Deal or No Deal?: Contracts Don't Mean Squat to College Coaches

Should I stay or should I go? It's a good thing some universities play in mammoth arenas because the egos of their "Pompous Pilots" wouldn't fit any other place. Much of the excess in the canonization of coaches is perpetrated by coaches-turned-television commentators who shamelessly fawn over their former colleagues.

The analysts should be more concerned about encouraging coaches to spare fans the pious blather about the sanctity of a contract or agreement. Granted, it's survival of the fittest amid the offer-you-can't-refuse backdrop. But in a great many cases, schools have been little more than convenient steppingstones for "larger-than-life" coaches along their one-way street to success. It's understandable in many instances that mercenaries are leaving the minute they're appointed because coaches are in a distasteful "hired-to-be-fired" vocation, where a pink slip is only one losing season or poor recruiting year away.

Nevertheless, loyalty has become too much of a one-way street. Players considering their options occasionally are grilled by coaches and commentators for contemplating transfers or leaving early for the NBA. There are countless examples of schools holding a player's eligibility hostage out of sheer vindictiveness. How much more one-sided can it be when that lame double standard exists?

After all, the value systems for high-profile coaches are sufficiently open-minded to permit running out on contracts when more lucrative jobs come open. Contracts are understood to be for the protection of the coach, not the team, whose players are somehow indentured to the schools for as many as four years of eligibility unless of course a coach chooses not to renew their scholarships. Perhaps that's why many believe incoming recruits should be allowed out of their letter-of-intent to seek another destination if the coach they signed with departs before they even get to campus.

The length of contracts doesn't seem to carry any weight as a factor in the equation. Among the coaches who took off with more than five years remaining on pacts are Rick Barnes, John Beilein, Tony Bennett, Dave Bliss, Mike Brey, John Calipari, Jeff Capel III, Tom Crean, Matt Doherty, Larry Eustachy, Dennis Felton, Tim Floyd (twice), Travis Ford, Billy Gillispie, Brian Gregory, Leonard Hamilton, Ben Howland, Jeff Lebo, Gregg Marshall, Thad Matta, Fran McCaffery, Sean Miller, Dan Monson, Lute Olson, Buzz Peterson, Skip Prosser, Oliver Purnell, Mike Rice Jr., Steve Robinson, Kelvin Sampson, Tubby Smith and Mark Turgeon.

Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but that's most definitely the way it is as contracts don't appear to mean squat to a striking number of meandering mentors who abandon ship like so many rats at high tide. Lon Kruger departed three different schools with at least four years remaining on pacts before leaving UNLV with two seasons left.

Many "leveraged" coaches have been preoccupied of late with attempting to virtually extort raises and extensions on already hefty packages. But in recent years, administrations at Boston College, Kent State, Marist, Miami (Fla.), St. John's and Wyoming seemed to be guinea pigs of sorts by fighting back via adherence to buyout clauses in trying to regain control of the situation in this big business atmosphere.

In mid-July 2010, a New York State Supreme Court Justice made a possible precedent-setting ruling in favor of Marist, which contended that coach Matt Brady's contract required him to secure written consent before negotiating with another school and forbade him from offering "a scholarship to current Marist players or to persons that he or his staff recruited to play at Marist" if he ever took a comparable job.

Brady clearly negotiated with James Madison in 2008 without "written" consent and Marist compiled a list of 19 prospects Brady recruited on behalf of Marist that it believed he should have been unable to recruit to JMU per the details of his contract. Four players on that "off-limits" list--Trevon Flores, Devon Moore, Andrey Semenov and Julius Wells--ultimately signed with JMU.

The judge ruled in favor of Marist's claims that Brady had an enforceable contract when he discussed leaving Marist with JMU, that JMU knew of the contract's existence, that JMU intentionally induced Brady to violate his fiduciary obligations under the contract, and that Marist incurred damages as a result of the breach of those obligations. Marist also filed a separate civil suit against Brady. In mid-May 2011, Kent State sued Geno Ford for more than $1.2 million in damages stemming from his departure for Bradley.

Five of Tulsa's previous six coaches--Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Steve Robinson, Bill Self and Buzz Peterson--left the school for more prestigious positions despite each of them having at least three years remaining on their contracts. Tulsa is one of three universities from which Self has bailed out. He signed a five-year extension with Illinois in December, 2002, that included a bump in salary to $900,000 and payout of $500,000 if he stayed the life of the contract. There also was a buyout of $100,000 per year remaining on the pact.

