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Kevin Willard's salary

It's a no-win situation. Let's put aside whether a temporary cut in pay or any philanthropy is contractually obligated.

Do nothing or do something and not announce it = Greedy, selfish and not at all in tune with what's going on in the world today. He's potentially squeezing every penny obligated out of an institution that could pay at least 20-30 employees comfortably on what he's making.

Take a temporary pay cut of xx% = It's the least he can do as an highly paid employee and by announcing it or allowing it to be publicized he's looking to burnish his image as a good guy. Also, whatever the percentage is won't be enough for some even if 20% of salary likely comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 or more.

Personally, I'd be surprised if Kevin isn't doing something whether it's University mandated or of his own accord. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a little of both. In any case, I'm not interested in telling him what to do with his money.
 
and i thought the rutgers threads were the most annoying ones...

by all accounts KW is a good dude and very generous - i don't know if other coaches match the donations the way he does...

regardless - he has definitely earned the benefit of the doubt and anything implying otherwise is a joke
 
It is earned money, he earned his salary based on his past performance. Coaches, like pro athletes, earn their salary based on what they DID, not what they are going to do. That's the reality in the sports world.

Not true. If I am out of PTO days and don't show up for work in the month of May, I don't get a paycheck despite having an annual salary. Earned money is what you have already worked for and been paid for.

Your comment is also nonsense. You just said he "isn't sacrificing one bit". But then you talk out of the other side of your mouth just one sentence later and say "I don't know if he is or isn't.". So you're going to chop him up and make him sound like a selfish jerk, but then disclaimer it by saying you don't know what he's actually doing? Do you write for the Star Ledger by chance?

Take a reading comprehension class. That's quite a ridiculous twisting of what I said. I didn't say he flat out isn't sacrificing. He may be, I don't know. I said it is bad optics WHEN the university announces voluntary pay cuts for top leaders but, not the basketball coach. If he's taking a pay cut, why haven't they announced it?

Take off the blue glasses and look at the situation objectively. So many on this board are incapable of doing that it's like banging your head against the wall when reading some of the posts every day on here.
 
A few things: This thread is not a referendum on whether or not Kevin Willard earns his salary or has a right to do what he wants with his money. Let's stipulate that he does earn it and can do what he wants with it.

But if anyone missed the fact earlier in this thread that in university life, the highest-paid people are compensated in such a way and with the understanding that they will, even in a normal year, be returning a generous amount to the institution through philanthropy. It's expected and, in many cases, written in the their contracts. This assures the university and its community that these key, visible people will be seen as leadership donors, which invites the average alum/fan/donor to line up behind that leadership and support these campaigns. You see this in one-time gifts to fund a project, matching gifts, etc.

This is a good system, but there is no getting around the fact that is is expected. And, to repeat, oftentimes, it is bound by contract.

Having said that, I can certainly appreciate the desire many have to do their philanthropy quietly or in anonymity. I have always appreciated that lesson from Jesus about when you gives alms, give quietly with one hand so that the other does not know (and that is a poor paraphrasing of a beautiful idea). My guess is that Kevin Willard is that sort of personality, and that elevates him in my estimation.

However, in a system that even in normal times demands the generous philanthropy of an entire university community to fund its operations and pay its highest salaries - especially on the athletic end at a school where if we're lucky, men's basketball funds itself - it is a practical imperative in a time of such crisis for every one of the highest earners to accept salary reductions and then willingly allow the university to reassure its community that everyone is making sacrifices. How on earth can they furlough employees making $40,000 if those who enjoy absolute financial security aren't dialing back a little bit from their $3.5 million? And again, let's stipulate that in his marketplace, he earns and deserves that salary. But if your university community finds itself in jeopardy, what good is it if you aren't doing your part to help it?

"To whom much is given, much is required."

Thank you. Well said as usual.
 
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I feel kind of embarrassed by this whole thread.

