Men's and Women's coach and former Saluki suddenly resigns - no reason given. Two-time MVC Coach of the Year in a short 4-year stint!
"This was an exceedingly difficult decision for me to make as I had envisioned spending the rest of my professional career coaching the Salukis," Kaufman said. "I am extremely proud of my two conference championships and the determination my teams have shown in the face of adversity the last two years."
"As sad and disappointing as my decision may be, I still wish nothing but the best for my alma mater," Kaufman said.
Weird and very surprising. Wonder if it was over salary!
Another resignation?
The last couple years has seen quite the string of seemingly good coaches stepping down.
Fetcho in men's golf in 2020, Stein in women's b-ball this year, Blaylock in softball this year, and now Kaufmann (and at one point it looked like Hanson, the swim coach, would be out).
If what Diane D says is true(and no reason not to believe her) and Kaufman was getting paid less than Fetcho/MihelichOBrien combined then she should have resigned. We just make baffling decisions sometimes.
If what Diane D says is true(and no reason not to believe her) and Kaufman was getting paid less than Fetcho/MihelichOBrien combined then she should have resigned. We just make baffling decisions sometimes.
Times are tough post-pandemic and even before the pandemic for SIU as a school. It's unfortunate but I'd much rather allocate our dollars to our revenue sports like Men's/Women's Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Softball even at the risk of unfortunately losing good coaches in golf.
If what Diane D says is true(and no reason not to believe her) and Kaufman was getting paid less than Fetcho/MihelichOBrien combined then she should have resigned. We just make baffling decisions sometimes.
Times are tough post-pandemic and even before the pandemic for SIU as a school. It's unfortunate but I'd much rather allocate our dollars to our revenue sports like Men's/Women's Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Softball even at the risk of unfortunately losing good coaches in golf.
There are significant donors that follow the golf program. Paying a little more and continuing to be successful would probably be a push at worst when giving is taken in consideration. Very short sighted stance.
If what Diane D says is true(and no reason not to believe her) and Kaufman was getting paid less than Fetcho/MihelichOBrien combined then she should have resigned. We just make baffling decisions sometimes.
Times are tough post-pandemic and even before the pandemic for SIU as a school. It's unfortunate but I'd much rather allocate our dollars to our revenue sports like Men's/Women's Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Softball even at the risk of unfortunately losing good coaches in golf.
There are significant donors that follow the golf program. Paying a little more and continuing to be successful would probably be a push at worst when giving is taken in consideration. Very short sighted stance.
If there are donors out there that wanted to pony up and keep the golf coach, I'm sure SIU would be thrilled to make that happen. But we're paying Mullins and Rhodes pretty well compared to the rest of the MVC and at least Rhodes is likely going to need an extension in the near future. Not sure what the last contract looks like compared to the rest of the MVFC but Nick Hill was vastly underpaid in his last contract. If you want to keep the football program rolling, you might have to pony up for him soon.
If the budget is there though, then I agree you shouldn't be grossly underpaying your coaches.
If what Diane D says is true(and no reason not to believe her) and Kaufman was getting paid less than Fetcho/MihelichOBrien combined then she should have resigned. We just make baffling decisions sometimes.
Times are tough post-pandemic and even before the pandemic for SIU as a school. It's unfortunate but I'd much rather allocate our dollars to our revenue sports like Men's/Women's Basketball, Football, Baseball, and Softball even at the risk of unfortunately losing good coaches in golf.
You're either D1 or you aren't. I was upset when we dropped gymnastics - stupid decision when we were a national power. Then we dropped an inexpensive sport in tennis with a very good and very underpaid coach doing double duty. We don't need to be dropping any more sports, and letting a successful coach (and alum) go over (evidently) a few bucks is just stupid. We can find the money. Cut a few administrator's salaries.
NIU has men's soccer, tennis, and wrestling, women's gymnastics, and tennis (and they spend a LOT more money than we do on football.)
This seems significant for the Men’s golf program.
https://twitter.com/siusalukis/status/1532392706667945988?s=21&t=WIdkwlkKsskgyxg_SnQDQg
Snipped...
NIU has men's soccer, tennis, and wrestling, women's gymnastics, and tennis (and they spend a LOT more money than we do on football.)
St. Ambrose, a small school (Div 3?) has:
- BASEBALLRosterSchedule
- BASKETBALLRosterSchedule
- BOWLINGRosterSchedule
- CROSS COUNTRYRosterSchedule
- FOOTBALLRosterSchedule
- GOLFRosterSchedule
- LACROSSERosterSchedule
- SOCCERRosterSchedule
- SWIMMING & DIVINGRosterSchedule
- TENNISRosterSchedule
- TRACK & FIELDRosterSchedule
- VOLLEYBALLRosterSchedule
- WRESTLINGRosterSchedule
-
WOMEN'S SPORTS
- BASKETBALLRosterSchedule
- BOWLINGRosterSchedule
- CROSS COUNTRYRosterSchedule
- DANCERosterSchedule
- GOLFRosterSchedule
- LACROSSERosterSchedule
- SOCCERRosterSchedule
- SOFTBALLRosterSchedule
- SWIMMING & DIVINGRosterSchedule
- TENNISRosterSchedule
- TRACK & FIELDRosterSchedule
- VOLLEYBALLRosterSchedul
“The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.”
-- Al McGuire
This seems significant for the Men’s golf program.
https://twitter.com/siusalukis/status/1532392706667945988?s=21&t=WIdkwlkKsskgyxg_SnQDQg
Great news. Justin is the man and an Eldorado native! However, I'm guessing this is not going to sit well with D.D. and possibly some other folks. Especially if Justin is going to get more $ than Kaufmann. I also noticed the release stated athletic director Kupec and didn't add the word interim. Subtle, but possibly very telling!
@resaluki-88 Good catch. I hope they make an announcement soon if in fact Kupec is staying on.
Early results are pretty encouraging for Kupec, in my opinion. Getting Bond-White for WBB and Fetcho back for Men's golf appear on the surface to be pretty good gets.
Next thing I'll be looking for is if he can manage to get Rhodes a pay bump.
Fetcho left before for financial considerations, then turned up as an assistant at FSU last year. He only coached the men before and did a great job. I have to assume he's getting considerably more money than he did before.
Still don't get their unwillingness to pay Kaufmann more. Just have a feeling there was more to it than meets the eye. The women's team was pretty bad last year - maybe they felt she wasn't up to handling both teams. That's certainly not an ideal situation for any coach.
Fetcho will do a great job. Sounds like they're still looking for a women's coach ???