Deal or no deal? Although precise information on terms of contracts frequently is akin to Swiss bank account material, here is an alphabetical list detailing coaches who reportedly still had contractual obligations to schools when they left for greener pastures at some point in their careers:

  • Steve Alford (3 years remaining on contract)--left Southwest Missouri State (after 1998-99 season)/hired by Iowa.
  • Steve Alford (4)--Iowa/New Mexico.
  • Dana Altman (2)--Marshall/Kansas State.
  • Dana Altman (?)--Creighton/Oregon.
  • Tommy Amaker (3)--Seton Hall/Michigan.
  • Mike Anderson (4)--UAB/Missouri.
  • Mike Anderson (5)--Missouri/Arkansas.
  • Ronnie Arrow (2)--Texas A&M-Corpus Christi/South Alabama.
  • Tony Barbee (4)--Texas-El Paso/Auburn.
  • Rick Barnes (3)--George Mason/Providence.
  • Rick Barnes (6)--Clemson/Texas.
  • J.D. Barnett (2)--Virginia Commonwealth/Tulsa.
  • Jim Baron (4)--St. Bonaventure/Rhode Island.
  • John Beilien (6)--Richmond/West Virginia.
  • John Beilien (5)--West Virginia/Michigan.
  • Bob Bender (3)--Illinois State/Washington.
  • Tony Bennett (6)--Washington State/Virginia.
  • Ben Betts Jr. (2)--South Carolina State/Oklahoma (assistant).
  • Dave Bliss (2)--Southern Methodist/New Mexico.
  • Dave Bliss (6)--New Mexico/Baylor.
  • Ken Bone (4)--Portland State/Washington State.
  • Tad Boyle (2)--Northern Colorado/Colorado.
  • Matt Brady (3)--Marist/James Madison.
  • Ben Braun (3)--Eastern Michigan/California.
  • Mike Brey (7)--Delaware/Notre Dame.
  • Milan Brown (3)--Mount St. Mary's/Holy Cross.
  • Brad Brownell (1)--UNC Wilmington/Wright State.
  • Brad Brownell (4)--Wright State/Clemson.
  • Jeff Bzdelik (4)--Air Force/Colorado.
  • Jeff Bzdelik (2)--Colorado/Wake Forest.
  • John Calipari (10)--Massachusetts/New Jersey Nets.
  • John Calipari (4)--Memphis/Kentucky.
  • Lou Campanelli (1)--James Madison/California.
  • Jeff Capel III (6)--Virginia Commonwealth/Oklahoma.
  • Bill Carmody (?)--Princeton/Northwestern.
  • Gale Catlett (2)--Cincinnati/West Virginia.
  • Patrick Chambers (5)--Boston University/Penn State.
  • Jim Christian (5)--Kent State/Texas Christian.
  • Perry Clark (5)--Tulane/Miami (Fla.).
  • Steve Cleveland (?)--Brigham Young/Fresno State.
  • Barry Collier (4)--Butler/Nebraska.
  • Barry Collier (2)--Nebraska/Butler (athletic director).
  • Ed Conroy (5)--The Citadel/Tulane.
  • Ed Cooley (5)--Fairfield/Providence.
  • Tom Crean (9)--Marquette/Indiana.
  • Nick Cronin (1)--Murray State/Cincinnati.
  • Donny Daniels (2)--Cal State Fullerton/UCLA (assistant).
  • Keno Davis (4)--Drake/Providence.
  • Ed DeChellis (2)--East Tennessee State/Penn State.
  • Ed DeChellis (3)--Penn State/Navy.
  • Dean Demopoulos (3)--Missouri-Kansas City/Seattle Sonics (assistant).
  • Matt Doherty (4)--Notre Dame/North Carolina.
  • Matt Doherty (6)--Florida Atlantic/Southern Methodist.
  • Steve Donahue (?)--Cornell/Boston College.
  • Billy Donovan (2)--Marshall/Florida.
  • Fran Dunphy (?)--Penn/Temple.
  • Hugh Durham (5)--Florida State/Georgia.
  • Orlando Early (?)--Louisiana-Monroe/South Carolina (assistant).
  • Kevin Eastman (2)--UNC-Wilmington/Washington State.
  • Larry Eustachy (6)--Utah State/Iowa State.
  • Rob Evans (3)--Mississippi/Arizona State.
