TexAgs23 said:

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I still say we go after Tony Vitello. He currently makes $3M per year through June 30, 2029.

If he leaves before June 30, 2025, there is a $4M buyout.

If he leaves before June 30, 2026, there is a $3M buyout.

With BBP expansion coming, surely there is enough revenue increase to justify that for a proven winner.

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An expansion at Olsen will not generate enough revenue to pay for the renovations, much less to fund a top of the market contract. Someone is going to have to write a big check to get that seating expansion done.

Five Alarm fire!!

twk said:

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TexAgs23 said:

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I still say we go after Tony Vitello. He currently makes $3M per year through June 30, 2029.

If he leaves before June 30, 2025, there is a $4M buyout.

If he leaves before June 30, 2026, there is a $3M buyout.

With BBP expansion coming, surely there is enough revenue increase to justify that for a proven winner.

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An expansion at Olsen will not generate enough revenue to pay for the renovations, much less to fund a top of the market contract. Someone is going to have to write a big check to get that seating expansion done.

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Why would the BOR approve a project we don't have the donations/funding for? Wouldn't you make sure you have that first?

AggieArchitect04 said:

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twk said:

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TexAgs23 said:

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I still say we go after Tony Vitello. He currently makes $3M per year through June 30, 2029.

If he leaves before June 30, 2025, there is a $4M buyout.

If he leaves before June 30, 2026, there is a $3M buyout.

With BBP expansion coming, surely there is enough revenue increase to justify that for a proven winner.

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An expansion at Olsen will not generate enough revenue to pay for the renovations, much less to fund a top of the market contract. Someone is going to have to write a big check to get that seating expansion done.

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Why would the BOR approve a project we don't have the donations/funding for? Wouldn't you make sure you have that first?

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We financed a lot of construction over the last 20 years with bond debt. Even when we had big donations, there was often a significant portion of the cost that was effectively being covered by future football revenue. Because of changes in the financial landscape, we are having to get away from that and requiring more of the funds from donors.

Those posting we can just money whip a Head Coach away from another program seem to have that sip arrogance despite being Ags.

OA_02 said:

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Panic should start when Trev announces Earley is coming back after the worst season of the century and biggest collapse of a pre-season number 1 in cbb history.

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you know it's possible...that due to money...Earley gets a second year

money is tight in the athletic department for a variety of reasons

and financial austerity is kind of Trev's thing

We panic when Grahovic decommits. Because the exodus starts.

This season is all but over other than SEC tourny. Hard to believe we are done in March.

Not sure how you salvage the future. Earley likely stays, I think, knowing the AD. So Sddao, Luke Jackson, and Patton are the starters next year. Grahovic, Sorrell, Kent, Kiel, Bear, and Farr are the nucleus but challenge is who wants to transfers in or which freshman come here after Earley crashed the Ferrari this year? Anyone of those Big names leaves and it's going to get real bad and we're going to need a complete rebuild.

Cruel to send this email today

I believe our old coach will still be attending Omaha. He may be a d-bag but the end of the day its amazing what is forgiven when you win. Just ask O'Sullivan. Looks like we are the only real losers and we will be the only ones that can't stand that guy for the remainder of his career.

What was Trev Alberts excuse why he couldn't get along?

jkag89 said:

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Nobody questioned POS's ability as a coach but considering he has proven to be a true POS, why does anyone believe there was anything Alberts could have done to keep him from going to Austin?

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Schloss didn't want Trev to get the job, his decision to leave was basically sealed when the hire was made. Timing just happened to be perfect for him to team up with his old buddy at another SEC school with an even deeper baseball tradition than ours.

I won't pretend to know the reasons why POS opted to depart for Austin. I would have a lot less animosity towards him if he were more transparent about leaving. In other words, any reasons stated after the fact just came across as pretense instead of valid grounds.

Rumors leaked before CWS. Why was there a scramble for a new coach after the CWS and how come there were not already some options being worked in the background?

