HB Arnett’s
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Vol. 35, Issue 18 – November 24, 2014
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Concluding with Cal
No Savannah Hosanna for BYU’s Beat Down of Tigers
BYU’s seventh win of the season certainly didn’t evoke any expressions of adoration, praise or joy for the Cougars’ 64-0 showing and shellacking of the hapless Savannah State Tigers last Saturday in LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Instead, Bronco Mendenhall and his boys were the epitome of graciousness but not necessarily good manners in hosting their guests from Georgia. Every time BYU burped, they scored.
The Cougars could have easily belched their way to putting up 124…in the first half, against SSU. Heck, Christian Stewart took it easy, despite throwing for 4 touchdowns and running for two more.
Everybody scored for BYU. You can see for yourself by clicking here for the box score.
This game was a last minute fill in for Tom Holmoe when Hawaii backed out of their contract to play the Cougars in Provo.
Mendenhall had hoped to use this game as a tune up for the regular season finale next Saturday against Cal in Berkeley.
Instead of a tune up, BYU barely got the washer fluid filled and the flogging was on.
Next up will be a real game against Cal this Saturday, Nov 29 on the road. There will be plenty to play for on the table for both teams.
BYU wants to keep alive their goal of winning 9 games this year and Cal absolutely needs a win against the Cougars to get to a 6-win season and bowl game invite.
This could be a Cougar/Cal rerun. When the Bears faced the Cougars of Washington State earlier this season in Pullman, both teams put up gaudy passing numbers. Cal and their quarterback Jared Goff passed for 527 yards while WSU QB Connor Halliday threw for 734 yards.
This game will be won with the quarterbacks’ arms and the defensive secondary coverage, or lack of it.
On paper Goff has more experience and better throwing numbers than Christian Stewart. And BYU’s secondary has been anything but the strength of this year’s Cougar defense.
Bring a calculator because the scoreboard should be on fire. I call it Cal 47 BYU 35.
BYU Basketball
Maui Won’t Make or Break Cougars’ Season, But it Will Give us a Huge Hint of what Lies Ahead
Will BYU have an offensive post presence this season? Will BYU’s three point shooting be better than it was last year? Does Dave Rose have a point guard that he can rely on?
Is there a defensive player on the roster that can defend a penetrating point guard or an athletic wing?
If opponents take away BYU’s open court game, does Rose actually have any offensive sets that will work? Did Wake Forest know what they were doing when they released Chase Fischer? Will BYU fans regret the departure of Matt Carlino?
Will the shot doctor that worked with Kyle Collinsworth over the last six months, be sued for malpractice? Did Dave Rose oversell Corbin Kaufusi as the next Hakeem Olajuwon? Can BYU beat San Diego State without Jimmer Fredette?
We should get some answers to those questions tonight when BYU faces San Diego State in Maui. The game is set to be televised nationally on ESPN2 and tips at 9:30 pm MST.
The biggest question that has to be answered involves BYU’s offense versus SDSU’ defense.
Currently, the Cougars rank fifth in the nation in scoring with a 95.6 average per game. San Diego State ranks third in the country in points allowed, giving up only 44.7 per contest. Last week they held Cal State Bakersfield to a Div. I low of 27.
This much should be a guarantee for BYU when they tip it off against the Aztecs. BYU will score more than 27 points, but definitely less than 90. If BYU can find a way to get to 70 points, they will win this game, in my opinion.
For BYU to win, they will have to do it with outside shooting. The Aztecs will control the paint and BYU’s inside game will be nonexistent against SDSU. That means that the Cougars will have to connect from distance and beyond the arc. That means this game will be in the hands of Tyler Haws and Chase Fischer. If they have decent games shooting the ball from outside, BYU has a chance.
If they don’t, then BYU can’t win. If BYU wins, they most likely will face Pitt the next day. If they lose, the next likely opponent will be Chaminade. The third and final day of the tournament, the Cougars could end up facing either Purdue, Kansas State, Missouri or Arizona.
BYU will return home and face Eastern Kentucky in Provo on Saturday in the Marriott Center.
Not Happiness and Home Wins
What Can Money, Lots of it and less of it Buy?
For all of you academics out there that actually know how to do research, the numbers below are not research, just random observations from me after perusing The Department of Education’s “Equity in Athletics Data Analysis Cutting Tool”.
You too can come up with your own observations at the same site by clicking here. Then click on go to login page, then click on get data for one institution.
The data I chose to focus on is the latest available from 2013 and includes the revenue generated by Basketball and Football at each school; the average men’s head coaching salary at each school, the average men’s assistant coaches’ salary and the recruiting expenses for each school. You will have to do your own extrapolation of what average means and how it translates to success or lack of success at each representative school.
For example, let’s start with Utah. Their average salary for a men’s head coach is $422,399. The average salary paid for an assistant coach is $148,292.
I guarantee you that the head swimming coach at Utah is not making $422,399 and the assistant baseball coach for the Utes is not making $148,292.
The averages are extremely skewed by the salaries for Football and Basketball coaches. For example, from the latest public information released by the State of Utah for 2013, Kyle Whittingham earned $1,989,390 and Larry Krystkowiak earned $1,058,400.
And according to those same public records, here are some of the salaries of some football and basketball assistants at Utah.
