I posted this on premium earlier, but there's a lot more basketball savants over here. I'm always bummed a lot more of y'all aren't in there as there's and curious to get your takes. Feel free to roast me, I'm only half a coffee into my day.

I'll preface this with the caveat of I'm basing this on the premise that the reports are true, and it's seems like they are with Buzz not squashing the shopping rumors and Billy's thread last night.

If Buzz doesn't land at Maryland or Xavier (or anywhere else) and we have this awkward dynamic going forward… We can safely assume that Buzz is asking for more money and Trev is not willing to extend or raise him (justifiably so). BUT, I think the win for us (and to a lesser extent Buzz if he's "stuck" here) is to add on more performance based incentives (above and beyond whatever he has baked in now). Sweet 16…500k bonus. Elite 8…1M bonus. Final 4…$2.5M bonus. Just making up figures here, so whatever makes sense there for both parties.

If he's here next year and we do have this awkward dynamic, I think adding on incentives like these is the way out for both sides and leaves neither with egg on their face. The dude will still be a top 20 paid coach. He still has a guaranteed 3 years given there's zero chance we pay the buyout (nor would we want to, unless it gets real ugly on/off court).

Flame away.

To me, this is the equivalent of being told NO when asking your company for a raise, but you get a minor "win" by at least getting some more upside, even if far fetched. And, both sides could always spin it outwardly as "we made up," even if there was still consternation behind the scenes.

I think that makes sense.

But Buzz should counter with an ask for NIL to support getting the players that can achieve such lofty goals.

Works both ways.

I don't think it's safe at all to assume he's asking for more money. This is just what he seems to do. Remember, he took a pay cut to leave Marquette for V Tech.

One might even surmise that what he is actually doing is trying to get his coaching staff a raise AND also trying to get more NIL support to get guys like this:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ucla-lands-college-basketball-transfer-portal-commitment-from-new-mexico-superstar-donovan-dent/

chap said:

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I don't think it's safe at all to assume he's asking for more money. This is just what he seems to do. Remember, he took a pay cut to leave Marquette for V Tech.

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It's been hinted at by folks with inside connections on other threads. So, basing my assumption on that.

It's not crazy to believe…he's 17th highest pay now. He's not done what it takes to justify a raise, but it's not insane that he would ask for one.

Fanatic15...Drs2B! said:

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I think that makes sense.

But Buzz should counter with an ask for NIL to support getting the players that can achieve such lofty goals.

Works both ways.

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Buzz used NIL to pay players nobody would steal for us because he liked them

The more this goes on the more you realize Buzz Williams is all talk… integrity and loyalty are thrown out the window when he's realized he threw all his marbles (building a roster wise) into one season and only gets by with one tournament win against Yale. He rather escape the challenge of rebuilding a roster, he rather block any criticism on social media, for as much as he talks about grit and being tough, he's soft…

Should be fired next year if he doesn't leave this year.

Ag1188 said:

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Should be fired next year if he doesn't leave this year.

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Again, we aren't paying a massive buyout to fire him. Not an option.

Everything about Buzz is easier to understand when you think of it as loyalty to each other on "team bus one" exclusively. Not to wherever the cult happens to be located at the time.

Ag1188 said:

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Should be fired next year if he doesn't leave this year.

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our women's basketball team finished dead last in the conference, has 8 girls on the roster as of now, and Trev wouldn't fire Joni, in soccer every single returning starter left the team and Trev still wouldn't fire Coach G… Trev has proven he could care less about results and more about saving money

bobinator said:

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Everything about Buzz is easier to understand when you think of it as loyalty to each other on "team bus one" exclusively. Not to wherever the cult happens to be located at the time.

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I know exactly what you mean and can't argue that, but he's paid to be the head basketball coach for Texas A&M, not just the coach for the guys in the locker room… everything you've said about him is 100% accurate. That mantra is all good until it isn't… but what does loyalty even mean if you're overtly and publicly trying to leave this place and the guys you recruited

I said in another thread Buzz wants more than he is currently getting.
2 more wins one against tu in Nashville and one more in round of 32 and he might have at least gotten a some kind of raise / nil money / extension / money for his assistants

This year was just disappointing enough at the end that Trev isn't likely to spend more for Buzz

Hopefully buzz is back and he has a good enough year that getting him a raise is a no brainer

A year ago the play would have been to make some kind of big token NIL investment announcement if he has to come back but now that wouldn't work with the rules changes coming.

I don't know what you do publicly to make it seem like things are smoothed over if he has to come back.

bobinator said:

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A year ago the play would have been to make some kind of big token NIL investment announcement if he has to come back but now that wouldn't work with the rules changes coming.

I don't know what you do publicly to make it seem like things are smoothed over if he has to come back.

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I think my proposal does just that, at least "publicly." Both sides can move forward pretending they both got what they wanted.

I mean you can spin it that way but absolutely nobody would buy it

bobinator said:

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I mean you can spin it that way but absolutely nobody would buy it

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Maybe not, but I think it's just enough to save face and get the awkwardness out of the news

taylorswift13_ said:

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bobinator said:

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Everything about Buzz is easier to understand when you think of it as loyalty to each other on "team bus one" exclusively. Not to wherever the cult happens to be located at the time.

