Just a couple clarifications:
Charles Koch affects Wichita State in many more ways than just a coach's salary.
"During the 25m Roundhouse Renaissance in 2002, initial pledges totaled nearly $13 million (including a $6 million gift from Koch Industries Inc.)."
http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/prin ... 5m-to.html "Koch Industries Inc. and the Fred and Mary Koch Foundation have given $11.25 million to the university to fund several academic and athletics initiatives. The gift, announced Tuesday, continues a long-standing relationship between Koch and Wichita State."
A couple years ago 3G decided that the locker room needed a BCS face-lift in order to wow high level recruits. The cost for the makeover was 250k. A private donation appeared almost instantly to make that happen.
As stickboy has mentioned, nothing happens without community support, but nothing also happens without big-time donations. Charles Koch should be lauded for his support to a university he never attended (MIT), but he ain't the only fella with deep pockets. There are literally dozens and dozens of boosters that routinely offer up the 6-7 figure checks. If Charles was donating in amounts relative to his net worth, we'd be getting checks in the 100 million dollar range. I'm still hoping that when he kicks the bucket he leaves an endowment of 5 billion or so - firmly establishing the university for decades to come.
As far as basketball success is concerned, it wasn't all money that brought us to this point. Wichita State has been experiencing highly successful periods since the '50's. There's many reasons for that, namely, that the Shockers are the main event in town. Support has always been high for that reason. By support I mean butts in seats. As was already mentioned, athletes like to play in full buildings for obvious reasons. Performance is bolstered by the energy of a large crowd. This is a definite recruiting advantage.
After our most recent athletic recession (90's), we hired a sensational AD in Jim Schaus. Under his leadership, we entered the latest iteration of a "Golden Era". Everything was in place. All he needed to do was instill confidence in the beleaguered community and the well started pumping again. That's Wichita State's advantage. Even though the well may occasionally stop pumping, it never runs dry.
A couple final points:
Turgeon is a job hopper. He would take the first decent offer he received as long as he had Deputy Dog's permission (Roy Williams).
Gregg Marshall is an entirely different cat. He turned down several low-level BCS jobs while at Winthrop where he coached 9 years. He's famous for saying you don't mess with happy and how many hamburgers can a guy eat? He's educated in Economics so he understands clearly the importance of a free market. His belief in such philosophies no doubt endeared him to Charles Koch and makes him keenly aware of what his market value is. Gregg Marshall to Wichita State was not a done deal until he received many assurances. He DID NOT choose this job for the money. He truly believed the program fit him as a person - which it does. After his first horrific year, he went up to the AD and asked him to fire him. The stress of adapting to a new program and reviving it to Gregg Marshall standards no doubt is a strong disincentive to move again. Gregg likes to win and win for the sake of winning. The money will take care of itself. He would be wholly unhappy as a coach in the ACC finishing 3rd every year no matter what they paid him. He wants to be #1. He was #1 in the Big South, he was #1 in the MVC, and he expects to be #1 in the AAC.
To say it's a great day to be a Shocker is an understatement.
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