Sun Belt Aiming For Financial Commitment In Basketball
Keith Gill, commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference since 2019, is first to acknowledge football drove his league’s decision to expand to 14 teams with the additions of James Madison,
Marshall’s Coach on improving SBC basketball - “There’s going to have to be a commitment from the league in how you operate your program,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said. “That comes from everything from how you travel, do you bus 10 hours or charter in? That makes a huge difference. Food, training tables, facilities, do you have access to your arena any time? And are you committed to finding the best coaches? To do that you’re going to have to bump salaries or reward the ones that are here and winning. That’s all part of the university and athletic departments of the universities committing if they want that second bid.”
“JMU comes in with an annual men’s basketball budget of nearly $3.4 million while the average Sun Belt team spent less than $1.9 million. Arkansas State and Louisiana Monroe each spent less than $1.2 million.”
ULM will have a lot of catching up to do with our peers, as usual. We decided to retain coaches who just can’t get it done. That decision is going to put us years behind our conference mates moving forward. First step, hire a real AD. Next step, craft a plan of growth for both the men’s and women’s basketball programs and then use that plan to hire new coaches. Lastly, establish a nutrition program and conduct facilities enhancements. We should strive to spend $2.5m per year.
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