What we can learn from SMU

This just in, courtesy of ESPN: June Jones is going to SMU. Interestingly, June Jones' Wikipedia article provides a little insight:

Frustrated with what he viewed as a lack of support from the University, Jones opted to leave Hawaii at the end of the 2007 season. After initial reports had him interviewing at SMU, Hawaii officials had offers to raise his salary from $800,000 a year to $1.7 million a year and offered a commitment to improve its facilities; in addition there was an outpouring of support from Hawaii fans, including Gov. Linda Lingle. However, Jones contacted Hawaii on January 7, 2008 and let them know he had decided to accept an offer from SMU. Jones went 75-41 at Hawaii, including 4-2 in bowls. His teams finished first in the WAC twice and second two other times.[17]

What SMU proved is that, if you offer a coach enough money ($2 million in Dallas goes a lot farther than $1.7 million in Hawaii, especially when it's offered first), they'll go just about anywhere. SMU is not a winning program, and hasn't been for quite some time - in fact, its record since the Death Penalty was handed down to it leads to a 27% winning percentage. But, SMU proved they were "committed" (i.e. they were willing to pay Jones more money), so off he goes.

Where does that leave Nevada? The answer is obvious: Absolutely nowhere.

June Jones made $800,000 in Hawaii before SMU swept him off his feet. That salary made him the highest paid public employee in Hawaii, and was considered a very extreme sum at the time. Ault, meanwhile, makes less than that - less than half of that, to be more specific, and many people in Reno believe he is overpaid. Part of that can be explained by the results of his tenure, which haven't been terribly exciting as of late, but let's get real here - if we're going to get and keep a decent coach, we need to be willing to accept that we're going to have to pay real money. $2 million/year is a big-time salary - that makes June Jones the 15th highest paid coach in the country right now. Chris Ault, meanwhile, makes less than the coach at Florida Atlantic. Let that sink in for a bit - our coach makes less than the coach of a Sun Belt program.

You can't spend Kia money and expect to get a Mercedes. At this point, we're not even spending enough to get a used Camry. Sooner or later, Nevada needs to get serious - if we're going to be competitive, we have to be willing to pay a competitive wage. Chris Peterson from Boise State? $880k/year, and he could make triple that at any big-time school in the country. Pat Hill? $1.23 million/year. Hawaii was paying June Jones $800k/year until he bailed. Do we really wonder why we can't stay even with these guys?

(Numbers pulled from coacheshotseat.com.)

EDIT: I am in no way suggesting that we spend $2 million/year on a head coach. We have far more pressing needs at the moment, like updating our stadium and our facilities. That said, if we ever replace Ault, all of us need to face facts and realize that, if we're going to get AND KEEP a competitive coach, we will need to pay a competitive salary. Right now, we're paying a "competitive with SJSU and La Tech" salary, and we're getting SJSU and La Tech results. If we want to be competitive with the big boys of the WAC, we're going to need to pony up some money. $500k will probably need to be the starting point for a new coach here, with the promise that, if they do well, we'll pay them nearly double that in a few years. Otherwise, we're going to stay right where we're at - varying shades of mediocre gray.