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SALT LAKE CITY — Dave Rose was there, a highly successful college basketball coach faced with the difficult decision of choosing between remaining at BYU or cashing in on the big-money offer in a more prestigious conference.
Oklahoma wanted to hire Rose in 2011, after he had coached the BYU Cougars to their first Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 30 years. Based on several factors, notably his relationship with the players, Rose chose to stay put to the point of retiring at BYU last year after 22 seasons as an assistant coach and then the head coach.
In reflection, Rose said the BYU administration provided his basketball program with the resources necessary to succeed. But, during a two-hour session on The Zone Sports Network, he did admit to leaving money on the table.
“I always felt like we were on par, or close to on par, with anything the NCAA would allow you to do,” said Rose, who also turned down other jobs. “But when you’re talking about coach’s salaries, I think you’re always going to be in a position where there’s probably somewhere else that’s going to pay a little bit more.”
At some point, probably sooner than later, Rose’s successor is going to face a similar situation. In his first season, Mark Pope has coached BYU to a No. 15 nationally ranking and the program’s impending first NCAA Tournament berth in five years.
A former NBA player who won a national championship with Kentucky in 1996, Pope is building a national resume that will be hard to ignore. The charismatic figure, who built a successful program in four years at Utah Valley, already is a hot commodity in the coaching industry.
Will he stay or will he go?
Unlike football coach Kalani Sitake, who grew up a BYU fan and was later a fullback for LaVell Edwards, Pope definitely did not bleed blue before joining Rose’s staff as an assistant coach in 2011. As a high school recruit, he didn’t consider BYU before choosing to stay home to play at Washington and then two years later after transferring to Kentucky.
Five years ago, when football coach Bronco Mendenhall got the opportunity to receive a substantial pay raise from Virginia, BYU did not bother to match the offer. Over the years in multiple cases, the administration has declined to enter a bidding war to retain or hire coaches.
Expect the same with Pope, even though as Rose pointed out, the university’s sponsoring institution — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — certainly has the money available.
“They’re in it to win it,” Rose said of the school administration. “They’re in it to play at a high level. But I always believe if money is going to be the coach’s No. 1 concern, the coach is probably going to leave.”
From the salary perspective, BYU is not in rare company. Many universities, in desperate attempts to win in multiple sports, are willing to pony up huge amounts of money to hire coaches.
Last month, Michigan State paid more than $5 million to pry Mel Tucker away from Colorado. In Tucker’s only season as the football coach, the Buffaloes were 5-7.
“No one is immune,” Qualtrics co-founder Ryan Smith said in an interview on The Zone Sports Network.
Smith, whose company sold for $8 billion, is a longtime BYU fan and a friend of Pope. He was known as a strong supporter of BYU hiring Pope last year.
“We can keep Mark here at BYU,” he said. “I don’t think that’s a problem. I think Mark wants to be here, but that’s obviously Mark’s decision. The world is realizing who we’ve got. He’s amazing.”
The BYU graduate believes his alma mater supports the basketball program as well as any in the country, noting he sat courtside in the win over Gonzaga last month in the sold-out Marriott Center. Be careful what you wish for, Smith said, pointing out that Power Five programs under pressure to win are much quicker to make coaching changes.
To Smith’s point, Rose was not in danger of being replaced despite BYU not making the NCAA Tournament in his final four seasons. But Smith is aware of angst regarding Pope potentially taking another job, saying he has received many texts on the possibility.
“I don’t think everyone needs to freak out — we won a couple of games, we’re ranked, OK, Mark’s going to leave. That’s a really empty way to look at the world, but fans do,” Smith said.
“Enjoy the time we have. Pope’s not going anywhere right now. Enjoy what we’ve got.”
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