Anyone who thinks Willard wouldn’t step up might not be paying attention. I have no way of knowing for sure, it just seems like something Willard would do.

It is likely he has and I said that from the start. I'd be surprised if he hasn't. But the university should be announcing that with the others that took cuts like the president and the cabinet. He is the highest paid and most public employee at the university. As has been noted, it is important to reassure the Seton Hall community during this time that everyone is making sacrifices.
 
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It's a no-win situation. Let's put aside whether a temporary cut in pay or any philanthropy is contractually obligated.

Do nothing or do something and not announce it = Greedy, selfish and not at all in tune with what's going on in the world today. He's potentially squeezing every penny obligated out of an institution that could pay at least 20-30 employees comfortably on what he's making.

Take a temporary pay cut of xx% = It's the least he can do as an highly paid employee and by announcing it or allowing it to be publicized he's looking to burnish his image as a good guy. Also, whatever the percentage is won't be enough for some even if 20% of salary likely comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 or more.

Personally, I'd be surprised if Kevin isn't doing something whether it's University mandated or of his own accord. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a little of both. In any case, I'm not interested in telling him what to do with his money.
I did the math last night and I think it’s more like $200k
I also explained that he’s not an exec/admin. He’s an employee. Admin will determine if he’s forced to take a cut. Or he can do it voluntarily. I don’t see why any of that MUST be public knowledge.
I also suggested he could take a cut now but get deferred comp which is what a lot of execs are doing although it might not be public.
 
Not true. If I am out of PTO days and don't show up for work in the month of May, I don't get a paycheck despite having an annual salary. Earned money is what you have already worked for and been paid for.



Take a reading comprehension class. That's quite a ridiculous twisting of what I said. I didn't say he flat out isn't sacrificing. He may be, I don't know. I said it is bad optics WHEN the university announces voluntary pay cuts for top leaders but, not the basketball coach. If he's taking a pay cut, why haven't they announced it?

Take off the blue glasses and look at the situation objectively. So many on this board are incapable of doing that it's like banging your head against the wall when reading some of the posts every day on here.

LOL you're talking about PTO days and I'm talking about a multi-million dollar contract awarded to a college basketball coach. Conversation is over, you win.
 
I did the math last night and I think it’s more like $200k
I also explained that he’s not an exec/admin. He’s an employee. Admin will determine if he’s forced to take a cut. Or he can do it voluntarily. I don’t see why any of that MUST be public knowledge.
I also suggested he could take a cut now but get deferred comp which is what a lot of execs are doing although it might not be public.
Because it would be a show of bad faith by the university to furlough employees and have top administrators agree to salary cuts, have to return millions of dollars in housing and dining fees, and figure out how to make up for other shortfalls, including losses from the NCAA tournament that never happened, while expecting a ... ::checks notes:: ... basketball coach ... to not share in any of this university-wide sacrifice. And I have no doubt that he is doing just that. The point here is that despite the quiet way he typically goes about his philanthropy (which is the way it ought to be done), this is bigger than him and what he prefers. This is about reassuring the entire university community that the sacrificed is shared by all. To do less is a show of bad faith.

This is all just argument for this board. Kevin Willard has been around universities for most of his life. He knows the deal, and has always embodied those principles.

I'm just not sure why this is so hard to grasp.
 
I feel kind of embarrassed by this whole thread.

Anyone who thinks Willard wouldn’t step up might not be paying attention. I have no way of knowing for sure, it just seems like something Willard would do.

Let's hope he has. But the university should be publicly announcing it, as it did with the president and others.
 
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Let's hope he has. But the university should be publicly announcing it.
What obligation does a private institution have of announcing it? Also what would be wrong if coach asked to keep it anonymous? Some people prefer to do for others without recognition.
 
What obligation does a private institution have of announcing it? Also what would be wrong if coach asked to keep it anonymous? Some people prefer to do for others without recognition.

They don't have an obligation. But if you're going to announce the president is taking a 20% cut, then people are going to ask about the basketball coach.

