Apparently one successful year is enough to give a pay raise to a coach who completed his rookie campaign.
The Athletics Department announced Monday that coach Craig Neal will enter his second season at the Lobos’ helm netting a $950,000-per-year base salary, plus incentives, becoming the highest-paid coach in the conference.
The timing feels abrupt, no doubt there. But if Paul Krebs and Company feel they have their man in place, then they needed to make this move, lock this guy up and ensure the man known as Noodles stays put.
Neal said all the right things to the media Monday: He’s flattered and humbled. It’s a good day for the University, for the team and for his family. He wants to be here. It will help the program moving forward.
The question remains: is he worth that price? Athletics Director Krebs certainly thinks so.
“His visibility as head coach in our community has made Craig an integral part of the leadership of our Athletics Department,” Krebs said in a statement. “He has quickly established himself as a great representative of the University of New Mexico in our state and throughout the country.”
Neal’s value to the team dates back to before he took the reins and into the Steve Alford tenure. Neal was with his friend and colleague Alford every step of the way during those six solid years.
The Alford-Neal tandem posted 155, won the Mountain West regular season four times and claimed two conference tournament crowns during the program’s most successful six-year stretch. Alford as the headman gets the credit for those coaching wins, but Neal managed the offense during the process.
Plus, Neal served a key role in the recruiting process and the development of talent. Cameron Bairstow’s name comes to mind when discussing the latter. The power forward began as a lanky freshman and turned into, many argue, the most improved player in the history of the Mountain West and a second-round NBA draft pick.
But ultimately Alford isn’t here anymore, and he’s finding success at his new stomping grounds, UCLA. For UNM, it’s Neal’s job to lead this program.
That’s where this whole question of timing comes into play. Yes, Neal racked up the most wins in school history for a rookie head coach (27) and won the Mountain West Tournament, but rookie is the optimal word there. Last year’s was Neal’s first head coaching gig. Ever.
However, there’s something to be said for the man who kept Alford’s last band together. Sometimes when a new coach comes to a team, players jump ship and transfer. That didn’t happen for Neal, and he had a strong group of starters in Bairstow, Alex Kirk, Kendall Williams and Hugh Greenwood.
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As seniors, Bairstow and Williams probably would have stayed at UNM anyway, but local sports talk radio regularly featured the question, “will Kirk stay?”
He and Greenwood, both juniors at the time, could have left, but they stayed and Neal had the best possible situation a new head coach could ask for.
This past offseason saw four players transfer from the school after being granted a release, but Neal retooled to prepare for the season by bringing in transfers Elijah Brown (formerly of Butler), Jordan Goodman (recruited by Oklahoma State, Temple and Georgetown, among others) and J.J. N’Ganga.
And it seems Neal has become a bit of a hot commodity in the coaching ranks. Gary Parrish of CBS Sports in March reported South Florida considered Neal a “legitimate target” for its head coaching vacancy, and the Albuquerque Journal reported Tulsa and Virginia Tech also expressed interest in the coach.
Neal confirmed that some schools reached out to him, though he did not name them and said he turned them down.
Many fans wanted Neal to coach the Lobos after Alford left. They got him. Neal flashed a strong first year and UNM gave him more money.
Now Noodles must show he’s worth the investment.
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor and a sports columnist for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
