Midtown Madness: 2023 SLU Twitter Think Tank: PART 1

[Podcast]

Peter, Zac, Carter and 1/2 of West Pine Bills sit down for 150 minutes of Billiken chatter. -NIL -Billiken Victory Fund -Program Expectations vs 2023/24 Season Expectations -Assessing Travis Ford's tenure as Billiken Head Coach as of 10/18/2023

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[VeniceMenace]

Nice job guys, good perspectives on roots of fan apathy and pluses and minuses of the CEO Ford era, including the Forte, Vice, Noland departures. A must-listen for all MBMs!—enjoyed it!

[billikenbill]

Good effort guys.

For everyone else, the discussion lasts 2 and a half hours, but save time and just go to the last 2 and a half minutes, OK, 3 mins. for the bottom line. Peter sums up the entire coaching and financial situation there. That’s the take home lesson.

[Pistol]

We are also in the process of scheduling part 2 of our epic SLU Twitter Think Tank.

Thanks to everyone who listens for your ongoing support and feedback.

[Lord Elrond]

When you last convened this illustrious panel, one thing you mentioned at the end was that no one actually knew exactly when Travis Ford’s contract was up, and exactly what the buyout was at the end of this year.  Has our intrepid band of podcasters discovered the actual real year and amount of the buyout?  And if so, will you tell us now, or use as a tease to pull us into the next episode?

[Lord Elrond]

When I read this article, I was actually going to suggest you guys read it in your next panel discussion, but I see Pete is once again way ahead of the pack and has posted it in another discussion thread.  
 

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/what-happened-to-college-basketball.html
 

 

[Pistol]

24 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:

When you last convened this illustrious panel, one thing you mentioned at the end was that no one actually knew exactly when Travis Ford’s contract was up, and exactly what the buyout was at the end of this year.  Has our intrepid band of podcasters discovered the actual real year and amount of the buyout?  And if so, will you tell us now, or use as a tease to pull us into the next episode?

We know he makes about $2.5 million per year. What we've gotten constantly conflicting information about his how many years are left. We think it's at least 3, probably 4, and maybe even 5 (depending on who you believe). Without knowing any terms beyond the approximate salary, that's about $7.5 million to $12.5 million left. Part of the confusion is that he supposedly has an auto-renew mechanism that kicks his deal out another year at the conclusion of each season unless either party were to cancel the renewal. So there's speculation about whether SLU did that, and when.

At a private school with an athletic department that actually functions at a high level, they are forthcoming about the contract status of the highest-paid employee. In the dome of silence that is the SLU AD, that doesn't happen, so we rely on rumors and conjecture.

[Lord Elrond]

1 hour ago, Pistol said:

We know he makes about $2.5 million per year. What we've gotten constantly conflicting information about his how many years are left. We think it's at least 3, probably 4, and maybe even 5 (depending on who you believe). Without knowing any terms beyond the approximate salary, that's about $7.5 million to $12.5 million left. Part of the confusion is that he supposedly has an auto-renew mechanism that kicks his deal out another year at the conclusion of each season unless either party were to cancel the renewal. So there's speculation about whether SLU did that, and when.

At a private school with an athletic department that actually functions at a high level, they are forthcoming about the contract status of the highest-paid employee. In the dome of silence that is the SLU AD, that doesn't happen, so we rely on rumors and conjecture.

SLU definitely operates under a “cone of silence” about a lot of things.  Not sure I see any way around that. I find it hard to believe they wouldn’t have cancelled the auto-renewal after last season, but before that I don’t see anything that would have caused it to be cancelled from the SLU AD and mega-booster point of view. How many years left after this year is only speculation. Wish I had some better info, but short of some Mission Impossible type of black box operation to break into Chris May’s office, I don’t see getting any better information. 

This may mean that until the buyout number is small enough for some booster to break out their checkbooks (no, I don’t think the people we are talking about have Venmo or Cashapp on their phones, nor would SLU AD have any way of figuring out how to accept those payments) Travis Ford is our coach regardless of performance on the court. Sadly, I think this also means that some people who might otherwise donate to the BVF will use the fact that Travis Ford remains coach as reason not to donate to the BVF. Even though the two are not really the same, it will be hard to separate the two in some people’s mind’s.  No wonder Troy sounded defeated on the interview with Slaten on the radio.