Satt's new contract/recruiting + more

[YesAppCan]

http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... 73668.html

In addition to his $400,000 base salary, which will increase each season by $25,000 and an annual $125,000 retention bonus, Satterfield has plenty of opportunities for additional bonuses through academics, competitive scheduling and on-field performance.
Among the biggest bonuses are $50,000 for a Sun Belt championship, $25,000 for reaching a bowl game and $15,000 for winning a bowl game. Those numbers increase if the bowl game is a part of the College Football Playoff. Winning nine or more games means a $25,000 bonus for Satterfield.
In the event another program lures Satterfield away, App State will receive a buyout payment that escalates by $25,000 each season, starting at $375,000 from now through Dec. 31. The buyout peaks at $475,000 in 2019, before falling to $200,000 in the final year of the contract in 2020.

[WVAppsfan]

The buyout is unfortunately affordable by comparison: Doc Holiday coach at Marshall $1.5 million, Rich Rodriguez at Arizona is $1.5 million; the comparison is a Group of 5 coach and a Power 5 coach.

My fear all along is that Sat wins, Sat is wanted elsewhere. A smaller SEC or ACC school or who knows. But what is true is he a real Mountaineer, a real son of App State. And he cam up through the ranks with a great man in Coach Moore. He will be a round for awhile, and he deserves the contract. Thanks for posting. I think it will strike up a solid conversation

[Yosef10]

See "Satterfield extension" thread for more content and the ensuing discussion

[Yosef]

The buyout is unfortunately affordable by comparison: Doc Holiday coach at Marshall $1.5 million, Rich Rodriguez at Arizona is $1.5 million; the comparison is a Group of 5 coach and a Power 5 coach.

My fear all along is that Sat wins, Sat is wanted elsewhere. A smaller SEC or ACC school or who knows. But what is true is he a real Mountaineer, a real son of App State. And he cam up through the ranks with a great man in Coach Moore. He will be a round for awhile, and he deserves the contract. Thanks for posting. I think it will strike up a solid conversation

Most larger universities will also happily pay for the buyout to get the right coach, so it wouldn't affect Coach's pocket if he moves on. The courting Uni will typically pay it.

[WVAppsfan]

Sounds like Sat has a deal best for him and not the University; what is the similar pay structure for other Sun Belt schools?

[Rick0714]

Sounds like Sat has a deal best for him and not the University; what is the similar pay structure for other Sun Belt schools?

Looking at other Sun Belt salaries, I would have to respectfully disagree. Base salary moves him from 10th out of 11 to 9th. Add in the retention and other "guaranteed" bonuses to make it $550k (not sure how the other coaches salary is figured in the table) and that would put him 4th compared to base salaries. Bonuses look bottom half of the pack. Compared to other G5's, he would be at the bottom or bottom half of all conferences (except the MAC, oddly enough).

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

[mikeyosef]

Sounds like Sat has a deal best for him and not the University; what is the similar pay structure for other Sun Belt schools?

You're kidding, right?

[EastHallApp]

Sounds like Sat has a deal best for him and not the University; what is the similar pay structure for other Sun Belt schools?

How would you have designed it to be more favorable to the university?

He got a deal that moved him from rock-bottom compensation to middle-of-the-road Sun Belt range. Still a bargain based on how he's got the program going right now.

[WVAppsfan]

My only rational for the comment was that the buyout is lower than other schools that I am aware of, if someone want him they do not have to pay the top dollar to buy his contract out.

[proasu89]

Sounds like Sat has a deal best for him and not the University; what is the similar pay structure for other Sun Belt schools?

No.

[clayton]

He's not going to Tulsa or UNCW.

If we see double digit win seasons and conference championships, he will end up on lists. But, it has always been my understanding that he left before specifically so he would be more qualified for the job he has now.

I think it will take a spectacular opportunity to pry Satterfield away from the position of head football coach at Appalachian State.

If that happens, that means we will get to enjoy some very successful football teams over the next several seasons.

So, let's enjoy that.

[APPARJ]

It seems some people don't understand the scarcity of coaches than can lead a successful FBS program. In short, coaches than can win are valuable and bring value to their schools. You can't just pick one off a tree.

Football, whether people like it or not, is the most valuable marketing asset App State has today. Take away football and I'm sure people will still be fond of the school. But it's football that draws the homecoming crowds and overall national interest. That's not really debatable.

No academic department at App could have generated as much interest and hype to draw in more applicants and quality students than our football team did with National Championships and Michigan. Just look at the academic standards and application rates since the championship years. A totally different kind of student is going to App now. I believe we'll see some significant benefits of this in 10-15 years (if our alumni giving folks improve, anyway).

So in order to maintain football excellence and make the school attractive, and everyone knows how much sweeter game day is when we're winning, keeping Satt and paying him some big bucks makes a ton of sense.

After all, there are only 120+ FBS programs in the country. There are even fewer "successful" programs that have a history of winning or have been winning in recent memory. To have a head coach that can build and sustain a winning FBS program is almost always harder than being a professor.

[WataugaMan]

To some, money isn't everything. Seeing that Satt is a graduate of App and the Blue Ridge Mountains are dear to his heart, it would take more than a large sum of cash to pry him away. Just a thought.

[hotrod2001]

Hopefully he's got a really strong loyalty factor. App's his Alma Mater and he coaches the same team he used to play for. Years ago, he was talked as the heir apparent to Moore as far back as when he was at Toledo.

The gig's probably his for as long as he wants it as long as the team keeps winning and the success/infrastructure grows. Hopefully loyalty is stronger than dollars if it comes to it.

[Saint3333]

I would have made the buyout cumulative. Buyout after 2016 would have been $2M, $1.5M after 2017, $1M after 2018, $0.5M after 2019. Other than that this deal is good for both parties.

[EastHallApp]

One thing that I think gets lost in the "should we pay him this much" discussions are that the need to pay the football coach more isn't really about Satt. I mean, it is to the extent that he's doing a great job and we want to keep him as long as we can. But the reality is that whether it's Satt or somebody else, App needs to be able to pay our coach at least something close to market value.

If Satt keeps improving the program, we'll need to pay him more to keep him as long as possible. And whenever he leaves, for whatever reason, we'll obviously need to find a replacement. When that search happens, we can't be offering bottom-of-the-food-chain compensation, or we're going to have a hard time attracting quality candidates.

[HkyMtneer]

He's not going to Tulsa or UNCW.

I sure hope he isn't going to UNCW...otherwise we've got BIG problems or the man is A LOT more talented at coaching a second sport than we would believe.

Either way, we just can't lose another one to those Salt Lifers, and I'm not sure they would want one of ours anyways, after the job that Fuzz has done.