LAWRENCE | Greatness costs.
Precisely how much it costs is yet to be determined by Bill Self, Lew Perkins and the suits who craft the contracts, as we learned during KU’s news conference Thursday called to stop speculation about Self’s coaching future.
The deal’s length also was vague. “A long time,” was as technical as it got.
So, no details on the terms, but we do know this: Thursday, Kansas entered a new financial neighborhood by keeping the old coach.
When Self told Oklahoma State and its Brinks truck “no thanks,” Kansas said “yes” to a compensation level that will make Self among the game’s wealthiest. The ceiling is Florida’s Billy Donovan, who accepted a $3.5 million annual agreement to turn down Kentucky and the Orlando Magic after the Gators’ second national championship last season.
The guess here is that Self won’t reach that. But surely he will surpass the Big 12 standard of $2 million paid to Texas’ Rick Barnes. And in the process, the basketball team will get its practice facility and better living quarters for its players, among other improvements.
As a business model, Kansas just became the Oklahoma and Texas football of the hardwood, where competing nationally means making major investments. Most Big 12 South schools have been doing this for years, understanding that well-paid coaching staffs and over-the-top facilities are part of the competition.
Self gets it, too.
“It’s not fair to say to a recruit, ‘Come with us, we’re going to do everything for you,’ and we don’t have the same things as our competitors,” Self said. “We want to have the best of the best.”
All of this is as it should be.
The basketball program graduated from one of the nation’s best to the head of the class with Monday’s national championship, and this is the time to advance.
“We need to strike while the iron’s hot,” Self said. “We’re at a peak now.”
He has an athletic director in Perkins who knows something about operating top-shelf basketball programs. Perkins didn’t hire either of the coaches — Self and Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun — who won national titles under his watch. But it’s more than coincidence that he was around for both.
Oh, and he did hire a national-championship coach when he gave Gary Williams the Maryland job.
At Kansas, which struggled financially in the early years of the Big 12, Perkins has lifted the program from the bottom rung of league budgets to somewhere in the middle.
“We’re an elite athletic program, and we have to act like it,” Perkins said. “Facility-wise, salary-wise, we have to be there, and I’m not ashamed to say that.”
Nor has Perkins been shy about finding ways to pay for these things, and he sometimes can ruffle feathers. A points system for priority seating and moving a home football game to Arrowhead Stadium are two of the notable business decisions that weren’t always popular but have been financial winners.
“Today is a perfect example of why we do those things,” Perkins said.
Bob Lattinville, an agent who represents several coaches, including KU women’s hoops coach Bonnie Henrickson, calls Perkins “masterful” in contract negotiations and keeping his coaches happy.
“The way he handles it is by providing a tremendous amount of security,” Lattinville said. “It’s ‘Stay here, and we’ll take care of you.’ ”
That’s what Perkins and Kansas said to Self on Thursday. On another day, Perkins is going to have to sit down with Mark Mangino, who makes $1.6 million annually, and talk about whether Kansas is the kind of school that pays its basketball coach substantially more than a football coach whose team just went 12-1, won the Orange Bowl and put people in the seats in record numbers.
These are the kind of discussions Kansas must have. It’s the cost of winning.
| Oral Roberts | 55-54 |
| 1993-94 | 6-21 |
| 1994-95 | 10-17 |
| 1995-96 | 18-9 |
| 1996-97 | 21-7 |
| Tulsa | 74-27 |
| 1997-98 | 19-12 |
| 1998-99 | 23-10 |
| 1999-00 | 32-5 |
| Illinois | 78-24 |
| 2000-01 | 27-8 |
| 2001-02 | 26-9 |
| 2002-03 | 25-7 |
| Kansas | 142-32 |
| 2003-04 | 24-9 |
| 2004-05 | 23-7 |
| 2005-06 | 25-8 |
| 2006-07 | 33-5 |
| 2007-08 | 37-3 |
| Total | 349-137 |
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