Wow. Always thought they were hommies.
They were extremely close, but old-school academics like Merten consider it inevitable for schools on our level to eventually lose the most successful coaches to deeper-pocketed suitors.
Eugene Trani, the old prez at vcu, had the same philosophy. He never seriously tried to keep Capel or Grant after they started getting overtures from P-5 schools because he assumed vcu could never compete financially.
When Mike Rao ponied up the $1M raise to keep Shaka after vcu's Final Four, a lot of people I know in Richmond were shocked. They figured Shaka would take a $3M offer from somebody and vcu would be in the market for a new coach again.
Hopefully Cabrera and Edwards will be proactive with salary upgrades and infrastructure investments if Paulsen gets this thing turned around; low-balling a coach until he's on a plane out of town isn't a strategy destined for succeess.
