There's an unexpected report out there about Sydney Johnson and the open coaching position at Fairfield. When I first read about this possibility I was surprised, until I learned that the school's president is a Princeton alum. Will try and get more information today.
A poem about Will Venable in the style of Walt Whitman?
More quotes by Matt Henshon from Harvard Law School's Sports Law Symposium.
Unless I don't know anything about Sydney from his public statements, that would seem absurd.
We will have to get accustomed to hearing Sidney Johnson's name being on the lists of open coaching positions. And, contrary to the inference made in the Hoops Haven article, I'm not going yield the Ivy League title to Harvard next year.
I'd consider this report in the framework of what Andy Katz wrote back on March 21:
Meanwhile, Princeton has to do more to step up and keep Johnson. These are no longer the days of Pete Carril, when a coach was just happy to be there. It's a competitive marketplace, and even if Georgia Tech or NC State were to call -- which are much more palatable jobs -- the Tigers, led by AD Gary Walters, must make the Princeton job work within the marketplace. There is money within the alumni base who love seeing their school in the NCAA tournament -- go get it.
https://www.princetonbasketball.com/l/cd092
For more on the Fairfield search:
I agree with Larry that we will become accustomed to these types of rumors and with Katz that the University needs to step up and keep Coach Johnson.
Jon, is Coach Johnson's contract publicly available? I supect not and wonder what the term is and whether there is a buy-out. Thanks in advance for keeping us updated and please let us know if the University has any plans to involve alumni.
As a private institution, contract information is not publicly available.
Most first contracts for coaches are traditionally in the 4-5 year range though.
Here's an interesting breakdown from 2010 of what NCAA Tournament coaches were making - including splits for Guaranteed, Non-Guaranteed, Bonus and Tournament income.
This may well be a confluence of unavoidable events for Gary. He's just begun a new contract with Bob Surace which could well enter into the discussion (especially given the persistent mediocrity of the football program), and he needs to be sure Courtney Banghart is happy as well; she's been around four years too, and I would think in some ways it's tougher to recruit a good women's coach to the national backwater Ivies than a men's coach.
That being said, I'd still be dumbfounded if Sydney went to Fairfield.
If it's just money, one suspects President Tilghman could solve this issue with a couple of phone calls.
Everything I see (and have seen since late 1993) tells me that Coach Johnson is the real deal. I've got to believe that retaining him for an extra, say, $300,000 a year (or 0.02% of the endowment) would bring in more in donations and goodwill and ticket sales than the outlay would be.
For pity's sake, if we can't outbid Fairfield for a guy with strong ties to his alma mater then we may as well ditch basketball and focus on squash or something.
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