How do you know there was not some? I know the the de facto assumption is that our athletic department is always reacting rather than being proactive (probably a fair one) but we don't know there were no inquires of possible interest of other coaches. Again I won't pretend to know but there seems to be indications that we just didn't throw up our hands and hope for the best with Earley.

Given the scramble at the end of the year to find one. But maybe the Ags have the coach they deserve so we should stop with the let's get rid of Earley and let this play out over the next 3 years...

It's about to happen again in basketball which serve as more evidence.

Comming to the conclusion A&M continuing to expand attendance because they need another group of fans hoping for the next year.

Maybe I give the school too much credit but I like to think they can do better. Been a while since we won even a conference title in one of the 3 major mens sports.

twk said:

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Agryan00 said:

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Given the scramble at the end of the year to find one.

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You are confusing correlation with causation. The scramble was because we had a vacancy pop up long after most players had stopped playing the game of musical chairs that is the transfer portal. Someone taking our job last year (not named Earley) was likely to find his roster depleted, with little opportunity to remake it, and after having accepted a bunch of transfers at his current destination.

Even if Trev talked to people last year before the season was over, what could he say, other than simply gauging general interest in the job? He's not going to get anyone to say, whenever you have an opening, regardless of date, give me a call--at least not from any of our top targets.

We wont' have that problem if we make a change this year.

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our AD basically took the left-over nobody that everyone like for bbq because they had so little faith in the potential new, non-splash coach to repair damage done by the exodus. so, the AD didn't even believe in A&M's 'storied' baseball program to draw talent during the off-season or fall. tbh if it wasn't for all the sunshine pumping it would have been an expected outcome to be in the gutter of the SEC and expectation would have at least been based in reality.

i can only assume it is calculated at this point. it's much easier to abide a "meh" hire when you don't even make the SEC tourney than after returning from Omaha with a red ribbon.

twk said:

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Agryan00 said:

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Given the scramble at the end of the year to find one.

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You are confusing correlation with causation. The scramble was because we had a vacancy pop up long after most players had stopped playing the game of musical chairs that is the transfer portal. Someone taking our job last year (not named Earley) was likely to find his roster depleted, with little opportunity to remake it, and after having accepted a bunch of transfers at his current destination.

Even if Trev talked to people last year before the season was over, what could he say, other than simply gauging general interest in the job? He's not going to get anyone to say, whenever you have an opening, regardless of date, give me a call--at least not from any of our top targets.

We wont' have that problem if we make a change this year.

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You bring up an interesting dilemma. Would it have been better to have hired an accomplished coach knowing his then current roster would likely scatter and 2025 would be a tough season with 2026 likely not very stellar as well or go with the then current players' choice and hope talent overcame lack of head coaching experience?
It is an obvious answer at this point in 2025, but that was likely what Alberts was facing when he pulled the trigger. Earley may very well right the ship next year or even possibly, this year, but without a crystal ball there was no way for the AD to make a guaranteed call while he was under a time crunch.

It's not the optimal outcome and we can thank a rather detached AD for putting our boys in this situation, but I can't imagine a more experienced coach (but less splashy) being considered a worse option than an inexperienced coach (even with superior "talent"); if nothing else I've learned from watching A&M all my life.... I'll take a good coach over hyped, under-coached and unprepared talent any day.

Closing on the existing portal commits with a new mid-hire and continuing to work the winter transfer portal would still give opportunity to add talent for the Spring. Not sure what options existed down the list from the top targets, but the Earley option was a sign of desperation and efficiency and not one of building. It's reasonable if you considered 2025 a wash from the jump and the AD was just buying time to set-up the mid-hire with less friction.

jrodwh00p said:

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It's not the optimal outcome but desirable to handing an unprepared up-start the keys to the kingdom. Closing on the existing portal commits with a new hire and continuing to work the winter transfer portal would still give opportunity to add talent for the Spring. It seems that once the option for a splash was lost, the Earley option was a sign of desperation, and reasonable if you considered 2025 a wash from the jump.

