… Auburn coordinator Gus Malzahn, who was in town Wednesday, is thought to have received another offer from Vanderbilt that approaches the ballpark of $3 million per year.
Three million dollars per year for a guy who was coaching high school football five years ago. Paid by Vanderbilt.
Even more incredibly – if that’s possible – John Pennington is reporting that it’s a seven-year offer.
When did Mike Hamilton agree to moonlight for Vandy’s athletic department?
Get The Picture 
Local buzz is that it’s Malzahn all the way with Greg Roman a distant second.
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Gus: Take the money. And run.
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Yes, please.
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You hope so.
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Craig James is a sad individual. Not even SMU would pay him to play. There’s Eric Dickerson running around campus in his brand spankin’ new Trans-Am while Craig James has to take the bus. If you look him up on wiki you’ll note that his nickname is “Pony” because riding the coattails of Dickerson is the greatest thing that has ever happened to him in his life.
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Oops. Wrong window.
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Can’t be true. Vandy voluntarily made their football program part of intramurals. Vandy’s athletic budget is $30 million/year (which is amazingly high given the ROI Vandy gets from that). There is no way they are offering someone a $21 million dollar contract that pays 10% of their annual budget to a single individual.
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I think your numbers are off. Vandy’s annual athletic budget is more like $45 million.
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Can’t anyone at Vanderbilt spell C-h-a-r-l-i-e W-e-i-s-s? Just because somebody is a good x’s and o’s guy doesn’t mean he can be a successful HC. A deal like this, if it doesn’t work out, would severely impair Vandy’s athletics for years–and not just football.
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Well, my number as based on “the first webpage I saw in google results”. It doesn’t get any more authoritative than that, so I will graciously accept your apology.
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🙂
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I just can’t see taking a job like Vandy if you want to actually win the SEC. On second thought, who cares about winning when they are depositing $3M into your checking account each year.
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I think Malzahn can win at Vandy… maybe not the whole thing, but definitely be an annual bowl team. Look at Auburn this year… if he has a good offense, he can win games. Vandy has always had an adequate defense, and if he can get a Robert Griffin III-type player to come to Vandy and play QB under hiim, he can be competitive quickly. If he can do that in the SEC, then some big program will come along and offer him $5M in a few years anyway.
It might be a good idea to get out of Auburn when Cam does… just like Meyer. Exit while you’re on top of the world.
Plus, I like what Vandy is doing. If you want to belong with the big boys, start playing/paying like a big boy. This, whether smart or not, is good for the conference to have Vandy at least at the grownups table.
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How far does Vandy take that? Their facilities need upgrading and you have to wonder what kind of budget they’ve offered Malzahn for his staff.
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They should just get Clay Travis to shill out the dough. I hear he’s (almost) a lawyer.
It’s like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Either they should spend their welfare money to get out of obscurity or cease to exist for the betterment of the whole. I don’t think the SEC wants to get rid of their top academic institution, but if all this realignment dreaming actually starts happening, Vandy might ought to worry about which side of the divide they land on.
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One word: basketball
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Vandy’s worth basketball-wise is habitually overstated. They’re pretty damn good this year, and occasionally sneak into the second round or Sweet 16. Not bad.
But certainly not Duke. And it doesn’t offset the football rancidness at all.
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Malzahn would be probably serve as OC in addition to HC, so Vandy may be getting a decent value for their money.
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Actually, I’d bet on him sliding Herb Hand, who’s there right now, into the OC slot, since they worked together as co-OCs at Tulsa.
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They didn’t get along at Tulsa.
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That’s interesting. Publicly at least, Hand sure speaks highly of Malzahn these days.
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My thoughts exactly. Plus, the SEC really does benefit if Vandy is more competitive.
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No offense, but I just don’t get that. Somebody has to win and somebody has to lose in every game. There are teams in every conference that are the perennial losers. Without them there are no perennial winners. Are you advocating that Vandy climb out of the cellar and UGA climb in? F#ck Vandy. They are a conference foe. And it looks to me like they are about to make a really big mistake financially. Malzahn might be worth what they are saying, but only if he brings Newton with him as QB–permanently.
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I slightly disagree. I think there are plenty of good QBs out there that Malzahn can make into a damn good college QB. I still think it would be a mistake for Vandy though. Given what I hear about his personality, I can’t see him being a very good HC.
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All I can say is that if Malzahn could turn Chris Todd into one of the SEC’s top quarterbacks in ’09, he can probably haul Vandy to six wins one of these days.
My worries about Vandy have been heightened by this news, but they’re mitigated to some extent by the joy I’ll feel in watching Auburn crumble after Malzahn and Newton leave. Pass me the popcorn.
