planoponyfan wrote:I've read a lot of comments from various sportswriters wondering why SMU would pay a coach 2 million a year. Their reasoning is that if Jones is successful, SMU will play in a bowl that pays us maybe 750k. However, I think they're missing the bigger picture here.
By making Jones the highest paid coach in the CUSA (and one of the top 25 in the country), Orsini is putting pressure on the other schools in the conference to keep up. If SMU starts to recruit well and win, you'll see the other schools in CUSA find ways to get more money into their programs. The quality of all the programs will go up and the quality of the bowl games the CUSA is associated with will rise as well.
It's a gamble. SMU has to produce results on the field. Clearly everyone thinks Jones will be able to do that. So do I. But if it works, I think we'll see some big changes in the conference overall.
Either that or Orsini wants SMU to join the SEC.
(that was my suggestion when I was at SMU and Arkansas left the SWC)
I don't think ORSINI's goal is for other schools to 'keep up'
Rather, it's for SMU to get better...and with 'better' we get more attendance which will help the athletic department with MONEY.