Green Bay Hires Will Ryan As Head Coach

At 175k, 200k or 240k it is pretty much the same candidate pool and a good opportunity for anyone willing to do the work.

GB doesn't spend on head coaches but the program is well financed in every other area. It's part of why they have always remained competitive. The tools are there for anyone willing to do it.

Paying 300k doesn't attract that much bigger of a pool and doesn't protect against poaching. It honestly limits the spending on the other things.

Gary G doesn't make that kind of money now. Yes he probably wants a market rate but that wasn't the deciding factor.

Will is a good hire and someone who is going to bring a different dynamic to the program. I think he builds off of the good work done by Darner and Company.

Don't see the point in firing Darner to make this move. Hope it works out for Green Bay but I don't get it.

Wright State fired Donlon for a proven coach with a longstanding track record at SD State in Scott Nagy. That is not an apples to apples comparison to what Green Bay is doing. Also I think Wright State has greater ambitions to be quite honest and that's why they're paying Nagy so much. I think they're trying to make themselves look attractive for another conference, potentially the MVC. If they can get their financial house in order they could be a candidate for a move someday. Running your organization smartly and allocating resources efficiently is paramount at the mid major level but make no mistake: top tier programs do not become top tier programs or nor do they remain top tier programs by pinching pennies and hoping to catch lightning in a bottle by hiring the cheapest coach possible. That philosophy has to work every single time or it kills the program and anytime it does work that coach is gone as quickly as he came in. I'm sorry to say that this move and hiring raises more questions in my mind about Green Bay's commitment to excellence than it answers.

All I can say is best of luck to Green Bay. For the sake of their program's health I hope it works out but I remain skeptical until I see the results on the court. If it's any consolation to you, I was skeptical of the Bryce Drew hiring at Valpo when it was announced and that turned out okay to say the least. Maybe this son of a legend can follow a similar career trajectory. For Green Bay's sake, he needs to. The problem is that because of the amount of money they paid to get rid of Darner (I think I saw somebody post that it's like $750K in buyout money) Ryan has to not only do better than Darner but significantly outperform him or it amounts to an expensive mistake that will be hard to recover from. If he delivers the same or (shudder) worse results, what then? Is Green Bay going to can him too and pay him for multiple years to not coach and further clog up their balance sheet or are they going to ride out a situation that isn't working and do further damage to their program which will make it harder to climb out of the spiral? I know you're going to look at this post and tell me that I'm making the mistake of assuming he will fail without facts or data and maybe I am but this whole situation really seems to me like Green Bay took an unnecessary risk for a potentially high reward that is dubious to ever be realized. I appreciate and respect their willingness to take a risk, most administrations wouldn't and therefore maybe my comment about questioning their commitment to excellence was a bit harsh, but it just didn't seem like the right move to make at this time in these financial realities and when it seemed as though his program was on its way up, especially when the man replacing him is entirely unproven. To quote Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, "It's a bold strategy, Cotton, we'll see if it pays off." I reiterate, I hope it does.