Yeah, that was a laugher. There seemed to be a few "sympathizers", but by and large, there's a lot of vitriol against the Rams in Hokie Country.
The thing that irked me the most is this excerpt from the article by the TSL person:
http://www.techsideline.com/news_archiv ... e-5828.php
Two years ago, VCU didn't lock Grant up with a huge contract, despite Grant's CAA accomplishments at VCU outweighing Smart's. When the time came for Grant to move on, Alabama offered $1.8 million, and VCU let him go.
What this guy doesn't understand is that different people are motivated by different things and that VCU values its people. Yes, I agree that Grant and Smart had different achievements during their tenures. However, Florida came calling after the first season with the airplane on the tarmac and the checkbook wide open, and all Grant had done was won a CAA championship and beat Duke. That's all he did, and he got a very serious look from Florida.
Furthermore, when Alabama came later in the third year, they offered $1.8mil or whatever it was, and Grant took it. He rode the coattails of Eric Maynor and Capel's recruits to the big paycheck, and he left. It's not that we let him go- we offered what we could, which was still a very substantial amount of money, but we couldn't match $1.8mil. Make no mistake about it- we wanted to keep Grant. We didn't let him go without a fight, but we just couldn't match Alabama's offer and apparently, we couldn't match Grant's expectations, either. Grant took the money and all the trappings, both tangible and intangible, that come with it- fame, fortune, playing at an allegedly higher level of competition, pressure to succeed, unreasonable fans, constant threat of being fired for the lack of meeting expectations, the whole enchilada.
Now we come to Shaka Smart. NCSU reportedly offered $2mil for 5 years- again, a substantial amount of money that comes with the same if not higher degree of tangibles and intangibles listed previously. We will not now or anytime in the near future be able to compensate someone so richly so quickly. Shaka is a very intelligent man- he knows the difference between the two jobs and he can be very comfortable here achieving the same success (already proven) that VT or UVA or any other so-called high major school covets. Here he can have job stability, program support for things like conditioning, facilities, recruiting, etc. and a fan base that largely will support the program in a positive way. (I imagine that last element will change if we start losing big/ racking up losses.) But it's highly evident to me that Shaka values different things than Grant. They are two different people, and I am ecstatic about that.
Now let's talk about what it means to be a VCU Mens Basketball Head Coach from a compensation standpoint. The amount of money being bandied around is not about the position itself but what the individual brings to the table. We will not always land a person who is worth over a million dollars right off the bat. The next individual will probably not be paid that amount of money on a multi-year contract. The position itself for a new coach with appropriate qualifications coming in is now probably worth in the 400k to 600k (my own estimation) based on current expectations, levels of support, etc.
And tell me, Mr. TSL, who's more desperate? VCU or NCSU for offering much more for the same achievements? We're not desperate to turn a program around and win - we've been winning all along. All we're trying to do is reward a man for doing something that's never been done before, for continuing our winning ways, and to keep him here while recognizing his worth as a coach, a representative of the university, and a person.
