Posted by John Vrooman on Wednesday, March 28, 2018 in NCAA Basketball.

Interview with CBS. 

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the school’s athletic revenue and expenses were $13.8 million as of its latest school year.  Do you find it strange that the numbers match up perfectly?

This is common accounting practice.

Are most of the benefits that Cinderella schools realize fleeting?

Yes, but there is some evidence that there is a honeymoon effect for the competitiveness of applications for admission follow a Cinderella deep run especially to the Final Four.

It is critical for Loyola to keep Porter Moser as coach, and this will be difficult for a mid-major MVC school. At this level the continuity of program success derives from the Coach more than the school. Moser built this team from grassroots recruiting the basketball way, and they play the game (especially defense) the way it is supposed to be played to be successful in a one-and-done tournament. Unfortunately this also makes Moser attractive at the next big-boy level. Fortunately for Loyola most of the attractive openings are being filled before the final round. Of course Sister Jean is important, but Coach Moser is critical.

How much would it cost for Loyola-Chicago to stay competitive in college basketball?

Moser is possibly looking at a cool $1 million in a $3 million program, depending on the highest offer, possibly Xavier (top tier $12 million program) depending on how the other coaching vacancies fall. Chris Mack just took the job at Louisville, so this possibly could go down fast, and even Sister Jean may not be able to stop the dominoes.

Why don’t most college earn a profit from sports?

Loyola is caught in the classic mid-major success squeeze. Mid major programs have difficulty breaking even, because they share a common coaching labor market on the cost side and are restricted by a modest fan base on the revenue side. To maintain successful programs they must increase coaching salaries proportionately more than mid-market revenues can bear.

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Coach Moser is possibly looking at a cool $1 million in a $3 million program depending on the highest offer, possibly Xavier (top tier $12 million program) depending on how the other coaching vacancies fall. Chris Mack just took the job at Louisville, so this possibly could go down fast, and even Sister Jean may not be able to stop the dominoes.

Loyola 2016 basketball budget: revenues = costs = $4.4 million with no profit. ($2.8 million in 2015).

 Xavier’s 2016 basketball budget triples Loyola Chicago: revenues=$12.8, expenses $8.2 million and profit of $4.6 million.

 Chris Mack’s salary at Xavier was $1.67 million in 2017 and $1.4 million in 2016, which is about 11 percent of basketball revenues in 2016

 A top tier competitor like Xavier could offer Porter Moser a salary jump of $1.1 million in his first year which would only be a conservative 8.5 percent of their expected revenues.

Mid-major Loyola would have to free up 25 percent of basketball revenue ($4.4 million) just to match a hypothetical $1.1 million conservative Xavier offer for Coach Moser. This is in the stratospheric relative salary range of John Calipari at UK, Tom Izzo at MSU, and Bill Self at KU. The highest reasonable (feasible) offer from Loyola Chicago would be in the $750,000 range (16.7 percent of revenues), no match for a possible average contract offer of two to three times that much from Xavier. This is winners curse for successful mid-major basketball programs in the NCAA Final 4.

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