I agree- probably our best hope right now is not a lot of jobs open up, which then maybe he stays 1-2 more years until one opens up he wants and can get.
From a roster perspective - they should still be good enough to be a top 2-3 A10 team next year, assuming they keep the key players. They lose Hill, Budnik, and Alston, and then Camden and Jimenez are key role players. BUT - they still have Doogan and Ullstrom and Sweeney, and Dewey has played as a reserve this year. Assuming they should get some good transfers - they have the central pieces to keep this going another year - but that assumes Doogan and Ullstrom stick around and don't leave for money at a bigger school.
I've said this in other threads but our pitch to Roussell for him to stay is quite a good one, especially if we are willing to pay more in salary and NIL. Really the only thing we can't compete with is if he wants to be in P5 for the sake of the P5 name. The ceiling can be theoretically higher too for P5s in terms of national success, money, and resources.
However, Richmond is at a real cross-roads right now. We can easily match or come close to P5 money and resources, especially now with the NCAA house settlement if we choose to. I do have faith that Richmond will try and compensate Roussell and our women's program as much as possible. Basketball is our flagship sport. For the first time (ever?) or at least long time we have great success in women's basketball with fan support and garnering growing national recognition. We will care and likely make more of an effort to maintain that, then lets say if a P5 wanted our lacrosse coach. I don't imagine we are going to pony up the P5 salary for our non-basketball sports. For basketball, I think we will.
So assuming we match the salary/NIL resources as much as possible, then why Richmond? Well for these reasons:
- Essentially have a job here as long as he wants. There will not be nearly the same external pressures here like at P5s in years he doesn't well. Plus we know what he is capable of and will be more patient with him to achieve it.
- If he stays at Richmond for his career or at least awhile, he has a chance to cement himself as our greatest coach ever (in any sport). Would be a legend.
- Familiarity/comfort with the city and university. He has worked with Hardt since his Bucknell days. So he knows the kind of relationship and expectations that he has here then the uncertainty of a P5 AD.
- We have a ton of returning talent this year and quite frankly probably every year. Recruiting continues to be excellent, so there is no reason why we can't be top of conference every year. Especially if we devote a lot of NIL resources for him.
- A10 is a top 8 conference and continuing to get better. Plenty of opportunity for national recognition at a conference level. Even at an individual level, we received AP votes for top 25 multiple weeks. There is no reason to think that we can't become a premier team at the mid-major level like Gonzaga for men's basketball especially if we give him the NIL resources. We will continue to have excellent OOC schedules and get into top OOC tournaments.
- Hopefully the family likes Richmond and has established a good life for them here
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