Amanda Butler

Collegiate Sports
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I didn’t realize that our former Women’s Basketball coach had been fired from Florida last year. Her alma mater. On her birthday. Cold.

I like Amanda, and I see that Clemson has just hired her. I wish her much luck.

The significant thing about her firing is what the AD said, because you have to think Hill brings some of this philosophy with him.

"Women’s basketball is the only program on Florida’s campus without a conference championship.

“I believe this program has the resources and support to achieve sustained success and compete for championships,” Stricklin added."

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clt says that is not what a servant leader would do

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Amanda should have stayed here.

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We have turned out three great coaches: Amanda Butler at Florida and now Clemson, Katie Meier at Miami, And Karen Aston at Texas. We need to stop being a training ground for coaches and keep one

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I looked up how Florida WBB did this last season. They may have the “resources and support”, but they were very close to the bottom of the SEC and way worse than Butler’s teams were. I wish Amanda well at Clemson. That is one tough place to win in WBB.

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We are not a destination school, in anything and likely never will be. There are like 10 of them in the nation. Ideally we will always be a breeding ground for coaches.

IMO we should see constant coaching and staff turnover. We should never have people in their positions 10,15,20 years. They either need to be doing well and hired away or sucking and getting fired.

In addition - we should never being paying a woman’s basketball coach the salary required to keep her here rather than go to schools like Texas or Florida. That is just a waste of money on our part. Women’s basketball does not and will not move the needle here.

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Luckily Mike Hill doesn’t believe this, as he said he had his eyes on the Charlotte job for a long time.

I get what your saying. But saying we “should” see constant turnover due to successful coaches seems like a miserable sales pitch. There’s nothing wrong with hoping that a coach sees a Charlotte job as a destination job. Especially in bball. It’s more common than it was say 20 years ago. I’m hoping we find our Mark Few or Jay Wright.

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There are always outliers, like Bob McKillop, that could double their salary but prefer to stay where they are. Unless that happens, we are going to be a stepping stone because coaches that get us to the NCAAs regularly are going to be able to double their salaries by going somewhere else. See Melvin Watkins (us), Kermit Davis (MTSU), and about a zillion more. Now if we use our future success to generate the money required to close that salary gap then maybe it doesn’t happen, but that too seems like a long shot.

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We are not a destination school and we never will be. We MIGHT get lucky with a coach that wants to stay with us through some success, but those (like Mark Few) are few and far between. Look at Shaka Smart at VCU, he stayed through success but there comes a time when most will want to take the next step. The reality is we will never have the financial resources of Texas or Bama or Ohio State. That isn’t an indictment on us, it is just reality. Mike can say all he wants, but he know this to be the case as well. If he succeeds here and Clemson or Chapel Hill came calling I expect him to depart and that is fine because it means he did great work here. There are a handful of schools that can consider themselves the top. We aren’t ever going to be among those. Think about it - a school like UCLA or Auburn or UVA - schools that have seen success and have financial resources are still not destination schools. I want to hire people who have a drive to do more and challenge themselves past here. I love the Xavier model and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Win and move on isn’t a miserable pitch, it’s an awesome one. Come here and keep our tradition going and we can help you go where you want to go. If someone’s career goal is to stay here for the rest of their career, that isn’t the person I want here.

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Like I said before, I get what you’re saying, I just don’t agree with it being our “slogan”. Saying things like coaches “should” be looking for their next job while at Charlotte is not the best approach for promoting the school.

If someone like yourself, one of our biggest fans, is going around saying we are not a destination school, then why the hell would a coach think we are?

I really don’t see it that much differently than when fans get mad at students wearing gear for other schools. They can say, well, we’re not a destination school.

And I totally disagree with the UCLA, Auburn and UVA are not destination schools. Trust me, there are plenty alums of those schools that would like nothing more than to coach at those schools.

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“alums” how many alums do we have coaching? We had two successful ones in basketball and one went to A&M and the other tried to go to UT - both a step up from where we were in budget, resources and leagues.

I don’t think it’s a big deal honestly. When you say destination school you are talking literally the top 10 - 15 schools in the nation in success and athletic budget. Like I said, Ohio State, Florida, Alabama, Oregon probably now, fit this and any coach that puts us in their realm is probably stuck in a mental institution. This isn’t about school pride or anything, it is about business. When a coach or admin comes here it is a job. I know for us that is hard because we live and breath it, it is a part of us, but for them it is a job and just like any job you are always open to making more and new challenges. I would love nothing more than to find great success in a sport and that coach to stay, but the reality is the chance of that happening is beyond slim and that is ok. You are always working not for the job you have but for the next job you want. If you stop wanting the next job at our level - well you end up with what we have seen in both athletics and administration.

