UT soccer coach Brian Pensky leaving for Florida State

#10
#10
Wow: A shocker. I follow the UT soccer team--and women's collegiate soccer--pretty closely. Mark Krikorian--who won 3 national titles with Florida State and has to be considered the best coach in women's soccer (in his 17 years coaching the Noles soccer team, they reached the elite 8 13 times and I think the final four something like 12 times)---suddenly resigned a few weeks ago, citing his unwillingness to work for the school's relatively new athletic director. I don't know what the problem is, but Krikorian, who was already the highest paid coach in women's soccer, earning about $425,000 a year or so, essentially said to the school: I'll stay on if you pay me $700K or so, plus bonuses, knowing the school probably wouldn't do it. It offered him about $500K or a bit more, but he said no and resigned. (He won't be unemployed for long.) The AD then said the school was willing to pay it's next coach $400K +. But here's the thing: You have to get an experienced coach to take a job at the best program in the country, and the pay would generate interest among good coaches. But do you really want to follow Krikorian at FSU, when there is no way the new coach can maintain the ridiculously high standard he set? I would not leave a good situation to take the FSU job--but the $400 K salary is, I think, almost double what Pensky is making now--and so he's ambitious and willing to take the risk.

It's sux because we had a our best soccer team ever last year--and it has a chance to be even stronger this year, with all but one starter back and some outstanding players on the team. So just when it looked like Pensky was turning our soccer program into a powerhouse, he's now jumped ship. Pensky is a very good recruiter, and while I can see him doing well at FSU, he won't do as well as Krikorian--nobody could--and the ACC is the best conference in women's soccer. A few days ago an FSU fan suggested that the job might interest Pensky. I laughed it off, and supposedly the Noles were about to hire the coach at New Mexico. So I don't know what happened, but now our rising soccer program may be in some jeopardy unless White can make a strong hire--and he'll have to do it quickly. And if he wants to hire a really good coach, he should raise the salary. Pensky is an excellent recruiter. Last year he brought in 3 freshmen who not only became starters but were All-SEC type players. You should check out Taylor Huff, if you get a chance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000, vol66, HeadVol77 and 6 others
#11
#11
turbovol said:
Wow: A shocker. I follow the UT soccer team--and women's collegiate soccer--pretty closely. Mark Krikorian--who won 3 national titles with Florida State and has to be considered the best coach in women's soccer (in his 17 years coaching the Noles soccer team, they reached the elite 8 13 times and I think the final four something like 12 times)---suddenly resigned a few weeks ago, citing his unwillingness to work for the school's relatively new athletic director. I don't know what the problem is, but Krikorian, who was already the highest paid coach in women's soccer, earning about $425,000 a year or so, essentially said to the school: I'll stay on if you pay me $700K or so, plus bonuses, knowing the school probably wouldn't do it. It offered him about $500K or a bit more, but he said no and resigned. (He won't be unemployed for long.) The AD then said the school was willing to pay it's next coach $400K +. But here's the thing: You have to get an experienced coach to take a job at the best program in the country, and the pay would generate interest among good coaches. But do you really want to follow Krikorian at FSU, when there is no way the new coach can maintain the ridiculously high standard he set? I would not leave a good situation to take the FSU job--but the $400 K salary is, I think, almost double what Pensky is making now--and so he's ambitious and willing to take the risk.
Click to expand...

What school do you think is willing to pay a women's soccer coach, even the best one in the sport, $500k? If Krikorian isn't willing to take $500k to stay at FSU, he's probably not going to take significantly less somewhere else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000, HeadVol77, Nickid1975 and 1 other person
#12
#12
DeerPark12 said:
What school do you think is willing to pay a women's soccer coach, even the best one in the sport, $500k? If Krikorian isn't willing to take $500k to stay at FSU, he's probably not going to take significantly less somewhere else.
Click to expand...

