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News Nuggets, 07.17.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

LSU paying baseball coach $450K per year

The Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate has reported on contract terms for LSU coaches which were recently approved the university's board of supervisors.

The board unanimously approved new baseball coach Paul Mainieri’s five-year, $450,000 per season contract, said the paper.

The board also approved new contracts for 12 other LSU head coaches — including football coach Les Miles and basketball coach John Brady — as well as new contracts for eight assistants in baseball and basketball.

Mainieri’s total package is $450,000 — $150,000 in base salary, $150,000 in Radio/TV/Internet compensation and $150,000 from LSU’s baseball equipment providers (Easton, Nike and Russell Athletic). Mainieri will also benefit from a one-time payment of $150,000 from the LSU athletics-affiliated non-profit booster organization, the Tiger Athletic Fund (TAF), to help offset his $450,000 buyout clause at Notre Dame.

Mainieri's compensations is the second-highest among SEC baseball coaches behind Ole Miss’ Mike Bianco ($500,000).

LSU pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney will make $110,000 per year, while new Tigers hitting coach Cliff Godwin, a former East Carolina player, will earn $70,000.

Miles’ new five-year deal runs through the 2010 season. He is guaranteed $1.65 million this year (up from $1.25 million in his first season in 2005) and $1.8 million in 2007. This year’s increase comes from immediate access to $400,000 in previously deferred funds that were being paid into an account by the TAF.

TAF puts $200,000 per year into the account, which would pay Miles a cumulative $1.4 million if he remains as LSU’s coach through 2011.

Miles is getting the $200,000 for last season and this season up front, and is eligible for the remaining $1 million in deferred payments if he remains through 2011.

His pay raise for 2007 will come from a $150,000 increase in his additional compensation paid by TAF. That amount is $300,000 this year.

Miles also gets $300,000 in base salary in 2006, $600,000 in Radio/TV/Internet funds and $50,000 from Nike, LSU’s equipment provider.

Brady’s total package increases from $665,000 to $900,000 per year. His contract, which runs through June 2011, also includes a bevy of postseason incentives that could earn him from $10,000 to $300,000 each year. He also can earn up to $75,000 if named Southeastern Conference and national coach of the year and a maximum of $62,500 in bonuses tied to the Tigers’ academic performance.

Kruger uses rule change to play for dad

While attending a wedding in Kansas three months ago, Kevin Kruger heard about Proposal 2005-54, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal story.

It was pending legislation by the NCAA that would soon make Kruger reassess his future as a college basketball player.

Kruger has taken advantage of the new opportunity to transfer from Arizona State to play his senior season at UNLV for his father, coach Lon Kruger.

The younger Kruger, a 6-foot-2-inch guard, led the Sun Devils in scoring at 15 points per game last season. Herb Sendek left N.C. State to become Arizona State's coach following the Wolfpack's 2005-06 season.

MAAC adopts new hoops tourney format

The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference has announced the implementation of a new format for the men’s and women’s basketball championships, beginning with the 2007 tournaments at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, CT.

“The double-bye format was instituted to protect the MAAC’s regular season winner from an upset in the early rounds of the tourney and elimination from consideration for post-season play by the NCAA or NIT,” MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor said in a release on the conference's website. “With the addition of the NIT and WNIT additonal qualifiers for regular season champions defeated in the tourney, the need for the double-bye was lessened.

"Additionally, the MAAC’s coaches and athletic administrators, in evaluating the double-bye, decided it was too great an advantage for the top seed and unfair to the other nine teams competing for the championship.

"It was also noted that attendance was impacted by the top team competing one less day in the tourney and, this was negatively impacting the host arenas and cities. Ultimately, all parties agreed on the elimination of the double-bye and the MAAC Council of Presidents accepted the decision with an understanding the new format not be revisited for five years.”

The 2007 men’s championship will begin on Friday, March 2, with two first round games between seeds seven through 10. The winners of those games will advance to the second round on Saturday, March 3. The quarterfinal winners will then compete in the semifinals on Sunday, March 4, and the championship game will be played on Monday, March 5.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:49 PM