It's not about recognition. This is not a charity, not a Pirate Blue donation. This is bigger than Kevin Willard. This is about a university making tough choices to keep its costs in line. He is an employee, just like the professor or the janitor. He just happens to get paid millions of dollars to coach basketball.
 
Because it would be a show of bad faith by the university to furlough employees and have top administrators agree to salary cuts, have to return millions of dollars in housing and dining fees, and figure out how to make up for other shortfalls, including losses from the NCAA tournament that never happened, while expecting a ... ::checks notes:: ... basketball coach ... to not share in any of this university-wide sacrifice. And I have no doubt that he is doing just that. The point here is that despite the quiet way he typically goes about his philanthropy (which is the way it ought to be done), this is bigger than him and what he prefers. This is about reassuring the entire university community that the sacrificed is shared by all. To do less is a show of bad faith.

This is all just argument for this board. Kevin Willard has been around universities for most of his life. He knows the deal, and has always embodied those principles.

I'm just not sure why this is so hard to grasp.
Hard to grasp? I’m not sure who is having trouble grasping the issues. Perhaps you mean that on this board it’s hard for people to grasp that KW knows how things work, and he’ll do the the right thing?

My original post said I’m not taking a position on what’s right or wrong. But I understand why others want to draw a line in the sand. The only thing I will say is it’s none of our business-just my opinion.

In my initial post I raised several substantive issues and questions that nobody responded to, I assume cuz my post was long or boring or wrong or whatever.

Anyhow, again, I’m praying for a turnaround as I don’t want to see any of our hall family suffer in any way
 
My guess is that our new President is up at night working on solving the significant financial woes of the University, figuring out a plan to get the workers and kids back safely and making sure everyone associated with SHU can do all of that and stay healthy. I'm guessing this optic is not keeping our new President awake compared to the other part of the list. Yea yea it's employee morale etc but communicating with them about getting them back to work sooner and executing that plan will be the best thing he can do to enhance their morale. Folks will feel good for one second if they hear Willard took a pay cut, but then the focus will go back to the real priorities on the list. And they are significant and huge. Many students may not want to start in the fall and wish to defer causing a bigger hole in the budget. So is it a "feel good moment" for one second that you want, or do you want our new Prez to focus on the REAL priorities. I vote for the latter.
 
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It is likely he has and I said that from the start. I'd be surprised if he hasn't. But the university should be announcing that with the others that took cuts like the president and the cabinet. He is the highest paid and most public employee at the university. As has been noted, it is important to reassure the Seton Hall community during this time that everyone is making sacrifices.

I don't disagree with that announcement notion but I also think it's OK if an announcement is not made.
 
I'd love to know how Willard's position and performance therein benefits those others financially to begin with. I don't know the dynamic, if any.
 
It. Has. Nothing. To. Do. With. Sanctimony.
It has every thing to do with it. To make statements that he should do something because he makes a lot of money is one of the most sanctimonious things a person could do. Especially when you don’t know what he did. Who are you or anyone else to decide whether he should do anything with his own money.
 
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I'd love to know how Willard's position and performance therein benefits those others financially to begin with. I don't know the dynamic, if any.
It's a hard one to prove. But when the program started to get good in the 80's and when we had that NCAA run, applications were through the roof.

From a reputation stand point I believe he has benefited the University a lot in that we are getting good press, the kids in the program are good citizens and repping the school very well.

Powell was tremendous and you can link Willard to him in so many ways. School spirit is a great thing at any University. Hard to make a direct correlation, but the head coach of the major money making sports program can be very helpful in achieving a University's mission if he chooses.

From a pure budget standpoint for the whole University there probably is no direct correlation.
 
They don't have an obligation. But if you're going to announce the president is taking a 20% cut, then people are going to ask about the basketball coach.

