The Matt Brady Contract Situation Is Beyond Ridiculous
JMU’s basketball season has been over for weeks now. Other programs have fired coaches. Other programs have hired coaches. Most programs are now pressing hard for recruits and looking forward to next season. After leading JMU to a CAA title and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994, Matt Brady has been hitting the recruiting trail pretty hard himself. Last season he was somehow able to assemble a stellar recruiting class despite only having one year remaining on his contract. And as difficult as that must have been, it was probably easier than trying to sign a class with weeks or days left on his contract. That’s exactly the situation JMU Athletic Director Jeff Bourne has put Brady in this year, because the coach still doesn’t have a new contract.
Devon Moore, A.J. Davis, Alioune Diouf, Gene Swindle, and Rayshawn Goins gave the Dukes plenty of senior experience last season. They’re all moving on however, so JMU has some holes to fill. The early reports indicate that Coach Brady seems to have found a few diamonds in the rough, securing verbal commitments from a number of players. But verbals don’t mean much. The spring signing period started Wednesday and lasts through May 15 and none of JMU’s recruits have officially signed. There is nothing unusual about recruits not submitting their national letter of intent immediately after the signing period starts. It is unusual however to expect recruits to sign a letter of intent and send it in to a school that has no coach under contract for the following season.
As a fan observing things from afar, it’s easy to jump to conclusions and freak out based on nothing other than rumors and speculation. In the absence of facts and real information, fans’ innocent musings get past around and sooner or later twisted into “insider info”. The most obvious example of this is with all things conference realignment related. But that’s not what we’re experiencing with the Brady contract situation. There have been virtually no rumors, because there is no wiggle room and just a few simple facts. JMU has a bunch of scholarships to offer, the spring signing period is here, and JMU has no coach under contract for next year. It sure seems like both parties are intent on signing a deal and they’ve left themselves with few options if things blow up now. The fact that the timing of things leaves both parties with dwindling alternative options for next year isn’t exactly the most comforting news for us fans though.
I supposed there might be some way to spin this situation as a good thing. I can’t think of one though, so I’m all ears if one of you ultra-positive people can do it for me. I don’t want to panic and act like JMU basketball is about to go off a cliff. But pay the man. Matt Brady might not be the second coming of John Wooden, but he got JMU back to the dance and he definitely has the program pointed in the right direction. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat with last year’s recruits in a lame duck year. Let’s not make him overcome a more difficult recruiting situation this year. Get it done Mr. Bourne.
Slow down boys.
While I personally like Coach Brady it did take him years to get us to “the dance”. And, as you pointed out, he really did “pull a rabbit out of his hat”last year. So before we go locking him in long term lets give him a short term deal.
I think he deserves something but not anything more than a 1-2 year deal. Make him prove that he can dance regulalrly before we lock ourselves in. Lest we forget that just last spring 99% of the JMU sports nation were calling for Brady’s head on a platter.
I can’t disagree more with JP. As far as I know, college coaches always operate on 4-5 year contracts. I think a lot of the frustration with how Brady’s situation was handled last year was due to the fact that having a lame duck coach would hurt recruiting and the future of the program. Coaches are usually extended or fired before getting to the final year of their contract. You can argue that financially how JMU handled the situation made sense, but to many it showed the level of apathy the university had for the men’s basketball program.
I’m sure JMU fans are now showing some recency bias on how we feel about Brady but so what. We finally made the tournament, had a great recruiting class last year, and now is the time to build on that momentum. Add the constant conference realignment rumors to this and the fact that we can’t get his contract resolved reflects poorly on JMU and needs to be resolved ASAP.
To answer the question in the post, I don’t see how this can be spun as a positive. Pay the man!
I am with you Mike. Brady has has 3 20-win seasons over the last 5 which is pretty darn good. The 2 times JMU did not get to 20 wins the team was ravaged by injuries. At this level the success of the coach cannot always be determined by how many times you reach the NCAA tournament (in a one bid league). But how many times do you put yourself in position to do good things. If you consistently put your team in a good position you will have your share of success and appearances in post season play.
IMO Brady should be given a new 5 year contract….that comes with a raise (10-20%) and increased incentive bonuses.
I agree with the praise for Brady and the need for a long term contract. Remember that Mickey Matthews was on very thin ice before pulling something out of his hat and winning a national championship. After a pretty good first season of 8-4, Matthews went 6-5, 2-9, 5-7, 6-6. Those teams were painful to watch.
Success breeds success, and I see Brady finally recruiting the right players with talent and a re-energized basketball program. To not get a contract done right after the season was, and is, ridiculous.
Rob,
I think your picture of Brady reflects his reaction when the forward thinking leadership at Hillside came in and offered him a two year extension as a reward. It is almost if they are hoping that he left on his own so they say, “gosh darn, we really wished he had stayed and we tried” and then hire Dean Keener (Hey, this time it has to be better!) again two days later. For everyone that wants JMU to move up, just remember that the same people that will be making that decision are the same ones that are handling Brady’s contract (or lack their of) situation. For the University to be advertising Basketball renew packages and not have a contract for (or a decision on) Brady is embarrassing. For those who are argue that we ‘caught lighting in a bottle’ this year, the answer is ‘So what”. Brady’s actions in recruiting and representing the University during the time of unknown speak about the character of the man and we should reward him with a five year contract, provide stability in the program, and give him the opportunity to show that their is more lighting to be caught.
Not to mention what this must be like for the morale of other coaches at JMU. They must look at this like “wtf does someone have to do around here!?”
Matt Brady is in the midst of changing the basketball culture at JMU. Period. No further argument required. Write a check, and put some commas in it.
this is so ridiculous that a contract deal hasnt been done by now. Three 20 win seasons…..ncaa appearance….great freshman class….solid incoming class….give him the years and get it done.
This is just like the saga of hiring an OC for the football team. How do you expect to get and retain good coaches when this type of kangaroo hiring/contract negotiation process in place?
Part of me hopes that Brady walks and goes to another job. He deserves better than this.
The rest of the CAA wants you to give a long term extension to Matt as well because he is half the coach that Kenny Brooks is on his best day. The CAA was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy down this year which is why JMU won the league after finishing as the 4th place team in the regular season. The best hoops coach on the Hill is Brooks – move him back to the men’s side.
No one questions that Kenny Brooks is a very good coach.
The fact of the matter is JMU and Matt Brady have no control over how up or down the CAA is from year to year. If GMU or NE had gone and run the table in Richmond I doubt this same conversation would be happening. It would be how GMU consistently dominates the CAA or how NE backed up their regular season title. It is not JMU’s fault that ODU sucked this year or that Drexel had to deal with a load of injuries. The fact of the matter is JMU took care of business when they had too.