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Kermit Davis coached at MTSU 17 years, or so. That’s an eternity in today’s coaching world.

A young coach who wins at Charlotte might stay for longer than expected. A winning program will increase revenues and donations exponentially. What’s the point of going to Georgia Tech if you’re going to be let go in 4-5 years?

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I don’t know what Kermit Davis made at MTSU, but I bet it wasn’t anywhere near Sanchez’s $650K. With that being Sanchez’s starting number, he can earn a lot more with conference championships and tourney appearances, and an extension, when earned, will be for even more.

I also wouldn’t call Ole Miss any sort of dream job for most. I doubt we’ll hear from Davis during his time there. A place like Charlotte, in a great city with a clear investment in the program, could keep a coach a lot longer than somewhere like MTSU, or even VCU (Shaka), than most think. It would take something way better than Ole Miss to get someone to leave here once we get things going and investments/salaries continue to climb.

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I don’t begrudge any coach looking for a job. Also, you should know as much as anyone about Lutz, it was Judy/Phil. Not necessarily the “destination” argument.

I just disagree with saying that a coach “should” have plans to not be here long because we are not a “destination” school. Maybe it’s partly the thought process of if you want to be a “destination” school, you have to think like a destination school.

I think your speaking in generalities too. Only the top 10-15 schools. So no one would find a school outside of the top 15 as a tremendous job? UF lost Spurrier, Urban Meyer and Billy Donovan. Duke might be a high end basketball job. But football?

I could make the argument that the Xavier “model” is just as rare as the Villanova model.

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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis has agreed to a new contract that runs through the 2023-24 season. School officials said Friday the seven-year deal will gives Davis a $575,000 base salary plus $175,000 each year for television and broadcast responsibilities.Mar 24, 2017

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I think there are a ton of great and attractive jobs in various sports, like any profession. You are right too it is sport based. Chapel Hill is a destination Job in probably AD and Basketball but not so much football. I’m just saying there are a handful of top jobs and we should be hiring coaches that have the drive to someday have a shot at those jobs.

I think the point im making is in the pecking order of college athletics we are a mom and pop technology company and Texas is Google. I don’t want us to hire people that see themselves here for 20 years. I want them to want to ascend the ranks in their profession. That drive is what we need. We should see our coaches either getting fired for failing - see women’s volleyball or likely leaving due to winning.-

When the pros come calling those driven folks will even leave those destination schools too, see Spurrier or Pitino. Urban Meyer also retired And returned for another destination school. Roy Williams who left Kansas to probably one of the only schools that could claim equal level.

I get what you are saying, my point is though we have to be realistic about where we are and the coaches we can hire based on our resources. If we find the success that we all hope we do, we will not be able to hold on to most of our coaches and the fanbase needs to understand that. Even if we win for 10 years in major sports and move up to AAC we won’t be a destination job for our sports. Just boots us up in the pecking order.

To get back to where we started - we should never seek to pay a woman’s coach top market dollar in their profession and I would argue we should not worry about retaining coaches in any sport that doesn’t move the needle in our market. It is a waste of money.

So to sum up. Coaches and admin getting hired away for winning and doing a good job is a good thing. Let’s be realistic about where we are in the world of resources for college athletics and being a stepping stone school isn’t a bad thing as long as we hire wisely.

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I’m realistic where we are. I understand coaches might, and probably will, leave. I just disagree with promoting it as coaches “should” be looking for the next job, or promoting that we are a “stepping stone” school, or that we aren’t a “destination” school. Are you sure Darin Gantt didn’t take over your profile? It sounds just like something he would write about “little ol’ UNCC”.

I mean if we should be complacent being a “stepping stone”, why in the world would we pay Sanchez $600,000? Just give him $150,000 and put the rest in academics. Why do we complain that we don’t pay our assistants enough?

Like I said, I get that people leave. But it’s also ok for fans to think their school is the best and be frustrated when someone does decide to leave. If we don’t think that as fans, why in the world would anyone else think that. Just look at how UT fans acted (and still act) towards Lane Kiffin taking the “better” job at USC. They might not have been a “destination” school, but they certainly acted like it.

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I agree with NWA, a guy like Mark Few is rare. Now could we get one? Sure, but right now we are not a school that is a destination job, at least not yet. Can we be in the future? Sure, but right now we are not.

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As is Xavier basketball is rare.

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I think we stand a better chance at hiring a good coach to follow a good coach than fending off the big boy$ when they come calling.

Either way - none of this matters if we don’t win. Winning and having to deal with coaches either leaving or being desired is a situation we all want and beats the hell outta having to fire them.

And for the love of God, if a woman’s coach wants to leave, we sure as hell don’t need to break the bank to keep them.