Fran can't stay, it's just not feasible. I don't care what his record is, I don't care how many times he's finished in the upper half of the conference, etc, etc. College sports is a business and the consumer does NOT want what the University is currently selling in terms of the men's basketball product. There's nothing Fran could do in the short term to change that. There have been games this year where the butts-in-the-seats number is under 2,000 in a 16,000 seat arena. In no world does it make sense to have that continue. The consumers have spoken.
I think right now the avg "paid" attendance for home games this year is right around 6,000. Increasing that to 10,000 next year at about $30/seat for 20 home games comes to $2.4M. That literally pays for 2 years of the 3 year buyout payment plan.
As far as paying another coach's buyout, I don't think DeVries is worth the buyout it would cost. Ben McCollum, on the other hand, would be a better play in my opinion. He's won, and won big, at literally every stop he's made. He has multiple national championships at the D2 level and in his first year with a bunch of D2 players at Drake, it looks like he's gonna win the MVC. The guy can coach, period. He honestly reminds me of a nicer version of Bo Ryan.
But regardless of the new coach, Fran has to go. It would be a huge red flag in my book if Beth let him stay another year. It would show me that the BF move really wasn't hers (as has been widely speculated) and maybe she's just not ready for the tough decisions necessary at the big boys conferences. However, if she does fire him/negotiate a mutual parting, then that shows me that maybe she does have what it takes.
The ball's in your court, Beth.
