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Report: Memphis extends ‘extraordinary’ offer to potential SEC coaching target
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If Missouri or South Carolina want to wrest away Justin Fuente from Memphis, it’ll take some kind of money.
That’s because Memphis reportedly has extended an “extraordinary offer” to keep Fuente with the team, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The offer reportedly is in excess of $2.2 million per year — at minimum — and was extended to Fuente before the team defeated Ole Miss in the Liberty Bowl.
Houston reportedly has offered coach Tom Herman about $3 million per season to stay. But Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville, at $2.2 million, is the highest-paid Group of 5 coach at the moment. And the offer Memphis has extended to Fuente is said to exceed that figure.
Fuente signed a five-year contract extension last November that pays him $1.4 million annually.
From the Commercial Appeal:
The offer presented to Fuente is richer than Tuberville’s deal, according to the source, who said it compares favorably with the $3 million annual contract that Houston reportedly is prepared to offer Tom Herman, its first-year coach. A second source with knowledge of the offer, however, said it includes an annual salary of $2.5 million for Fuente and a pool for assistant coaches beyond that.
“I love coach Fuente and we’ve been working tirelessly to make sure we can keep him,” (athletic director Tom) Bowen said. “We made him an extraordinary offer to make sure he’s going to be the coach of the University of Memphis for a very long time.”
Memphis is aiming for a second consecutive top 25 finish.
Barry Odom, Fuente’s former defensive coordinator, now holds that position at Missouri. Several media members who cover the SEC’s version of the Tigers have pegged Odom as a strong candidate to win the job, though Fuente’s name has been linked with the job as well.
Some sources within the coaching industry have insisted that Fuente would be interested in other open jobs ahead of Missouri.
South Carolina reportedly has been interested in Herman.
Given the offers at their respective schools, one could surmise that the baseline salary figure that would be necessary to entice Herman or Fuente has escalated to $4 million per season.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