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I wouldn't call it desperation. It was just playing the hand that was dealt and taking a calculated gamble. I know what the reaction would have been on this board had Alberts signed a coach from a G5 school, or some assistant. So, we made a short term hire, which can be corrected almost entirely using the buyout money we received from Schlossnagle, rather than making a long term gamble.

yeah - I expanded on it a bit, but we could have bumped a Texas D1 coach with better credentials and the same contract and more lifting power. The hire was lazy for a sport that most Aggies take very seriously. Just eyeballing the resume should have been enough to earn a hard hell, no.

eATMup-Reveille said:

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Those posting we can just money whip a Head Coach away from another program seem to have that sip arrogance despite being Ags.

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Completely agree.

Vitello talk is really silly.

I don't think there was any scenario an outside hire would have gotten only one year. It would've been a complete rebuild as our entire roster would've most likely transferred, so we would've allowed them at least 3-4 seasons. Earley is different because everyone in the industry knows why he was hired, and that unfortunately it didn't work out.

Now we can rip the bandaid off in late May and have an entire month to go through a real coaching search, AND be able to set that coach up for success.

Hiring a "tier 2" coach last year would have probably had us better this year in hindsight, but not necessarily better long term. All of this assuming we start a real rebuild after this season is done, make a good hire, and support the new hire immediately so he can put together a competitive roster with the portal.

Can't fault the Earley hire, the timing was what it was.
The guaranteed contracts are what's frustrating, aside from the lost potential this year.

We got $2.7m from Texas for Schloss. We would owe Earley $3m this year to buy him out. We would owe Kelly $0.7m, in addition to the $1m we spent to buy him out at UW.
So we're probably blowing through our Schloss payout + an extra $2m from our AD. I don't know how anyone can call Trev a bean counter with negotiating skills like that.

hindsight said:

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eATMup-Reveille said:

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Those posting we can just money whip a Head Coach away from another program seem to have that sip arrogance despite being Ags.

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Completely agree.

Vitello talk is really silly.

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I do not think the attempt at Vitello was silly nor do I think(know) it was one that was easily dismissed. Tony certainly had interest in what A&M was offering. An interesting note that the Tennessee coaches have in their contracts is if one wins the Natty, he/she will become the highest paid coach in that sport in the nation. It is a safe clause given basketball and football's shortcomings, but both softball and baseball have a legit shot at ringing that up, Tony being a case in point.
With the strong desire to keep Tony, they asked him to help draw up the new stadium redesign as well as provided baseball a nice NIL "account" to keep Tennessee competitive with the big dogs. As those who come will see Friday, the stadium rebuild is going on as we speak. Couple that with the rabid fan base (close to the level of A&M) and the living conditions, multiple lakes and the cool in the summer Smoky Mountains next door, Knoxville has become a place he seems genuinely enjoying. If it comes down to a money deal, I would wager Tennessee will go as far as needed to retain him. UT will always be a football school first, but baseball has become a trendy show.

We don't panic- ever.

Give Early his shot. Stay the course.

PabloSerna said:

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We don't panic- ever.

Give Early his shot. Stay the course.

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Oh boy

HoustonAg2106 said:

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jkag89 said:

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Nobody questioned POS's ability as a coach but considering he has proven to be a true POS, why does anyone believe there was anything Alberts could have done to keep him from going to Austin?

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Schloss didn't want Trev to get the job, his decision to leave was basically sealed when the hire was made. Timing just happened to be perfect for him to team up with his old buddy at another SEC school with an even deeper baseball tradition than ours.

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His decision was sealed when CDC was hired by tu. At that moment the only thing that would change it would have been Pierce playing for or winning a natty. Schloss not liking Trev being the choice was an excuse for him to use when justifying himself to outsiders.