  • Ron Everhart (2)--Northeastern/Duquesne.
  • Dennis Felton (6)--Western Kentucky/Georgia.
  • Dane Fife (5)--IPFW/Michigan State (assistant).
  • Tim Floyd (6)--New Orleans/Iowa State.
  • Tim Floyd (8)--Iowa State/Chicago Bulls.
  • Eddie Fogler (3)--Wichita State/Vanderbilt.
  • Geno Ford (4)--Kent State/Bradley.
  • Travis Ford (7)--Massachusetts/Oklahoma State.
  • Pat Foster (3)--Lamar/Houston.
  • Mark Fox (5)--Nevada/Georgia.
  • Pete Gillen (4)--Xavier/Providence.
  • Pete Gillen (5)--Providence/Virginia.
  • Billy Gillispie (3)--Texas-El Paso/Texas A&M.
  • Billy Gillispie (8)--Texas A&M/Kentucky.
  • Bobby Gonzalez (4)--Manhattan/Seton Hall.
  • Mark Gottfried (4)--Murray State/Alabama.
  • Anthony Grant (5)--Virginia Commonwealth/Alabama.
  • James Green (?)--Mississippi Valley State/Jacksonville State.
  • Jerry Green (4)--Oregon/Tennessee.
  • Seth Greenberg (2)--South Florida/Virginia Tech.
  • Brian Gregory (7)--Dayton/Georgia Tech.
  • Frank Haith (2)--Miami (Fla.)/Missouri.
  • Leonard Hamilton (7)--Miami (Fla.)/Washington Wizards.
  • Jim Harrick (1)--Rhode Island/Georgia.
  • Stan Heath (4)--Kent State/Arkansas.
  • Paul Hewitt (3)--Siena/Georgia Tech.
  • Barry Hinson (1)--Oral Roberts/Southwest Missouri State.
  • Darrin Horn (3)--Western Kentucky/South Carolina.
  • Ben Howland (1)--Northern Arizona/Pittsburgh.
  • Ben Howland (6)--Pittsburgh/UCLA.
  • Bob Huggins (4)--Kansas State/West Virginia.
  • Ron Hunter (5)--IUPUI/Georgia State.
  • Mike Jarvis (2)--Boston University/George Washington.
  • Sydney Johnson (?)--Princeton/Fairfield.
  • Trent Johnson (5)--Nevada/Stanford.
  • Trent Johnson (1)--Stanford/Louisiana State.
  • Donnie Jones (4)--Marshall/Central Florida.
  • Johnny Jordan (2)--Loyola of Chicago/Notre Dame.
  • Gene Keady (1)--Western Kentucky/Purdue.
  • Billy Kennedy (4)--Murray State/Texas A&M.
  • Pat Kennedy (3)--Florida State/DePaul.
  • Lon Kruger (4)--Kansas State/Florida.
  • Lon Kruger (5)--Florida/Illinois.
  • Lon Kruger (4)--Illinois/Atlanta Hawks.
  • Lon Kruger (2)--UNLV/Oklahoma.
  • Steve Lappas (4)--Manhattan/Villanova.
  • Jim Larranaga (5)--George Mason/Miami (Fla.).
  • Jeff Lebo (2)--Tennessee Tech/Chattanooga.
  • Jeff Lebo (8)--Chattanooga/Auburn.
  • Dan Leibovitz (4)--Hartford/Penn (assistant).
  • Dave Leitao (5)--DePaul/Virginia.
  • Todd Lickliter (3)--Butler/Iowa.
  • Mike Longergan (1)--Vermont/George Washington.
  • Nick Macarchuk (1)--Canisius/Fordham.
  • Nick Macarchuk (1)--Fordham/Stony Brook.
  • Rick Majerus (2)--Ball State/Utah.
  • Gregg Marshall (8)--Winthrop/Wichita State.
  • Cuonzo Martin (4)--Missouri State/Tennessee.
  • Thad Matta (9)--Xavier/Ohio State.
  • Fran McCaffery (7)--Siena/Iowa.
  • Ray McCallum (1)--Ball State/Houston.
  • Bobby McCullum (2)--Western Michigan/South Florida.
  • Jim McDermott (5)--Northern Iowa/Iowa State.
  • Jim McDermott (5)--Iowa State/Creighton.
  • Ritchie McKay (2)--Portland State/Colorado State.
  • Ritchie McKay (4)--Colorado State/Oregon State.
  • Ritchie McKay (4)--Oregon State/New Mexico.
  • Kevin McKenna (2)--Indiana State/Oregon assistant.
  • Sean Miller (9)--Xavier/Arizona.
  • Jim Molinari (2)--Northern Illinois/Bradley.
  • Dan Monson (10)--Gonzaga/Minnesota.
