JMU Signs Matt Brady to Four-Year Extension (Finally)
Jeff Bourne and the rest of JMU athletic department either have a flair for the dramatic or they just love to procrastinate. The school and head basketball coach Matt Brady agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension today with Brady’s current contract due to expire tomorrow. According to the DNR’s Mark Selig, the deal will pay $302,000 year, with the first 3 years guaranteed. JMU has an option for the fourth year, or they can buy Brady out for $20,000. The deal gives Brady a slight raise from the $290,000 a year his initial deal paid him. This new extension also includes performance incentives and raises for Brady’s assistants. JMU also retains the right to terminate the deal at any time if JMU is declared ineligible (for APR violations) or is placed on probation.
The important thing here is that JMU finally has a coach in place. As we discussed last week, it’s the middle of the spring signing period for recruits and JMU has five seniors to replace. Doing so without a coach under contract would have made that next to impossible. A deal was signed today and probably not coincidentally two recruits, Ivan Lukic and Tom Vodanovich, signed letters of intent. So that’s good. Now that Brady’s contract is in place, he can close out this recruiting period and keep moving forward. But there are other elements of this situation that make you wonder what is going on in the ‘burg.
Brady doesn’t have a hall of fame type resume and doesn’t have big programs beating down his doors. The guy can coach though. He did an outstanding job this year getting his team to peak at the right time. And he appears to be learning from his earlier struggles. Brady faced a ton of criticism for his inability to get former Duke Denzel Bowles to commit to playing team basketball on both ends of the court. He found himself in a similar situation with A.J. Davis this year. The difference was he nipped things in the bud early, worked things out with A.J. and helped him play up to his tremendous potential. He’s had three winning seasons in his first five years. And injuries played a significant part in his two losing seasons. He did this after inheriting a program that was in a downward spiral and had 8 straight losing seasons. Plus there was the matter of him leading JMU to its first CAA Tournament championship in 19 years and first NCAA tourney win in 30. For that he got rewarded with a 4% raise that makes him the 3rd lowest paid coach in the CAA.
While nobody expected JMU to break the bank on Brady’s extension, a lot of us thought they’d open the checkbook up a little more. Brady himself said that the delays had nothing to do with money however. According to Brady, the negotiations dragged on because he wanted the third year of the deal guaranteed and JMU did not. Had Bourne gotten his way, Brady would have been back to being a lame duck by this time next year with only one more guaranteed year on his deal. Is it just me or does anyone else find that troubling? I can look past the money issues. JMU’s failure to learn from the past however, is tougher to ignore. Brady somehow defied the odds and pulled together a great recruiting class last year. Maybe he could do it again if placed in the same situation, but I certainly wouldn’t want to test the theory. Apparently Jeff Bourne would though. For an AD who seems to be risk averse in practically every way imaginable, he sure is comfortable rolling the dice when it comes to the hoops program.
Again, nobody is saying Brady is the hottest coach in college hoops. He’s got JMU pointed in the right direction though and seemed to earn a no-brainer, sign him early, and show some commitment to the man sort of extension. Yet, Bourne and JMU chose to give him a new contract almost begrudgingly. Part of me wonders if they know JMU is due to get hit with an APR penalty and they’re trying to give the school an out. Heck, part of me seriously wonders if they hope JMU gets hit with an APR penalty so they can get out. Or maybe they think that Brady coaches best with a bit of chip on his shoulder or something to prove. Maybe he does. It sure would be nice to see what he and the JMU hoops program could become if JMU got behind it with some serious support though. Bringing the head coaches salary up to at least the middle of the CAA pack would be great. If JMU is not going to do that however, at least come to the table prepared to avoid putting the coach in another lame duck situation one year from now. Thankfully Brady got his way and that’s not going to happen. It’s scary to think how close we were to repeating history though.
“Plus there was the matter of him leading JMU to its first CAA Tournament championship in 19 years and first NCAA tourney win in 30. For that he got rewarded with a 4% raise that makes him the 3rd lowest paid coach in the CAA.”
