Edrick Floréal to Texas

Carter and Harrison are pros, so they could theoretically join him in Austin. Who knows if McLaughlin will stay at Kentucky to finish her degree, pause her degree to follow Flo to Austin, or transfer and take classes at Austin. Maybe that's part of the reason why McLaughlin decided to go pro - so she could follow Flo whereever he went? I'm sure he kept all of his athletes in the loop if he was looking to relocate.

Or, Flo would try to do remote coaching, but it doesn't sound like his style...

Here is the official release:

https://texassports.com/news/2018/6/13/track-field-cross-country-edrick_floreal-named-head-track-and-field-coach-at-texas.aspx

I had heard in Eugene that he turned down the job and some were speculating it would go to Bucknam. I wonder if that was all hearsay or if they came back with more $$$. This is exactly the type of hire I'd make if I were UT.

Agree that this is a great hire for Texas. He may not get credit for Stanford's early success but he kept the program going which is its own challenge. What he's done at Kentucky is amazing, so I imagine with Burnt Orange resources in Texas he'll be able to improve on that. We'll see where he goes with the other coaches who are still there.

rojo wrote:

Here is the official release:

https://texassports.com/news/2018/6/13/track-field-cross-country-edrick_floreal-named-head-track-and-field-coach-at-texas.aspx

I had heard in Eugene that he turned down the job and some were speculating it would go to Bucknam. I wonder if that was all hearsay or if they came back with more $$$. This is exactly the type of hire I'd make if I were UT.

He's established himself as the best hurdles coach in the world. People forget he was a triple jump champ and previously regarded as jumps expert.

If he could recruit at Kentucky, he'll have no problem at UT. Might be able to fill in the gaps on the team and winning Big 12s is way easier than SECs.

BRILLIANT Hire by Texas.

Wow. I've renewed my faith in UT.

Phenomenal. UT will be Top 10 at next year's championship in Track.

$300k USD Salary

$300k no, over twice that much.

Arizona States Coach gets paid 200k a year to coach men and women, and they have produced not much in the last 5 years, collegiately team wise. They have had some great individuals, Houhlian, Maggie, Chris Barnard, Floreal is worth 800k to that program.

C/M Runner wrote:

Or, Flo would try to do remote coaching, but it doesn't sound like his style...

His nickname isn't Flo. Flo is an old Hag who works in a diner.

It's Easy E. As in he, (E) was always good for an Easy 20pts at Nationals.

Track doesn’t make money so it is hard to say what it is worth to the program. It comes to the importance to the AD. I would guess he got $500k.

Crusty Ol' HOG wrote:

C/M Runner wrote:

Or, Flo would try to do remote coaching, but it doesn't sound like his style...

His nickname isn't Flo. Flo is an old Hag who works in a diner.

It's Easy E. As in he, (E) was always good for an Easy 20pts at Nationals.

I’ll be curious to see if Floreal can turn around the sprints at Texas (particularly the men since Tonja signed a pretty good Girls class). Part of me wonders if he is that great of a coach or if he just took advantage of the house that Tim Hall built. Hall was the one that made Kentucky a credible sprint school when he had Dez Bryant and Kenny Harrison transfer from Clemson.

Also, someone else mentioned this on another thread but Floreal wasn’t great at Stanford, so it’ll be interesting to see how the academic standards affect his recruiting once again...

AD Chris Del Conte was a former trackster in college himself. So, he has said that the T&F program is very important to him/

Nope

If Hall coached Harrison then why did she stay with Floréal and have more success? Also why is Bryant not with him?

Tim Hall gets a lot of credit for athletes that he doesn’t recruit. He hasn’t done any real work since his early years.

Floréal is a heck of a recruiter and coach. Perfect hire for UT.

$700k rumour

$300k is huge for a base salary, and Coach should be in the Top 5 coaches- whatever that is- but Texas isn't going to drive up base salaries across all of their Mens/Womens Olympic Sports. It simply isn't fiscally responsible- and Del Conte is a great AD. I also personally don't take Coach Floreal to be someone that wants "highest base salary" attached to his name and staff- for that brings negative connotations/unnecessary stress as well.

Flo and his staff seems to be all about the hunger to achieve bonuses across the 6 Opportunities to win (M/W Track Indoor, M/W Outdoor and M/W Cross Country) rather than the highest base salaries. As people on this board know, maximizing Conference and NCAA performance bonuses (and being a good employee/ambassador of the program) is the way to truly be retained and compensated.

I mean, really...was Kentucky going to win the SEC Conference over Arkansas, Alabama and A&M in a sustainable fashion? They got the talent, but no way they are going to get the depth to win the John McDonnell award for best all-around program. Texas is a better recruiting ground, best place to achieve academically, and ideal place repeatedly achieve all the performance bonuses across the 6 opportunities mentioned.

Flo made over 420k at Kentucky... public information. Rumors at Texas were in the 600 to 750k range. He wouldn't leave 420k and what he built at UK to take 300k....

I think this is a great move for everyone involved. Floreal moves to a program with more resources and a higher profile (Not to mention a big jump in the in state recruiting base) and Texas gets a coach with proven success across multiple disciplines who has made a reputation as a high end coach and recruiter.

Floreal makes $300 base. I am confident he made in the $400s after performance and retention bonuses at Kentucky, and I am also confident he will make in the $600-$700 at Texas after performance bonuses. SEC is just impossible to hit many bonuses at the conference level. However, anyone can go to the Kentucky government website to know that he made $300k in base salary in the last calendar year and was scheduled to make $320 next year. Floreal would move if he thought he and his assistants could achieve their performance bonuses through winning. If you research the contracts on Kentucky open records, you will see what I am talking about. I am not going to do the research for you, as I don’t want to start getting into the details of people’s personal compensation- but it is out there if you want to look.

As many people in the industry know, BASE salaries for track are compared to other base salaries of Olympic sport coaches (Volleyball, Softball, Swimming etc etc). Also, there is not going to be much difference amongst Men/Women coaches if revenues are not significant enough to offset. This is the government after all! You raise one, you raise the whole market. No AD is going to responsibly do that without catching serious heat from their peers. Same goes for the assistants of non-FB, BB sports. The market is largely defined based on salary grades issued by the state government. The main way to profit is by hitting team conference championships, top national finishes, and camps. These are very standard contracts. If a program ain’t winning titles, the salaries are often not large enough to keep someone from leaving or looking for other positions that do win Conference titles.

Yup, you guys are right.. he already makes $300k at Kentucky. Damn. If he is at $750k that is an absolute game changer for a non-revenue sport and it's all about prestige and presence to start winning back recruits they are losing to Texas A&M. People don't realize how important sports are to attracting and retaining students (non-athletes). Take a look at A&M admission applications vs. UT admission applications every since A&M has become the dominant football program between the two.

http://www.kentucky.com/news/databases/article151822282.html?appSession=70T6741G399W4LLL3C8MS82MNI0DT8LODU8Q36CW31M8CCT399735RN4YE7KCJ94336HD1EKUWN3T91A86Z042MJS3ENB1DB0DO416RH6186M287QSG9013CEJA61JJ0