The Unofficial Furman Football Page

We have to find a way to keep coach. I am speaking to myself in giving to help financially. I am just a working stiff but I see a special person and leader in Coach Richey. One of a kind man and he coach's the team I have loved all my life. I've seen Coach Williams,Sheridan and Johnson leave and it broke my heart, I understand but it hurt.

How do you contribute?

What does that look like? I mean, we all feel like that about CBR, but what does that come with? There has to be somewhere already that has a decent record, a real stadium and a million or two extra dollars for him that feels the same, yeah?

A big program is going offer big money that FU can’t match unless CBR truly wants to remain for a lesser salary comparatively. The reality is he can coach elsewhere for $2+ million per year. Even if unsuccessful after 3-4 yrs, that’s a lot of money in the bank. I wouldn’t be surprised if CBR ends up at Notre Dame next year. Strong fan base, similar values to FU, and Big East. Unless FU got a mega donor to step in, a few dollars from fans isn’t going to keep anyone. On the bright side, we have some young coaches on our staff that could prove as successful as Richey over time.

My two cents: I'd like to see the AD ask Richey "What can we do to give you the opportunity to be Furman's Bob McKillop? What would you need to become the Paladin's equivalent of Mark Few?" And if he's game, and if we can cover those desires, even over the course of several years, we should go for it.

If somebody told me 95% of mid-major coaches wanted to move onto Power 5 schools, either to push themselves at the highest level or for more mercenary reasons, I wouldn't doubt it - but it's not 100%. There've been Furman faculty who could have moved to Ph. D. schools, with bigger salaries (not ACC head coach salaries, but still), better facilities, lower teaching loads, access to grad students to crank out more research, etc, - but they stay at FU because it's the right fit for their goals as educators.

When I hear Richey talk, I get the same vibe in him - he loves his players, he loves developing them, and he's comfortable in the special environment so many of us have experienced at Furman. If I'm correct in that read,
the job of the administration is the give him a reason to expect he can fulfill his highest professional goals in a mid-major setting - because that in fact is something that can be done with the right person in the right institution.

It would surprise me if these conversations have not already taken place. Donnelly is strongly committed to CBR. In fact, I would think JD’s and CBR’s careers are on similar trajectories and if we can keep JD then our chances of keeping CBR are as strong as they can be.

A reality check on salaries for a good to great mid-major coach. Pat Kelsey at CofC just signed a five-year extension at 1.1 million annually. As good of a season as the Cougars had — the DINS eclipsed them with national buzz by a long way.

Before Forbes left for the ACC, his salary was reported to be around $600,000, which was considered to be, at the time, a higher mid-major salary. I'm not so sure…

Our last opponent's HC makes around 1.3 Million at SDST. Belmont and Drake's HCs earn $800,000. Richomnd's HC makes over 1 million.

Undoubtedly, the Furman admin sees the value of investing in Furman basketball. When you start looking at college coaches' salaries-$$$$, sooner or later, it will determine the path and trajectory of the program. McKillop was brought up earlier—his base salary at Davidson was $600,000.

My guess is if Furman is serious about basketball - there probably needs to be a plan to adjust the salary level from the 300s to at least $500-600K.

Paladin91- Notre Dame is ACC not Big East.

Furman posts their 990 on the website, and it lists highly compensated employees. You can see what he made in 2020 and it's already in line with what you're talking about... We probably need to be closer to what Kelsey is getting at Charleston, however, we're also building a new arena, so I'd hope that counts for something.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:29 pm

Paladin91- Notre Dame is ACC not Big East.

Correct, my bad - they should be in Big East.

When I started this thread I should have said what do I need to do to contribute. I go to the games and buy Furman merchandise but I guess that's nowhere near enough to help support and improve the sports program and help keep a coach like Coach Richey here @ Furman.

If the university would support Richey to the deserved and necessary extent, the return on the investment would be positive in multiple ways.

rangab wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 19, 2023 8:57 pm

When I started this thread I should have said what do I need to do to contribute. I go to the games and buy Furman merchandise but I guess that's nowhere near enough to help support and improve the sports program and help keep a coach like Coach Richey here @ Furman.

There needs to be a multitude of individual supporters who care and support as you do, but more importantly there needs to be an institutional (Board of Trustees) commitment or at least institutional (BOT) “strong preference”.

I'm a football fan first and foremost but based on the response to Furman making the tournament and having one up-set...it would be dumb not to compensate our coach comparatively to Davidson.

The school, alumni, and community was hungry for that win in a BIG way.

/Isn't Furman on the lookout for an additional 10 million for renovating Timmons?

//I'm curious what 40 million in renovations can do to Timmons.

I don’t know what CBR gets at Furman, I feel like it’s around 650 with that big truck and a cell phone attached… but he’s worth 2.5 a year, easy..