Kalani Sitake, football, $570,503
Jay Hill, football, $286,704
Brian Johnson, football, $276,882
Aaron Roderick, football, $272, 290
Morgan Scalley, football, $240,367
Daniel Finn, football, $254,538
Ilaisa Tuiaki, football, $216,592
Sharrief Shah, football, $200,641
Doug Elisaia, football, $234,525 (Strength and Conditioning Coach)
Tommy Conner, basketball, $228,993
Demarlo Slocum, basketball, $212,302
Anthony Levrets, Women’s Head Basketball Coach, $257,882
So now that we have hopefully explained how the average salaries of coaches is skewed by the big two revenue sports of football and basketball, you can draw your own conclusions on how well schools pay coaches for those two sports.
Also included are the numbers for revenue brought in by football and basketball at a particular school, and the money each institution spent on recruiting. All numbers are according the Department of Education for 2013
With that said, let’s get started comparing 8 schools, BYU, Utah, Utah State, Wyoming, Purdue, Iowa State, Savannah State and Alabama and see what they have bought for their money spent.
BYU…Currently 7-4 and headed to Miami Beach Bowl
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $391,210
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $98,381
(As a side note, the average salary for all Women Head Coaches is $129,741 and Women Assistant Coaches average salary is $37,437.)
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $6,341,172
Football, $22,212,731
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $721,274
Savannah State…Currently 0-12 and going nowhere
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $69,284
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $37,097
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $639,061
Football, $1.955,750
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $71,942
Utah…Currently 7-4 and 5th in 6 team Pac 12 South and headed to some bowl
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $442,399
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $148,292
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $5,425,714
Football, $27,640,267
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $829,139
Alabama…Currently 10-1 and headed for a New Year’s Day Bowl…at least
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $1,276,101
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $294,017
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $14,000,313
Football, $94,990,345
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $1,708,683
Purdue…Currently 3-8 and last in West Division of Big 10
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $684,401
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $139,335
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $9,492,614
Football, $19,785,663
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $773,235
Wyoming…Currently 4-7 and 5th in Mountain Division of MWC
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $319,429
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $85,432
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $2,852,422
Football, $9,626,099
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $393,253
Iowa State…Currently 2-8 and dead last in Big 12
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $836,864
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $197 884
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $9,586,993
Football, $30,968, 258
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $1,006,720
Utah State…Currently 9-3 and 3rd in Mountain Division of MWC
Average salary for Men Head Coaches, $185,603
Average salary for Men Assistant Coaches, $59,903
Revenue brought in for 2013
Men’s Basketball, $1,807,207
Football, $6,273,541
Recruiting Expenses for Men’s Sports, $338,096
So what did we learn about the correlation between money and success on the field or court?
The best football teams and programs have the most money. As evidenced by Alabama at the top of the pile and Savannah State at the bottom.
In between, from my point of view, we learn that with those programs in the middle, including BYU, Iowa State, Purdue and Utah, more money doesn’t guarantee success. Iowa State is dead last in the Big 12 in football and outspends BYU significantly.
What does that say about how BYU would fare in the Big 12 if ever invited? Nothing good, in my mind.
Less money is not usually good, but as Utah State against BYU proved this year and in the last three years, you can be competitive and even beat a team with more money and resources.
In my opinion, it is all about coaches and players. If you get a good coach, even at a bargain rate, he will be successful, but won’t last. If he is good, he is going to cash in on better money offered by schools with bigger budgets.
When it comes to players, more money for recruiting doesn’t seem to make a difference in getting better players. Iowa State, Purdue and Wyoming are never going to get premier players, regardless of what they spend on recruiting.
BYU is a lot like Wyoming. They could spend what Alabama does, (almost $2,000,000 per year on recruiting) and it wouldn’t make any difference because of BYU’s narrow LDS recruiting pool.
Paying for a big name coach, sounds exciting and an easy fix for BYU when the football program is struggling. But again, spending Alabama or even Utah type money on coaches wouldn’t make any difference, in my opinion, because the LDS Head Coaching pool is so small and limited.
While Alabama spends huge money and gets success, teams Like Texas, which spends equally huge money, is still waiting for its latest payout with Charlie Strong and company.
Utah State is getting a bargain with Matt Wells, but it will be a short lived bargain. If Wells continues to win, he will follow the footsteps of his predecessor, Gary Anderson, and at the first opportunity, jump at the big bucks and lifetime security.
At BYU, there are no coaches in line to leap frog to lifetime monetary security as a head coach at BYU. Those that do get hired, are pretty well assured of lifetime job security, unless total malfeasance and malaise overtake the program they coach.
In my opinion, when it comes to BYU football, there isn’t any hint of malfeasance, but malaise in wins and losses and fan enthusiasm and support is definitely in the malaise stage.
Money is certainly essential, but at the level BYU and Utah are playing basketball and football, it wouldn’t make any difference in results.
I am convinced that you could swap the current football coaching staffs at BYU and Utah and have them switch schools and teams, and the results would pretty much be the same.
That is my definition of BYU football malaise.
TV Timetable
BYU vs. San Diego State
Monday, November 24 at Maui
Tipoff: 9:30 pm MST
TV: ESPN2
BYU vs. TBA (either Pitt or Chaminade)
Tuesday, November 25 at Maui
Tipoff: TBA
TV: A channel on ESPN Network
BYU vs. TBA (Arizona, Missouri, Kansas State or Purdue)
Wednesday, November 26 at Maui
TV: A Channel on ESPN Network
BYU vs. Cal
Saturday, November 29 at Berkeley
Kickoff: 2:30 pm MST
TV: Pac 12 Network
BYU vs. Eastern Kentucky
Saturday, November 29 at Provo
Tipoff: 7:30 pm MST
TV: BYUtv
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