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I know exactly what you mean and can't argue that, but he's paid to be the head basketball coach for Texas A&M, not just the coach for the guys in the locker room… everything you've said about him is 100% accurate. That mantra is all good until it isn't… but what does loyalty even mean if you're overtly and publicly trying to leave this place and the guys you recruited

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If he leaves, he is likely also planning to take those guys

bobinator said:

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Everything about Buzz is easier to understand when you think of it as loyalty to each other on "team bus one" exclusively. Not to wherever the cult happens to be located at the time.

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And with almost all of his roster gone, he can leave freely right now without being "disloyal" to them

Nah, like PatAg said, those guys can come too now. They're on the bus.

Like when he came here and he brought all of the guys the signed at Virginia Tech. Now he could take everyone enrolled here too.

If Buzz takes another job it will be 100% roster turnover for next season. Every remaining player will transfer out. As Bob said Buzz has his own 'bus' and brand that travels with him that is separate from whatever school he's currently coaching at.

Fans care the most about a school's program. Most coaches and players are mercenaries for hire. And okay, it is what it is.

Of the past 4 coaches (BCG, Turgeon, Kennedy, and Buzz) only Kennedy seemed to truly see A&M as a 'destination' job that he wanted to and would have ended his career at. But he couldn't win consistently enough to keep it.

bobinator said:

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Everything about Buzz is easier to understand when you think of it as loyalty to each other on "team bus one" exclusively. Not to wherever the cult happens to be located at the time.

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I think realizing this as a fan and alumni is disappointing. He I hope somebody who feels the responsibility to develop players/team but also commit to be part of the University and community and express it without so much hesitation.

I'm conflicted. I love Buzz but am disappointed in roster management. Look at the freshmen/underclassmen impacting these sweet 16 teams.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Of the past 4 coaches (BCG, Turgeon, Kennedy, and Buzz) only Kennedy seemed to truly see A&M as a 'destination' job that he wanted to and would have ended his career at. But he couldn't win consistently enough to keep it.

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You don't want that anyway, at least not exclusively. There has to be a drive, hunger, chip on the shoulder or else there is complacency. The head coach we hire has to be driven to either win a championship here or to get his next job or else he's just filling a slot.

I don't particularly care what classification guys are, there's a lot of ways to build a roster these days. Upperclassmen with experience and physical maturity can sometimes make up for the talent gap that elite high school recruits have.

bobinator said:

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Nah, like PatAg said, those guys can come too now. They're on the bus.

Like when he came here and he brought all of the guys the signed at Virginia Tech. Now he could take everyone enrolled here too.

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True

Lots of ways to build a roster yes. Leaving the cupboard virtually bare of experience is not one of them that I prefer.

If Buzz has asked to reopen his deal, Trev should be asking for concessions. Buzz is apparently all about managing his career first - creating "contract years" even with years remaining on existing deals.

This was apparently created to be one of those contract years with the senior laden Aggie roster. Rumors started over a month ago about this. Well, he didn't get out of the first weekend again, 0 for 6 here ant A&M. And personally, Buzz has made 1 Sweet 16 in the last 12 years. It just so happens to be that was the last opportunity he used to move and get a better deal. Being at A&M next year isn't the best for his career because he will own next season's results here and it is apparently a rebuild due to roster management.

bobinator said:

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I don't know what you do publicly to make it seem like things are smoothed over if he has to come back.

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Things can't actually be smoothed over. He played his hand. Why pretend?

If Buzz doesn't get the Maryland job, perhaps he will enter into negotiations for a buyout and go work at ESPN for a year or more.

bobinator said:

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A year ago the play would have been to make some kind of big token NIL investment announcement if he has to come back but now that wouldn't work with the rules changes coming.

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Bob are you able to explain the rule changes? I know the headline of it but not specifically how that would effect things in a complex way.

zgolfz85 said:

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chap said:

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I don't think it's safe at all to assume he's asking for more money. This is just what he seems to do. Remember, he took a pay cut to leave Marquette for V Tech.

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It's been hinted at by folks with inside connections on other threads. So, basing my assumption on that.

It's not crazy to believe…he's 17th highest pay now. He's not done what it takes to justify a raise, but it's not insane that he would ask for one.

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Well, we gotta get him in the top 16 if we expect a Sweet Sixteen- right?

Well theoretically the NIL collectives are going to be more tightly regulated if not outright illegal moving forward. Now how they plan on enforcing that I have no idea, certainly the big basketball schools are going to find their way around it.

The reason they're going to have to find a way around it is that the direct compensation has a cap across the university, and for schools like us and presumably most of the SEC and Big Ten, most of that money is going to football.

Now for us it might not be a huge deal, the basketball cut of the money might even be more than our current basketball NIL, I have no idea.

But supposedly they're going to much more tightly police NIL deals to make sure they're actually NIL deals and not just collective payments.

No agent is saddling their client with an incentive-based contract. Sets a bad precedent in the industry.

We don't need to pay him incentives. He is a top 20 paid coach and if he's the believer he claims to be he should be more than content and simply do better because he wants to do better.

He has shown he's not a top 15 recruiter which is much more of an issue for us the school and fans. If he can't do better in that (including working closely with Trev to get the NIL money), then this game has passed him by.