pretty interesting to me that in that article just above, the source mistakenly calls it a buyout, like some of us were prone to do. I understood the difference after I read an article that described coaches salaries and contracts. Smart's is NOT a buyout. It is the amount he is due over the entire remainder of his contract. Texas pays him, theoretically once a month, an amount of money, whether he coaches here or not. It takes three more years to get that money to Shaka.
That makes this quote incorrect: “After you spend the $10.5 million for the buyout, you’re probably paying for the buyout of the next coach before you even sit down to negotiate a new, long-term deal,” the source said.
There is no spending $10.5 million for the buyout, because there is no buyout. That makes the equation different. Let's say Greg Brown doesn't come here next year and the team goes 15 and 15, and actual attendance is 3500 per game. very possible. The amount of money lost because of keeping Shaka is real. By the time Texas pays Shaka the last payment of his contract the Dow Jones could easily be 35000.
Meanwhile if Texas were to hire a good coach that could actually coach, the Erwin center could be nearly filled, call it an average of 14000.
By the time the season is over and the team is in position to actually win an NCAA tournament game, the new gym is guaranteed to be full all season long for 21-22.
Also, another part of the quote that is incorrect, the part about having to pay a buyout. If we were to land Coach B., we would pay 0 buyout. He's with nobody at the moment.
The bottom line is that this Athletic Department is just lazy and doesn't care about winning.