Tennessee follow-up
June 21st, 2007, 12:52 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Dan Zeiger
Todd Raleigh
A search firm representing the University of Tennessee contacted Arizona State’s Pat Murphy in regards to the school’s vacant head baseball coaching position.
But it is apparent that, from the beginning of the week, Todd Raleigh of Western Carolina was UT athletic director Mike Hamilton’s guy.
Word out of Knoxville on Thursday, after a press conference to announce the hire, was that Hamilton interviewed Raleigh on Monday night in Atlanta. He invited the coach and his family to Knoxville on Tuesday to talk further.
On Wednesday, around the time ASU’s charter plane was leaving the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., for the Valley, Hamilton offered Raleigh the job, and it was accepted. At 5 p.m. (Arizona time) on Wednesday, UT announced that a press conference had been scheduled, and shortly afterward, news outlets in Tennessee were reporting that Raleigh was the new coach.
Interestingly, UT opened the checkbook for Raleigh, who took Western Carolina to two NCAA tournament appearances (2003, ‘07) in eight years at the school. He will earn $155,000 annually in base pay, plus another $120,000 in bat, apparel and TV/radio contracts.
The total haul is substantially more than 18-year coach Rod Delmonico (about $190,000 a season) earned before his firing earlier this month. And it is slightly ahead of the $272,000 in base pay Murphy earns, though the ASU coach can receive additional money via performance and academic incentives.
Raleigh made $81,000 a year at Western Carolina.
