2023-24 Sun Belt
- Thread starter LTK5H
- Start date
We are double f******
That is pretty disappointing. Interested to see where they end up
I'll lose it if it's another SBC school.
I'd rather it be another SBC school than some CUSA joke.
txst2399
Member
TXST could easily have the best bball team in the SBC if our coach would put in more effort
1. Coach TJ NEEDS to be active on social media, get his name and the program out in public viewing! He could congratulate other TXST programs in their big wins or season, literally anything to show he cares about TXST!! I guarantee at least 3/4 of the TXST students have no idea who he even is, you cannot find him anywhere. The successful coaches nowadays are all active on social media, the best place to connect with the community, fans, and potential recruits. Its honestly laughable he isn't using this simple idea to better the program... It takes a few minutes out of your day to do so
2. He is a good coach, his defensive scheme usually works really well and we have seen great flashes in recent down seasons due to injuries and talent.
3. Recruiting is the obvious issue with this program. He has found some hidden gems out of high school. Other than a handful, he is getting work in progress players who need time to develop. The last few offers sent out are to big men who are uncoordinated and just starting out in basketball.
4. TX is one of, if not the best place to recruit for basketball and there is not a better college location in TX to recruit than San Marcos.
5. The SBC is strong in Baseball, Softball, and growing fast in Football. Basketball as a whole is clearly behind and having a GOOD team is more than enough to win many games in the SBC.
Summary: Coach to use social media to get his name and program out in the public = more attention and eyes on the coach and program = more community support, fans at games (show recruits) who know the story and want to see us succeed = better recruits who WANT to play here for the coach, community, and self development.
Just some thoughts about the potential TXST can reach when doing all they can. I know TXST bball can and will be a highly successful program one day
1. Coach TJ NEEDS to be active on social media, get his name and the program out in public viewing! He could congratulate other TXST programs in their big wins or season, literally anything to show he cares about TXST!! I guarantee at least 3/4 of the TXST students have no idea who he even is, you cannot find him anywhere. The successful coaches nowadays are all active on social media, the best place to connect with the community, fans, and potential recruits. Its honestly laughable he isn't using this simple idea to better the program... It takes a few minutes out of your day to do so
2. He is a good coach, his defensive scheme usually works really well and we have seen great flashes in recent down seasons due to injuries and talent.
3. Recruiting is the obvious issue with this program. He has found some hidden gems out of high school. Other than a handful, he is getting work in progress players who need time to develop. The last few offers sent out are to big men who are uncoordinated and just starting out in basketball.
4. TX is one of, if not the best place to recruit for basketball and there is not a better college location in TX to recruit than San Marcos.
5. The SBC is strong in Baseball, Softball, and growing fast in Football. Basketball as a whole is clearly behind and having a GOOD team is more than enough to win many games in the SBC.
Summary: Coach to use social media to get his name and program out in the public = more attention and eyes on the coach and program = more community support, fans at games (show recruits) who know the story and want to see us succeed = better recruits who WANT to play here for the coach, community, and self development.
Just some thoughts about the potential TXST can reach when doing all they can. I know TXST bball can and will be a highly successful program one day
Maybe if Don would get on Social Media it would set an example.. don’t really know the need for Don when KD is doing both jobs at all times on the biggest public facing venues. Hard to hold TJ accountable on the social media front when it’s non existent with his boss.
I said it before the season that we'd see just how committed KD is to winning. I know we don't have bags of money sitting around to buy out contracts, but if you're asking every one of your sports to step up, you can't keep a coach who can't win games that matter, can't keep talent from leaving, and isn't great at recruiting talent in the 1st place. If there isn't a change made, and made immediately, we're committing to being mediocre, at best, for the next 2 years at the very least.
After all the cash we just threw at GJ, we may not have enough to buy out TJs contract. Same thing happened at UTSA, traylor took all their cash and they let Henson play out his contract.
I won't pretend to know what the math looks like w/ attendance revenue, but coming off of back-to-back losing seasons where we're not even close to being competitive and having the top of the roster lopped off, what is there to make anyone want to come to games next year?
For reference, here are our numbers the past 5 seasons. When the numbers for this season come out, I'd bet we're in the 1500s max, and 1400s wouldn't surprise me a bit.
2037 2017-18
3067 2018-19
2285 2019-20
n/a.....2020-21
1852 2021-22
1876 2022-23
Quick math:
3067-1852 = 1215
1215 x $15 = $18225
$18225 x 14 home games = $255,150
For reference, here are our numbers the past 5 seasons. When the numbers for this season come out, I'd bet we're in the 1500s max, and 1400s wouldn't surprise me a bit.
2037 2017-18
3067 2018-19
2285 2019-20
n/a.....2020-21
1852 2021-22
1876 2022-23
Quick math:
3067-1852 = 1215
1215 x $15 = $18225
$18225 x 14 home games = $255,150
Last edited:
B
Bakertxst04
Guest
Aro is very correct. We don't have an alumni base that can cough up millions to pay a coach's buyout like many of the blue blood schools. TJ is making somewhere in the ballpark of $300-350k / year (I couldn't find his salary, but Mid-Major Madness had Kasper at $302k, so I'd have to imagine TJ is in the same ballpark). We extended him through 2027, meaning he has four years left. It would cost us about $300-$400k (half of his remaining salary) to pay his buyout plus additional money to bring in a new coach. We wait until next season, that number is probably closer to $225-$275.