I will be surprised if Krikorian doesn't take a pro job sometime soon. I agree that few if any collegiate soccer programs would be willing to pay him $500K a year--though he would easily be well worth that salary. However, he's in his early 60s now, and I can't see him trying to make another run with a college program at this stage in his career and life. I don't think most pro soccer coaches make $500 k annually, so wherever he coaches next he's not going to see a big raise---unless he takes over the US Women's National Team soon, and I wouldn't rule that out. We'll see. He has a major beef with the FSU athletic director--doesn't like the guy. I think part of it is that he doesn't think the FSU AD has given his soccer program the support that it deserves, given its massive success, and there may be some personal animosity as well.

I hope that White takes this hire seriously. While soccer is a non-revenue sport, it's actually a fairly prestigious sport--partly because of the worldwide popularity of soccer, but also because many of the best collegiate soccer programs in the country tend to be elite universities--Stanford, UVA, Duke, Southern Cal. So it's good company to keep if you can compete with the best--and in that sense good PR for the university as a whole.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JarFly, Volfan1000, Lucy and 4 others
#14
#14
Sam I Am said:
Make an offer to Krikorian Danny White. We got a loaded team. Don't have to go through a re-build. Plus, its KNOXVILLE, TN !
Click to expand...

He absolutely should--but would have to offer Krikorian $500K +. Krikorian wouldn't do it--but what is there to lose by offering him? It would mean raising the budget for our soccer coach by $250K--but what is that in the grand scheme of UT's athletic budget? It's peanuts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: volnationnj
#15
#15
turbovol said:
He absolutely should--but would have to offer Krikorian $500K +. Krikorian wouldn't do it--but what is there to lose by offering him? It would mean raising the budget for our soccer coach by $250K--but what is that in the grand scheme of UT's athletic budget? It's peanuts.
Click to expand...
True
 
#17
#17
Consider this: UT baseball coach Vitello just got a raise from $600K annually to $1.5 million annually. Baseball pulls in more money than soccer but remains essentially a non-revenue sport. Pensky was just given an extension, and surely a raise--but I'm betting that his salary was still well under $300K annually and maybe closer to $250K--about 1/6th what Vitello is getting. Had Pensky's salary been raised to, say, $400K, my bet is that he'd still be our soccer coach. I'm happy for Vitello--but no successful non-revenue coach should be making that much more than other successful non-revenue-sports coaches at a university. Matt Kredich, our top-notch swimming coach, makes roughly what Pensky was making and is way underpaid relative to his success level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000
#18
#18
turbovol said:
Consider this: UT baseball coach Vitello just got a raise from $600K annually to $1.5 million annually. Baseball pulls in more money than soccer but remains essentially a non-revenue sport. Pensky was just given an extension, and surely a raise--but I'm betting that his salary was still well under $300K annually and maybe closer to $250K--about 1/6th what Vitello is getting. Had Pensky's salary been raised to, say, $400K, my bet is that he'd still be our soccer coach. I'm happy for Vitello--but no successful non-revenue coach should be making that much more than other successful non-revenue-sports coaches at a university. Matt Kredich, our top-notch swimming coach, makes roughly what Pensky was making and is way underpaid relative to his success level.
Click to expand...
I think baseball is now a revenue sport
 
  • Like
Reactions: Volfan1000, AllVolinGA, HeadVol77 and 5 others
#21
#21
Sam I Am said:
Baseball is actually doing very well. I'll leave it there...
Click to expand...

What's the capacity of our baseball stadium, and what is the price of a ticket?

I don't know the answers--which is why I ask, but let's call baseball a minor revenue sport. I'm quite sure that is a fair description--and it might
not have even been much of that prior to the last couple of years. I don't think Vitello is overpaid--but I do wonder how a new baseball coach--with no
track record as a head coach--can get a salary of $600K--and then after one successful season (last year) more than double his salary (1.5 MILLION) while other successful and established UT coaches---Tennis (SEC tourney title last year, national semifinalist, ranked No. 1 for a time this year), Swimming (2 SEC women's titles in the last 3 years), Soccer (Elite Eight, Sweeting 16, SEC tourney title) are STILL making $225/$250 K. Certainly they are underpaid. And oh, yea: I forgot Karen Weekly. I don't what she's making--but I read that she and Ralph together were making $467K annually--and well-deserved as they've accomplished more than any of our non-rev/minor-revenue coaches. Now that Ralph has retired she's surely making, as the sole head coach, less than $300K, would be my guess---drastically less than Vitello. A ingrained lack of respect for women's sports? That would certainly seem to be one factor. As I say, I don't think Vitello is overpaid ---happy for him and the program--but he shouldn't be making 4/5/6 times other very good and successful coaches running big-time programs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LadyVols_WBK
#22
#22
turbovol said:
What's the capacity of our baseball stadium, and what is the price of a ticket?