It's not about recognition. This is not a charity, not a Pirate Blue donation. This is bigger than Kevin Willard. This is about a university making tough choices to keep its costs in line. He is an employee, just like the professor or the janitor. He just happens to get paid millions of dollars to coach basketball.

Everyone who has a clue feels he did something for the good of univeristy and the people who work there. This is much bigger than KW. This is much bigger than Dr. Nyre. But whatever was done is a private matter and is up to the parties involved to make it public or keep the matter private.

The school can do a number of things to help keep paying employees. One example is reach out to the donors who contributed towards the $40 million facility and asked if they would remove any restrictions on the money being for the practice facility so it could be used for people's pay.
 
I'm assuming the employees furloughed are at-will employees. KW has a contract. Maybe that's why he wasn't mentioned.
 
It has every thing to do with it. To make statements that he should do something because he makes a lot of money is one of the most sanctimonious things a person could do. Especially when you don’t know what he did. Who are you Or anyone else to decide whether he should do anything with his own money.
You're missing the point by a county mile because you do not understand the context in which this is happening.

Whatever some titan of industry wants to do with his or her money is entirely up to them. At a university, a nonprofit organization that depends so heavily on the philanthropy, generosity, and sacrifice of others, it's not at all the same. And if that same organization intends to return at some point to soliciting the members of its community to sacrifice of themselves in order to fund its various operations, there are a good many people who will not look favorably upon giving to a program if they perceive its leader to have removed himself from any sacrifice.

Again, this is more conceptual. Kevin Willard is not being called into question. There is a demonstrated record of his generosity (although, as I've said, it's typical for people in his position, both in and outside athletics, to have their compensation structured so that some level of philanthropic give-back is built in; he may or may not decide to give beyond that).

This is about the bad business of the appearance of sacrifice not being shared across all levels - avoiding the appearance that it is being foisted solely upon the university's most vulnerable employees.
 
Sorry, this entire thread is about calling him into question.The first post is literally questioning whether he did anything and how it should be made public either way. All of your responses are like moving targets, you manipulate the context of your comments based on the feedback you're being given, which, has largely been negative.

Have you even at all addressed what the furlough is? What the employees being furloughed are actually getting? Do you even care? Or do you only care about the "optics" of what the basketball coach is doing? And as someone else pointed out, perhaps in lieu of taking a paycut, he is making large donations to other organizations in need? Because, if we're using our brains here...it's probably doing the most good to let the workers be furloughed and let Willard make a private donation elsewhere.And if that's the case, that is a long and complicated thing to explain in a "press release" for "optics".

Furloughed employees get FULL benefits. Furloughed employees collect unemployment, which gives them 60% of their income to stay at home. Federal programs have ensured an ADDITIONAL $600 a week if needed as a "gap" supplement. Again, I would venture to guess (and I know several of these first-hand) many of these furloughed individuals will see their typical wages covered under these measures. So many (not all) are getting full benefits by the University and a pretty decent amount of their salary to sit at home and wait it out. Mind you, many of these workers can't even do their job because there are no students (librarians, food service, etc).

I'd rather let Coach do what he thinks his best with his salary that he has EARNED (spare me your nonsense about accrued PTO), of which he has a very generous track record, and let him donate where he sees fit, and leave it at that. Not everything has to be driven by media pandering.
 
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You're missing the point by a county mile because you do not understand the context in which this is happening.

Whatever some titan of industry wants to do with his or her money is entirely up to them. At a university, a nonprofit organization that depends so heavily on the philanthropy, generosity, and sacrifice of others, it's not at all the same. And if that same organization intends to return at some point to soliciting the members of its community to sacrifice of themselves in order to fund its various operations, there are a good many people who will not look favorably upon giving to a program if they perceive its leader to have removed himself from any sacrifice.

Again, this is more conceptual. Kevin Willard is not being called into question. There is a demonstrated record of his generosity (although, as I've said, it's typical for people in his position, both in and outside athletics, to have their compensation structured so that some level of philanthropic give-back is built in; he may or may not decide to give beyond that).