  • Mike Montgomery (4)--Stanford/Golden State Warriors.
  • Stew Morrill (3)--Colorado State/Utah State.
  • Porter Moser (5)--UALR/Illinois State.
  • Bill Musselman (2)--South Alabama/Portland Trail Blazers (assistant).
  • Danny Nee (2)--Ohio University/Nebraska.
  • Danny Nee (3)--Robert Morris/Duquesne.
  • Dave Odom (1)--East Carolina/Virginia assistant.
  • Dave Odom (1)--Wake Forest/South Carolina.
  • Lute Olson (7)--Iowa/Arizona.
  • Kevin O'Neill (3)--Marquette/Tennessee.
  • Kevin O'Neill (4)--Tennessee/Northwestern.
  • Kevin O'Neill (2)--Northwestern/New York Knicks (assistant).
  • Louis Orr (4)--Siena/Seton Hall.
  • Matt Painter (3)--Southern Illinois/Purdue.
  • Eddie Payne (3)--East Carolina/Oregon State.
  • Bruce Pearl (3)--Wisconsin-Milwaukee/Tennessee.
  • Tom Pecora (4)--Hofstra/Fordham.
  • John Pelphrey (3)--South Alabama/Arkansas.
  • Tom Penders (2)--Rhode Island/Texas.
  • Buzz Peterson (9)--Appalachian State/Tulsa.
  • Buzz Peterson (4)--Tulsa/Tennessee.
  • Buzz Peterson (2)--Coastal Carolina/Charlotte Bobcats (director of player personnel).
  • Buzz Peterson (4)--Appalachian State/UNC Wilmington.
  • Rick Pitino (5)--Providence/New York Knicks.
  • Rick Pitino (3)--Kentucky/Boston Celtics.
  • Tic Price (4)--New Orleans/Memphis.
  • Skip Prosser (6)--Xavier/Wake Forest.
  • Oliver Purnell (2)--Dayton/Clemson.
  • Oliver Purnell (6)--Clemson/DePaul.
  • Mike Rice Jr. (7)--Robert Morris/Rutgers.
  • Nolan Richardson (4)--Tulsa/Arkansas.
  • Craig Robinson (?)--Brown/Oregon State.
  • Steve Robinson (7)--Tulsa/Florida State.
  • Lorenzo Romar (4)--Saint Louis/Washington.
  • Doc Sadler (4)--Texas-El Paso/Nebraska.
  • Kelvin Sampson (6)--Washington State/Oklahoma.
  • Kelvin Sampson (1)--Oklahoma/Indiana.
  • Joe Scott (4)--Air Force/Princeton.
  • Bill Self (2)--Oral Roberts/Tulsa.
  • Bill Self (5)--Tulsa/Illinois.
  • Bill Self (5)--Illinois/Kansas.
  • Herb Sendek (1)--Miami (Ohio)/North Carolina State.
  • Herb Sendek (4)--North Carolina State/Arizona State.
  • Larry Shyatt (4)--Wyoming/Clemson.
  • Al Skinner (4)--Rhode Island/Boston College.
  • Tubby Smith (3)--Tulsa/Georgia.
  • Tubby Smith (6)--Georgia/Kentucky.
  • Tubby Smith (4)--Kentucky/Minnesota.
  • Charlie Spoonhour (2)--Southwest Missouri State/Saint Louis.
  • Reggie Theus (5)--New Mexico State/Sacramento Kings.
  • John Thompson III (?)--Princeton/Georgetown.
  • Billy Tubbs (4)--Oklahoma/Texas Christian.
  • Mark Turgeon (2)--Jacksonville State/Wichita State.
  • Mark Turgeon (9)--Wichita State/Texas A&M.
  • Mark Turgeon (4)--Texas A&M/Maryland./unless extended after '10!
  • Jan van Breda Kolff (2)--Pepperdine/St. Bonaventure.
  • Jerry Wainwright (5)--UNC Wilmington/Richmond.
  • Jerry Wainwright (2)--Richmond/DePaul.
  • Rex Walters (2)--Florida Atlantic/San Francisco.
  • Gary Waters (5)--Kent State/Rutgers.
  • Melvin Watkins (3)--UNC Charlotte/Texas A&M.
  • Bruce Weber (2)--Southern Illinois/Illinois.
  • Tim Welsh (2)--Iona/Providence.
  • Kevin Willard (?)--Iona/Seton Hall.
  • Ralph Willard (3)--Western Kentucky/Pittsburgh.
  • Ralph Willard (4)--Holy Cross/Louisville assistant.
  • Gary Williams (2)--Ohio State/Maryland.
  • Roy Williams (5)--Kansas/North Carolina.