Where are all the big names?
That's what college basketball fans following the Indiana search have been wondering, and they might be asking the same question if and when similarly high-level jobs such as Texas and Villanova potentially open.
The Hoosiers publicly struck out on Brad Stevens and Michigan's Dusty May, while other targets such as Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger and Baylor's Scott Drew are reportedly unlikely to be involved moving forward, either. If Texas moves on from Rodney Terry, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Longhorns deal with similar situations. Meanwhile, the three high-major hires so far this cycle have been one high-major assistant coach and two NBA assistants.
The primary reason? The proverbial «big names» are getting increasingly difficult to pry away from their current programs, with schools getting smarter about baking massive buyout numbers into their coaches' contracts.
Let's start at the top of the rankings: Alabama's Nate Oats would owe Alabama $18 million if he left this spring. Florida's Todd Golden would owe around $15 million. Missouri's Dennis Gates and Texas Tech's Grant McCasland — two breakout stars of this season — would cost $17 million and more than $8 million, respectively, to get out of their contracts. UCLA's Mick Cronin would cost eight figures, while Arizona's Tommy Lloyd is $12 million.
Programs aren't paying that kind of money, even the ones with the deepest pockets, especially if they owe money to the outgoing coach. It's unclear what sort of separation payment Indiana and Mike Woodson agreed to, but he would have been owed $8 million had the Hoosiers fired him. Texas will have to pay Rodney Terry more than $5 million if it moves on from him.
Paying several million
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