One of the feel-good stories of the offseason was how VCU coach Shaka Smart turned down the lure of the big money and name brand appeal of multiple job openings at schools in traditional power conferences so he could stay at VCU. This was surprising to many because the odds of Smart repeating the success of his team’s miraculous run to the Final Four are exceedingly small. Still Smart appeared to want to stay to help build a premiere program rather than just a flash-in-the-pan success story that was never heard from again. Of course, the jump in his salary from $325,000 to $1.2 million per year also helped persuade Smart to stay in Richmond.
Although the VCU student body was undoubtedly pleased to retain the head coach that was responsible for the the most successful postseason performance in the school’s history there was the obvious question of who would foot the bill. The taxpayers? That’s funny. The alumni and boosters? Partly, but they are not footing the entire bill. How about the students? According to some reports they may be the ones picking up the tab on this one. Earlier today the VCU administration announced that the overall student fee would increase by $50 per full-time student for the next academic year, which would largely go towards the athletic programs and generate $875,000 in additional revenue for the athletic program. Of that $875,000 nearly two-thirds would go to the basketball program (approximately $583,000). Based on the full-time enrollment numbers from the university that would be a little over $20 per student towards the basketball program.
While some media entities have tried to spin the story to suggest that the student are essentially paying all of Smart’s salary increase it is worth noting that based on the numbers that the university is reporting even if all of the money that went into the basketball program was to pay for the increase in Smart’s salary it would only cover a little over half of the increase. Then there are the increases in the assistants’ salaries and improvements in training facilities for a team that made the Final Four. Perhaps even more damning to that argument is the fact that the school had raised its athletics fee by $137 after the 2009. That season the Rams made it to the NCAA Tournament, but lost in the first round and what at the time appeared to be more important also lost Anthony Grant, who decided to head to Alabama, and hired the Smart to his prior $325,000 per year contract. That alone should be enough to destroy any argument that this student fee increase was instituted as a direct result to pay for Smart’s salary. It is certainly possible that the accountants at VCU realized that they needed more money to pay for the increased athletic budget, but the extra money that VCU is going to bring in from increased applications and sponsorship fees as the direct result of the basketball team’s Final Four run should cover a majority of that increase. Simply put the student fee increase was not a result of Smart’s salary increase. And even if it was, wouldn’t you be willing to pay $20 to keep the man who led your team to the Final Four?