This is about the bad business of the appearance of sacrifice not being shared across all levels - avoiding the appearance that it is being foisted solely upon the university's most vulnerable employees.
No you are making the arguments of the sanctimonious that only you know what is best and what should be done. The school and the coach know what was done and as far as most of us non-sanctimonious people understand that if they want to keep it between themselves that is what they should do. Only small minded people like you and the guy who started this thread think they have the right to lecture the coach and school on how to think and act. Must be nice living in your little world.
 
Sorry, this entire thread is about calling him into question.The first post is literally questioning whether he did anything and how it should be made public either way. All of your responses are like moving targets, you manipulate the context of your comments based on the feedback you're being given, which, has largely been negative.

Have you even at all addressed what the furlough is? What the employees being furloughed are actually getting? Do you even care? Or do you only care about the "optics" of what the basketball coach is doing? And as someone else pointed out, perhaps in lieu of taking a paycut, he is making large donations to other organizations in need? Because, if we're using our brains here...it's probably doing the most good to let the workers be furloughed and let Willard make a private donation elsewhere.And if that's the case, that is a long and complicated thing to explain in a "press release" for "optics".

Furloughed employees get FULL benefits. Furloughed employees collect unemployment, which gives them 60% of their income to stay at home. Federal programs have ensured an ADDITIONAL $600 a week if needed as a "gap" supplement. Again, I would venture to guess (and I know several of these first-hand) many of these furloughed individuals will see their typical wages covered under these measures. So many (not all) are getting full benefits by the University and a pretty decent amount of their salary to sit at home and wait it out. Mind you, many of these workers can't even do their job because there are no students (librarians, food service, etc).

I'd rather let Coach do what he thinks his best with his salary that he has EARNED (spare me your nonsense about accrued PTO), of which he has a very generous track record, and let him donate where he sees fit, and leave it at that. Not everything has to be driven by media pandering.

you have an incredible lack of reading comprehension.
 
Sorry, this entire thread is about calling him into question.The first post is literally questioning whether he did anything and how it should be made public either way. All of your responses are like moving targets, you manipulate the context of your comments based on the feedback you're being given, which, has largely been negative.

Imagine saying/typing this with a straight face. And then imagine believing it. Some people, man.:rolleyes:

Another thing: This. Is. Not. About. Donations. A pay cut is not a donation to the school.

Oh, one more thing: While the furlough isn't a terrible outcome for the employee right now, there is no guarantee they will be hired back. If a university is furloughing 150 employees, that's a sign of a problem.
 
No you are making the arguments of the sanctimonious that only you know what is best and what should be done. The school and the coach know what was done and as far as most of us non-sanctimonious people understand that if they want to keep it between themselves that is what they should do. Only small minded people like you and the guy who started this thread think they have the right to lecture the coach and school on how to think and act. Must be nice living in your little world.

Imagine believing this too. Especially about SHUSource. Wow!
 
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After the school furloughed 150 employees today I think there needs to be some transparency on whether Kevin Willard has taken a pay cut. As the highest paid employee at the school he should be sharing in the sacrifices the Seton Hall community is making right now.

Perhaps he already has behind the scenes but if so it needs to be made public so it can be recognized and applauded. And if he hasn’t then he needs to step up. It’s the right thing to do.
Disagree! He delivered on everything within his control this year and has been working diligently on recruiting and preparing for 20/21. If he chooses to self impose a cut, kudos to him - no need to make public.
 
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Another thing: This. Is. Not. About. Donations. A pay cut is not a donation to the school.
These are not normal times and Willard has shown nothing but love towards the University as whole. For all we know he could've walked into someones office and said I want to forego my paycheck for a few weeks or even months.
 
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Imagine believing this too. Especially about SHUSource. Wow!
Imagine believing you have the right to say how someone should act in this situation. I believe such a belief is Sanctimonious.
 
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