Fred Hoiberg is not yet the new head coach for the Nebraska basketball team. He is still the odds on favorite to get the job. This despite the fact that AD Bill Moos made it clear that he hasn't settled on a replacement for the recently fired Tim Miles. What Moos did hint at is that when he goes to hire the new coach, the school is going to be cracking open their wallet. If new rumors about what the former Iowa State coach has been offered are accurate, backing up a Brinks truck would be a more apropos analogy.
Fred Hoiberg set to make bank
Chicago Tribune writer Teddy Greenstein took to Twitter on Tuesday night to voice what he had heard was the latest offer from the Huskers to Hoiberg in order to coach the Nebraska basketball team.
That offer, according to the reporter is rumored to be seven years long and would pay the coach $28 million over the life of the contract.
When talk of the Cornhuskers letting Miles go first surfaced, one of the things that were said early and often is that if the program wants to get better, it's going to need to pay at a level that is similar to what the other big-time programs in the country pay. If the offer is accurate, this would absolutely do that. The $4 million annually would put the new Huskers coach in the top 10 in the country.
rumored offer: 7 years, $28 M https://t.co/2nXK8GwPxs
— Teddy Greenstein (@TeddyGreenstein) March 27, 2019
In fact, when talking salary only, he'd be tied for fifth in the country with Arizona's Sean Miller, according to Spun.
By those same metrics, he would be the second highest paid coach in the Big Ten, even ahead of Michigan's John Beilein. That's a heck of a lot of money to be giving out, but it makes some sense that the Huskers move into that range in pay, not only to reel in a coach who doesn't need the money (he'll make $5 million from the Bulls if he remains unemployed) but also to show the rest of the college basketball world that the university is serious about competing.
Nebraska basketball among the big boys
When looking at the top paid coaches in the country, Duke's Coach K is unsurprisingly right at the top, making $8.9 million annually. Kentucky's John Calipari is second with $7.9 million annually. Ohio State's Chris Holtmann is costing the Buckeyes $7.1 million, though $5 million of that is part of the buyout being paid to Butler.
Holtmann is making just $2.1 million annually.
Kansas's Bill Self comes in at $4.9 million, Michigan State's Tom Izzo makes $4.3 million and then Fred Hoiberg would be making the same as Arizona's Sean Miller. Those are some power teams and power coaches at the top of that list. The fact that Nebraska basketball is reportedly willing to offer this kind of money shows a real commitment to taking the next step as a program.