Pay him handsomely.
Butler's basketball head coach, Brad Stevens, deserves to be paid amongst the top fifteen or so coaches throughout NCAA basketball. His gritty savvy produces the best defensive unit we've seen in years and is making universities, such as Oregon, lick their chops at a chance to let the dollar dogs feed.
Note to Butler: Don't even give them the opportunity to drool.
In three seasons, he has been named the Horizon League Coach of the Year twice (2009, 2010), has an overall record of 89-15 (49-5 in conference play), and has won SIX games in the NCAA tournament. He may have a future Naismith Player of the Year in-the-making in Gordon Hayward. Stevens not only has the credentials, he has the talent to add even more muscle to an already impressive, albeit shor
t, resume. Butler has been labeled a mid-major which often translates to lower-level recruits. Keeping Stevens as the main man will instill the Bulldogs with the swagger to keep top recruits from leaving 510 W. 49th St. in Indianapolis.Of course, there are some exceptions to what Butler can afford to pay the 33-year-old. Not because of their willingness (hello, alumni) but because there are 13 head coaches in Division I who make over a million bucks a year, according to About.com. True, some may have sponsorship deals and bonuses to make their salary seem modest, especially since private schools are not as inclined to be specific as their public counterparts, who often have their coaches among their respective state's highest-paid public employee.
The future of Butler basketball should be handled as an investment. Some may heed caution, referring to the Matta/Lickliter/Stevens timeline as an indicator that the system can remain the same while the operator just keeps pushing the buttons. No matter. The Big Blue machine has built up steam and could ultimately break down if they let Stevens leave.
The future is the opportunity to improve their facilities, possibly join a power conference ripe for expansion (the Big Ten has publicly stated they are looking for a 12th team), and take basketball and turn it into a cash cow, benefiting the entire school's athletics. It's a chance to mirror the school that operates most similar to "The Butler Way" (term coined by Athletic Director, former Butler coach Barry Collier), the University of Duke -- the 2010 NCAA champion to the Bulldogs' runner-up.
And that's not a bad thing.
Stevens is currently signed for $350,000 per season until the 2015-16 campaign. Indystar.com has stated that he expected to get a raise.