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+1 … said the same thing earlier this week when the topic was slightly different. He knows how to coach offense. I think Vandy is a good move for him. $3 million and if he becomes a consistent offensive threat and/or bowl team even bigger schools will come calling with more $$$
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Malzahn = zero head coaching experience in college. The next Cam Newton won’t be playing at Vanderbilt. If Malzahn doesn’t work out, you’re tied to him for seven years anyway, it sounds like.
This is why you’re Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt.
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Mark Richt* = zero head coaching experience in college. Dan Mullen* = zero head coaching experience in college when he was hired at MSU. Les Miles = still no head coaching experience after a decade of being a head coach.
I don’t think that is the standard… particularly one Vanderbilt should aspire to. They aren’t going to get a Chris Petersen in all likelihood, they are going to have to catch lightening in a bottle with an up-and-coming assistant… and who better to go after than the Broyles Award winner.
*Admittedly, these guys had much more coordinator experience at the college level under coaches at the top of their profession… but isn’t Chizik at the top right now (hehe)?
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My spelling is waaay off today. For shame.
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At $3 mil/year for seven years, I have a hard time believing they couldn’t do better in their coaching search than you think. There’s a decent, current head coach out there who would be tempted by that.
Hell, you could get Leach for half that right now. 😉
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Maybe, but he has never been a HC so this a damned good offer at a school that would keep him at that level for a long time with just .500 winning percentage. There is something to be said for a job where your players go to class, and generally obey rules. No really top program is going to hire GM so the field of schools with a vacancy willing to pay $3MM may be more limited than you think. Having a “creative” offensive mind can go a long way to overcoming 4 and 5 star recruits (see the new success at Navy, Air Force, TT, Boise, etc.)
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Oh, I’m not arguing that. If it’s legit, I think Malzahn would be crazy to turn down $21 million (I can’t believe I’m even typing that number).
I’m just saying that Vandy could attract some legitimate D-1 head coaches with that kind of bread on the table.
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Hell, they could probably get Richt for that, but who at Vandy would want him? They are, after all, supposed to be intelligent.
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Pathetic, and sad. Auburn is hot now, good time for sunshine fans to jump on board. You can begin the Fire Chizic site when they don’t win the SEC in 2011. After all, players have little to do with success.
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Tweet from MattZemek_CFN Matt Zemek
That’s a lot of money for Vandy to pay for a coach to use your school as a stepping stone….
So true… CGM can do much better than Vandy…
MSU, the Pigs or just about any BCS job that comes open is better than Vandy…
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Take the job coach!
When you’ve got that genius/guru label and you head to Nashville….well the sky’s the limit.
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For that kind of overspending for an offensive coordinator, Vanderbilt is well endowed.
http://oversigning.com/testing/index.php/tag/endowments/
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If Vandy is anything like UGA, then the academics and athletics budgets operate totally separate from one another. I don’t think endowment funds would play into this picture unless that’s just something UGA does to keep things neat.
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Boy, Mike Adams sure is doing an excellent job raising money. Good thing he’s heading up our esteemed university.
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Holy hell, every Big 10 school has an endowment of 1 billion or more?
We can do better than Mike Adams if he can only get us to half what the lowest Big 10 school has raised.
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I know there’s a Gordon Gee line in all this, but I just haven’t found it yet.
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How much of that 3 million is Gus going to share with Cam Newton?
7-5 before Cam 13-0 with Cam?
At the very least he should send him a very nice Christmas card. Oh and Cecil too.
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You think Shanahan ever sends “Thank You” cards to Elway?
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Still amazes me that no one is interested in the Pirate. Of course, I think he’s the best fit at Miami, where most people won’t care (or notice) how weird he is.
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He has to land somewhere. Miami may not be the best fit, something just screams Left Coast about him and his offense, but he could be hard to handle with the talent available in S. Florida. He is living in the Keys now so there is a connection.
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It may be better to take over a program like Vandy than a program like UF. A few small adjustments on offense, a good defense, a small upgrade in recruiting and Vandy is bowl bound every year. Malzahn goes to a couple of bowls, hits a lucky 9-3 season one year, and a “genius” is born. Going to a couple of bowls and a 9-3 at UGA, UF, or Bama puts you on the hot seat.
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His schemes are really not that outstanding and without Cam, I suspect he will struggle TREMENDOUSLY at Vandy with few if any studs
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Nonsense.
He didn’t have your boy Cam in…
2006: Arkansas (Mitch Mustain) – #29 Offense in nation
2007: Tulsa (Paul Smith) – #1 Offense in nation
2008: Tulsa (David Johnson) – #1 Offense in nation
2009: Auburn (Chris Todd) – #16 Offense in nation
Yep. His schemes ARE that good. The question is whether or not he could find a similarly brilliant Defensive coordinator to work with the substandard players that will always be on the field for Vanderbilt.
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