I don't know the answers--which is why I ask, but let's call baseball a minor revenue sport. I'm quite sure that is a fair description--and it might
not have even been much of that prior to the last couple of years. I don't think Vitello is overpaid--but I do wonder how a new baseball coach--with no
track record as a head coach--can get a salary of $600K--and then after one successful season (last year) more than double his salary (1.5 MILLION) while other successful and established UT coaches---Tennis (SEC tourney title last year, national semifinalist, ranked No. 1 for a time this year), Swimming (2 SEC women's titles in the last 3 years), Soccer (Elite Eight, Sweeting 16, SEC tourney title) are STILL making $225/$250 K. Certainly they are underpaid. And oh, yea: I forgot Karen Weekly. I don't what she's making--but I read that she and Ralph together were making $467K annually--and well-deserved as they've accomplished more than any of our non-rev/minor-revenue coaches. Now that Ralph has retired she's surely making, as the sole head coach, less than $300K, would be my guess---drastically less than Vitello. A ingrained lack of respect for women's sports? That would certainly seem to be one factor. As I say, I don't think Vitello is overpaid ---happy for him and the program--but he shouldn't be making 4/5/6 times other very good and successful coaches running big-time programs.
Click to expand...

I believe these numbers are "market driven" if you will. The increase for Vitello was based on the fact that good/great coaches were moving north of $1 million in the baseball segment. Danny White saw the potential Vitello held to be a great one and went ahead and got ahead of the curve. These other successful coaches certainly deserve to be paid their due, but the market segment of their sport dictates what that is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: taylorvol
#23
#23
turbovol said:
What's the capacity of our baseball stadium, and what is the price of a ticket?

I don't know the answers--which is why I ask, but let's call baseball a minor revenue sport. I'm quite sure that is a fair description--and it might
not have even been much of that prior to the last couple of years. I don't think Vitello is overpaid--but I do wonder how a new baseball coach--with no
track record as a head coach--can get a salary of $600K--and then after one successful season (last year) more than double his salary (1.5 MILLION) while other successful and established UT coaches---Tennis (SEC tourney title last year, national semifinalist, ranked No. 1 for a time this year), Swimming (2 SEC women's titles in the last 3 years), Soccer (Elite Eight, Sweeting 16, SEC tourney title) are STILL making $225/$250 K. Certainly they are underpaid. And oh, yea: I forgot Karen Weekly. I don't what she's making--but I read that she and Ralph together were making $467K annually--and well-deserved as they've accomplished more than any of our non-rev/minor-revenue coaches. Now that Ralph has retired she's surely making, as the sole head coach, less than $300K, would be my guess---drastically less than Vitello. A ingrained lack of respect for women's sports? That would certainly seem to be one factor. As I say, I don't think Vitello is overpaid ---happy for him and the program--but he shouldn't be making 4/5/6 times other very good and successful coaches running big-time programs.
Click to expand...

If UT fans were polled on which coach outside of football and basketball they wanted to keep the most, Vitello would probably win easily.

I’m disappointed to lose Pensky. No hard feelings, of course.
I hope DW finds a good one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AllVolinGA, tbwhhs and KHVol
#24
#24
ukvols said:
If UT fans were polled on which coach outside of football and basketball they wanted to keep the most, Vitello would probably win easily.

I’m disappointed to lose Pensky. No hard feelings, of course.
I hope DW finds a good one.
Click to expand...

Kind of a silly comment....
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top