Agree. That is rediculous. I understand that Basketball really doesn’t bring any money into the school at JMU, but still…. pay the man. Why would you even consider letting him leave? So you can go out and hire another ZERO like Sherman Dillard? Please.
Something about this story smells fishy. Jeff Bourne is not an idiot. The combination of the Brady situation and ConferenceRealignmentGate leave a huge hole in the story. JMU-Bourne-King-Alger are obviously positioning for something, but I wish I knew what.
Smells fishy is right. It’s not a terrible deal by any means, but it just seems like JMU is holding back for some reason. And with the NCAA win and fewer CAA teams to split it with, this team actually earned a decent chunk of change for the school for once.
2004 Duke, I beg to differ on Bourne being an idiot or not, the verdicts is still out on that.
Being that Roy Williams has a base salary of 365k per year I don’t think JMU should have paid a penny more for Brady. Yes, Roy has an additional 1.35-1.65 million in incentives per year but he also has two NCAA championships under his belt and more on the way in my opinion. Brady said himself the hold up wasn’t because JMU did not want him, it was because the two entities were negotiating the third year and JMU ended up giving it to Brady. Bourne got the guy we want, he gave him 3 years guaranteed, and JMU did not pay an outrageous amount for him. That shows me our administrators have the schools best interests in mind, not that something fishy is going on. Let’s go Brady, let’s go Dukes.
P.S.- Someone better be on the phone with Davidson begging them to come to the CAA instead of the A-10
This should have happened a month ago but glad it finally has been taken care of. Seems like a very fair deal for both sides.
Everybody knows JMU’s admin was looking to get rid of Brady. It’s why they let him twist in the wind last season to begin with. They were probably preparing their list of coaches they’d pursue after another mediocre season allowed them to let Brady’s deal quietly expire with no fuss and no more money spent on a buyout.
Three days in March changed all that. After coming out of nowhere to win the CAA and a game in the NCAAs (even if it was a play-in game), Bourne was basically forced at gunpoint to keep Brady. If he hadn’t, the freshmen and recruits would’ve scattered and there would’ve been a revolt among the fan base.
Thus the teenie weenie raise, only three guaranteed years and grudging nature of the negotiations. It’s the ultimate “no confidence” move. And after JMU struggles to break .500 in a depleted CAA next season with a roster full of freshmen and sophomores, Bourne and his supporters will once again commence waiting for Brady’s deal to expire so they can hire his replacement. Book it.
If I remember correctly, Brady wasn’t the most popular guy on this blog before the season started. Nobody was defending him last season. Its funny then that the common theme on this post is that he should have gotten more years and money for being the second coming of Jesus. Just remember that JMU won the CAA in a year that didn’t include the top 3 teams from last season. The Dukes just happened to be in the right place at the right time. How many people really expect JMU to be back in the tourney next season? I don’t.
How did you interpret what I wrote to mean that I thought he was “the second coming of Jesus”? I said he was a good coach, who had JMU pointed in the right direction, and I thought they’d paid him a little bit more. My concern was that the AD’s original offer was only 2 guaranteed years, because that would have added instability to the program.
While Brady hasn’t been perfect in my eyes, I imagine that if you go back and check the posts that I’ve written prior to this season, you’ll find that I’ve defended him or given him the benefit of the doubt more often than not. I’m not saying JMU should have broken the bank with an extension (in this post I even stated that I can overlook the money issue), just that the way it was handled (very small raise at the last minute with an attempt to only guarantee 2 years) gives the impression that the school isn’t 100% behind him and that isn’t good IMHO.
And you’ve got your facts wrong about the CAA losing its top 3 teams from last year. The league returned last year’s regular season #1 and #3. VCU finished second and won the tourney and was the only team to leave.
Any chance we can get out of this contract now? Players are leaving (or being dismissed) in droves and the Dukes flat out stink.