing to do."

The extension is the fourth received by the 40-year-old Crean since being hired as MU's 15th coach on March 30, 1999, and second in roughly the last 18 months.

It comes on the heels of a superlative inaugural season in the Big East Conference that saw the Golden Eagles surprise many with a fourth-place finish in the 16-team league and a return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2002-'03 season.

It also comes less than a month from the official start of the 2006-'07 season, one that figures to hold great promise for an MU squad returning nearly all its key players from a 20-11 campaign last season and welcoming a handful of talented newcomers.

"It's a great privilege to work here; always has been," said Crean, who is 141-76 (.650) at MU. "It's an incredible feeling knowing you're going to work every day with the people on this campus.

"Receiving a contract like this, you really think first and foremost about all the staff and support staff that have gone through everything with you and certainly the players that have been here before and the players that are here now."

The Golden Eagles have averaged 20 victories per season in Crean's seven years at the helm, won a Conference USA regular-season championship and made six post-season appearances, including one in the 2003 NCAA Final Four, the program's third all time and first since 1977.

Crean has also done a solid job drumming up support for his program both on campus and in the community.

Since his arrival, MU has drawn nearly 1.6 million fans to its home games and set several in-state attendance records, including a crowd of 19,007 for a Feb. 20 game against Pittsburgh last season at the Bradley Center.

"He's done so many things outside of basketball for the good of the community and the good of people in the state," Cords said. "It's the right thing."

The extension also figures to solidify Crean's status as MU's coach for the foreseeable future in the eyes of the program's lifeblood: recruits.

Almost every off-season since the Final Four, Crean has been named as a possible candidate for a number of high-profile job openings. This spring, reports listed him as a potential replacement at Missouri, Indiana and Oklahoma.

"It's never been my style to put other opportunities out there," he said. "I know things have come up through the media. Sometimes when you're not defending yourself publicly in the sense of why you want to stay, it opens up the door for other people about why you'll leave.

"I think this is the greatest indication of why it's always been such a great thing to be here and why it continues to be."

Crean's 141 victories rank him third all time at MU. He trails only Al McGuire (295) and Bill Chandler (193).

[Chicago_inferiority_complexes]

And that was three freaking yeasr ago -- his 1.65m salary -- I can't wait until the numbers come out about what he was paid this past year. I wouldn't be surprised if he's getting maybe a .3m bump in his salary at IU.