Unfortunately coaches are always going to be a gamble for schools, so I'm sure they have to look at how much it's going to cost in potential lost revenue to keep him vs. paying his buyout. Attendance was not great this year, but would another coach generate more in ticket sales than the cost of paying TJ's buyout? If we turn sub-.500 seasons into .750-.800 or better and are actively competing for the SBC Championship regularly, we could easily manage an additional 2,500-3,000 fans. That's enough to double ticket, concession, and merch sales and would generate enough revenue to justify the cost of the buyout. (Ideally, if we had the money I'd be making plans to drive down Lake Charles this weekend and have a nice conversation with their coach. I don't know if we could bid enough to land him, but a coach that's 29-3 in his first year is worth looking into.)
Speaking of buyouts, are we still on the hook for Spav or has his contract fall off of our books? If I remember right, he was signed to five years in Dec. 2018, which would have taken him through this past December 2023. That might have been a part of what they used to extend/raise GJK.
Edit: Thank you to LTK for digging up the attendance numbers. So just looking at ticket revenue alone, it looks poor attendance is costing us about $250k / year. That lines up very well with my estimates for his buyout next year. You also have to figure in lost revenue from merch and concessions and we could certainly justify the move next year.
Unfortunately coaches are always going to be a gamble for schools, so I'm sure they have to look at how much it's going to cost in potential lost revenue to keep him vs. paying his buyout. Attendance was not great this year, but would another coach generate more in ticket sales than the cost of paying TJ's buyout? If we turn sub-.500 seasons into .750-.800 or better and are actively competing for the SBC Championship regularly, we could easily manage an additional 2,500-3,000 fans. That's enough to double ticket, concession, and merch sales and would generate enough revenue to justify the cost of the buyout. (Ideally, if we had the money I'd be making plans to drive down Lake Charles this weekend and have a nice conversation with their coach. I don't know if we could bid enough to land him, but a coach that's 29-3 in his first year is worth looking into.)
Speaking of buyouts, are we still on the hook for Spav or has his contract fall off of our books? If I remember right, he was signed to five years in Dec. 2018, which would have taken him through this past December 2023. That might have been a part of what they used to extend/raise GJK.
Edit: Thank you to LTK for digging up the attendance numbers. So just looking at ticket revenue alone, it looks poor attendance is costing us about $250k / year. That lines up very well with my estimates for his buyout next year. You also have to figure in lost revenue from merch and concessions and we could certainly justify the move next year.
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't see any way they let go of TJ ending the year 10-4 in the last fourteen games with three of those on the road and the fourth against JMU in a semi and who had the most wins in D1. But also, I have thought TJ would be here even without that finish. Regardless, it was nothing other than a disappointing season no matter the massive injury issues. I've been a TJ backer but hard to see much improvement coming but portal season is just getting started. Kaspar also never scheduled money travel games, so the 2-3 they do now probably helps the bottom line some.
This is a terrible way to look at whether to retain a coach or not, but unfortunately it's how a lot of AD/Presidents do. If the argument is that there were injuries early and see what he did with a full(ish) roster, then that ignores the fact that he hasn't recruited well enough to beat teams that went 10-21, 9-22 and 13-20.
So many people criticized the way Texas fired Herman when he had solid W/L numbers, but from a holistic pov, he wasn't the guy to get it done, so they bit the bullet and made the tough decision. Not entirely analogous, as Herman was a prick with zero backers in AD/BMD leadership and TJ is incredibly well liked in Jowers from what I can tell, not to mention the bank account differences between the schools.
I'll drop this now, but mark my words - we're not having another winning season with TJ at the helm. And I don't mean like 17-16 season either - I mean 20 wins and top half of the conference finish.
slycat
Active member
Plus he has lost twice to NAIA schools. Our Lady of the Lake loss was the same year he won the conference. His teams are very hot/cold or maybe warm/cold.
His recruiting after winning with Kaspars guys was terrible. Not even an uptick in talent other than maybe Sykes. Just meh juco transfers or the guys from Florida and sucked
As bad as the team was this year it'll now get worse with Sykes and Mason gone. That's assuming Love and others aren't going soon.
I bet the purse strings are tight right now with Kinnes raise and the facility expansions (though that should be a different bucket). I want to see KD get hyped for basketball the way he did for football.
His recruiting after winning with Kaspars guys was terrible. Not even an uptick in talent other than maybe Sykes. Just meh juco transfers or the guys from Florida and sucked
As bad as the team was this year it'll now get worse with Sykes and Mason gone. That's assuming Love and others aren't going soon.
I bet the purse strings are tight right now with Kinnes raise and the facility expansions (though that should be a different bucket). I want to see KD get hyped for basketball the way he did for football.
This doesn’t sound like a Pres that’s upset with how the season went. Granted, KD doesn’t seem like the type to blast a coach on social media but this tweet sounds like a Pres that’s decided TJ has earned the right to stay.
franslasttwinkie
Active member
He was clapping along for Jake all up until about the week before he was shown the door.
He would put cryptic tweets after spav losses.
Spav had one year left and a 400K buyout. Justin did the work previously. TJ makes 415K his buyout would be $685K on 4/1/24. I don't see a scenario where TJ is not the coach next year. The buyout April 1, 2025 lowers to be $373,500 and that is a number I could see them realistically eating.
He's a sunshine pumper online, and he should be. He was telling donors that this is a good team, we just had to get healthy, all season long. Even behind the scenes, I don't think he'd say a negative word about a coach to anyone outside his smallest circle of trust - that's just not how he's wired. Whether or not he truly believes in TJ, or just knows what he can do financially, are two completely different animals.