Cancellations hitting coaches in wallet, too
The cancellation of March Madness will likely be felt in the wallets of coaches Tad Boyle and Niko Medved, too.
The spread of the coronavirus that led to an abrupt end of the college basketball season a week ago could leave the men’s basketball coaches at CU and CSU short of at least $130,000 in potential incentives.
Boyle’s contract with the Buffs calls for a $105,000 bonus for his team participating in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, which was canceled last Thursday. Despite a recent five-game losing streak, the Buffs (21-11) were expected to be selected for the 68team field. CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm projected CU as the 9 seed in the West, opening in Spokane, Wash., against eighthseeded Houston.
ESPN counterpart Joe Lunardi tapped the Buffs as an 8 seed in the East and sent them to Cleveland for a first-round matchup with Florida, in the same pod as top-seeded Dayton.
CU handed the Flyers (29-2) one of their few defeats Dec. 21 — a 78-76 Buffs overtime victory at the United Center in Chicago.
Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens told James Crepea of The Oregonian on Monday that Ducks coach Dana Altman would receive his $25,000 bonus for reaching the tournament, even though it wasn’t played. The university will honor $30,000 in NCAA Tournament bonuses for Altman’s three assistants as well.
“There’s been some discussion around our league on (bonuses),” CU athletic director Rick George said on a conference call with reporters earlier this week. “But to be frank with you, that’s the least of my concerns right now. And that’s probably the least of Tad’s concerns.
“I’m really focused on what we’re doing to protect the health and wellness of our student-athletes and to make sure we’re providing the things that we need to provide for (their) longterm success … Honestly, I haven’t given that (bonus) zero thought.”
Boyle is expected to receive bonuses totaling $110,000 for hitting all four of his contracted in-season victory benchmarks: 15 wins ($30,000); 17 wins ($20,000); 19 wins ($30,000) and 21 wins ($30,000).
Medved, meanwhile, had been scheduled to receive a bonus of $25,000 from CSU for any season in which the Rams win “20 or more games against Division I opponents.”
While CSU ended the season with 20 victories, one was over Doane University, an NAIA program out of Crete, Neb.
With a NET ranking of 106 and a KenPom.com rating of 99, it was unlikely that the Rams would’ve been selected for the NIT. But the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) or CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), both of which are “pay-to-play,” would’ve had the young Rams (20-12) on their radar and presented Medved with a shot at a 20th Division I victory.
Boyle is taking home a reported $1.8 million in total compensation for 2019-20. Medved is collecting a base salary of $725,000. The CSU coach would be in line for a $75,000 bonus if the Rams qualified for the NCAA tourney.
Interestingly, one of the more successful coaches along the Front Range, Jeff Linder, had neither victory or postseason clauses in his contract with Northern Colorado.
Linder won 69 games over his last three seasons in Greeley and left the Bears (22-9) to take the head coaching position at Wyoming on Tuesday.
The Boulder County native had three different bonus clauses of $5,000 each tied to team APR, team graduation rate and team GPA, respectively. He was to receive an additional $2,500 if any scholarship player was selected as an Academic All-American and another $2,500 if the Bears’ camp “had at least 120 paying teams registered.”