Mike Young Virginia Tech Contract Details

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1. I generally like to try and read all the other posts to gain perspective before I post but gosh, i am rushing in on this one. This will be a crazy out of the box thought but I cant help but think that Whit scored a heck of a deal by hiring Mike Young for 2M and I only have a minor from Pamplin….lol.

   First off there was no other viable and affordable coach better that he could bring to Blacksburg who would genuinely be different than Buzz.

   Second
   This is a 5year deal for 11M base with a $3M dollar or less buy out after year 1. Whit knows 2020 is going to be underwhelming. But Whit has just saved the Univ $1M per year that it would have had to pay Buzz for having the same expected underwhelming year or years for the same period of time…simply because the Mike contract is less.

   In total, essentially Whit has negotiated a 5year $11M payout place holder vs Buzz at $15M because there would have been know way Buzz makes less than $3M at Tech after this year’ success had he decided to come back.

   Third
   Now Whit can bank this $4M dollar savings over the next 5 years and apply on a future day: either apply to a possible Fuente bonus or apply it on a rainy day to pay off bad weight and entice a better Football Or Basketball coach if either current coach has worn out his welcome and have an unacceptable year in 2020 or thereafter.

   If Whit decides after year 1 Mike isn’t working out,
   We just concede 3Million which coincidentally is 1M more than Mike’s normal 2M dollar salary. The same 1M in savings Whit earns the 1st year of Mike’s contract. Then each year thereafter, the buy out gets less. It’s a brilliant contract that is advantage Tech and has us in the drivers seat. If Mike works out which I think it could then great… Whit shows us once again why he’s a bonfide genius. If not, then he has allowed Tech to keep the seat warm long enough to haul the next big time name brand hire that he would have saved enough pennies for before pulling the trigger. Whit has yet to ever really fail at putting Tech in the best situation possible. Let’s wait and see this one out.

2. Since his salary needs to be higher than his assistants, it seems logical that if he is going to hire the type of assistants he will need, he needs this type of salary. I once worked where the practiced was to pay a little as possible when hiring yet expect a lot. Not a great place to work. Better is pay for the value you expect and with the market for many reasons.
   I would be interested to see a list of assistant coaches salary in the ACC. I trust he worked to get the necessary $$’s to hire the right staff.

   1. I think what we are missing is that we did not have coaches knocking at the door to come to tech, we really must remember that, we got a quality coach that unlike Buzz will not be looking to leave as soon as he was hired. If A&M opened up last year he would have been gone, it was just a matter of time . As Hokies we will be better off.

3. Is someone copying these comments to bring back in a year or two when Mike Young takes the Hokies to the Sweet 16?

4. Would people be complaining if the same deal had been given to Ryan Odom. A mid-major coach with far less experience, but a hotter name. Do we know if others turn down the job, or did Whit get the man he wanted? You have to pay the man, unless you want him looking for a new job at the end of every year. Buzz was paid and he was still looking. That hurts recruiting.

5. No sense in getting all excited. He’s ours now, just have to see how it goes.

6. I find the trend of the commentary by the Hokie “faithful” regarding this hire to be fairly unsettling. All of us have pretty much completely bought in to the notion that Whit Babcock might be the best AD for the money in the country, and has an astonishingly high batting average on his hires to date. Yet most of the comments here and on other boards are convinced he has completely blown this hire. Why the sudden change in attitude about Whit? Do we no longer think he knows what he is doing? Even if he did blow this one, and it will be at least four years before that can fairly be determined, might there not have been factors involved that none of us are privy to? Maybe Mick Cronin and the like didn’t see coming into a situation with the totally bare cupboard that Buzz left being as appealing as we all want to think it is.

   1. Because I think we can all call a spade a spade. Whit knocked it out of the park when he hired Fuente and Buzz, they were both coveted. I can’t say the same about Mike Young, it doesn’t feel like anyone really wanted him, especially in a conference as competitive as ours.

7. What’s the point of contracts anymore since they are obviously unenforceable? Coaches move w/o much regard to their contracts and the school foots the bill for the lack of negotiation skills to begin with! Oh My!

   1. They aren’t unenforceable. The terms include the buyouts. If you leave, you gotta pay the buyout. If the team fires you, they gotta pay the buyouts for the years that are lost. Contracts are 100% enforcable in the court of law.

      1. Thank you

8. You don’t mention Mike Young’s salary at Wofford. He was making just above $161, 000. Who was VT bidding against to have to go even near these numbers. If you are shopping for a deal, then pay the guy $1M and give him really high bonuses to get over $2M.

   1. 1000000% OBX. this deal is idiotic to me. its like a 1200% increase in pay. SMH

      1. Has this been confirmed? Must have been the lowest paid D1 Head Coach in the country. I’m not convinced this is correct.

         1. Confirmed.

            https://heavy.com/sports/2019/03/wofford-head-coach-salary-mike-young/

   2. His Wofford salary should not be relevant. Say you owned a business, were looking to hire a new Managing Director (= coach, CEO = AD/Prez) You interviewed a candidate who had spent 30 years in your industry, at a small but respected firm, the last 17 as their Managing Director. After the interview you are very impressed, feel he/she would be a great fit for your opening. Then, you discover he/she earns 20x less than industry standards at his current position.

      Suddenly he/she is not a viable candidate? Or worth less than what you were prepared to make sure you landed/convinced this perfect fit?

      This attitude about a coach’s current salary is one of the reasons states are rapidly moving to make current/previous compensation “illegal” to request/obtain. For any job

      1. Someone in demand with a higher salary opportunity somewhere else gets a higher salary than someone who does not. No one else was beating down his door with an opportunity for $1.9 mil so why pay $2 mil?

         1. Market value versus internal equity. The moment you make him an offer to be a head coach of an ACC school, one can argue you’ve established the market price. You could offer him $750K and he might tell you to shove the offer up your rear end. Then what? You failed to hire the coach you wanted and probably destroyed VT’s reputation in the process.

            The guy is still paid in the bottom third of the ACC bball salaries. I get the point, but I do think there is an element of internal equity that must be taken into account and the risk of low-balling the coach so much he’s offended and refuses the offer — which would be a PR nightmare for VT.

      2. You’re 100% correct. An employer needs to pay market price for talent. The new hire’s previous salary is irrelevant.

   3. Wholeheartedly agree.

9. These terms are outrageous. They’re unbelievable. They are completely slanted against VT. What on Earth was Babcock thinking??

   1. How are they slanted against Virginia Tech? This is pretty standard stuff.

      Now, Buzz’s contract? That was slanted against Virginia Tech. Huge buyouts to get rid of Buzz, but very little buyout for Buzz to leave, for example.

      1. Are you serious? If after 3 seasons he’s shown no promise then VT still owes $3.5 million to him. You don’t give “market standard” to a guy who has not earned market standard. Whit’s negotiating abilities are beyond garbage.

         1. I think the contract is about right all the way around. You cannot expect an individual to pay the same buyout as the institution. This is so that he has at least 3 years to get things headed in the right direction.

         2. The buyout terms are pretty standard, as well, as Hokie Flyer points out.

            It’s really not an unusual contract at all, and the compensation is reasonable for an ACC coach.

            1. The question is whether MY is an ACC coach. He has to prove it first. Seems the contract should have been back loaded.

      2. The second part of the buyout note isn’t exactly correct — here’s a side by side comparison of Buzz’s 2014 contract and Young’s 2019 contract.

         https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3p7QtkXsAEvsXE.png

         1. Wow. Guess Buzz knew Year 5 was it and poof. Recruit two great classes, plug the holes after that and ride the gravy train. And WOW those VT Buyout numbers are crippling for us — I am sure glad he did as well as he did.

10. I think Mike is a very good long-term hire for VT. The guy can coach. And the contract gives Whit the flexibility to offer attractive terms for Mike’s assistants, who will be vital to the overall success of the program.

11. So we’ve decided to join Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Pittsburgh. Sad, just sad.

    1. We definitely were shopping in the on sale bin.

       1. It might have been shopping in the sale bin but it rang up for the full price and then some. What I have heard is we are paying this guy well over 10x his previous salary with NO P5 coaching experience on the HC or AC level. Isn’t this what we did with the WBB hire?

          This guy is a career .550 coach at <P5 level. This was the best we could get? Ouch!

          1. He was also named national “Coach of the Year” by The Sporting News this year.

             1. Bingo. We are hiring on potential and paying a lower ACC rate. He has already proven something. His previous pay has very little if no relevance.

    2. Capel and Manning are almost certainly getting paid more.
       Rumor is Capel is getting $3MM/yr from Pitt.
       Wake is also private and doesn’t have to report its numbers but it is believed that the extention Manning got 2 yrs ago is paying him at least $2.6-2.7MM per year which is why it has been reported that if they wanted to fire him it was going to cost Wake $18MM.

       GT has been waiting years to get out from under Hewitt’s contract and has gone inexpensive on its last 2 hires. Hewitt’s last payment was last week so they are likely to pay more whenever they decide to part with Pastner.

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