People really believe that St. Thomas has more resources than the U? They would offer him a higher salary, more resources and the Big Ten. You're absolutely silly if you honestly believe he wouldn't take that. Now the fact is I don't think we should go for him, I think there are better candidates, but if you really think the U isn't a significant step up from St. Thomas you're out of your mind.
I'll start this by saying that I think Tauer would take the job at the U.
However, you're not understanding the argument that people are making that Tauer (specifically him) might not leave St. Thomas for the U. Everyone understands that the U would pay him a lot more. Everyone understands that it's a massive step up. Everyone understands that there are more resources. Those are not and never were the reasons why some people are not sure he would even take the position.
He is a bit different from the average coach. His family has long and deep ties to Catholic education in Saint Paul. Within the St. Paul Catholic youth sporting community, pretty much everyone was either coached by his father, attended camps with his dad, or played against him. Johnny then came up through that, went to CDH and then St. Thomas where he was inducted into their Hall of Fame. He is an absolute legend within this small circle. Now, he is leading them into D1 basketball and they are relatively successful. He's not just a coach at St. Thomas, he is deeply embedded into the program, history, and culture of the school and the community the school represents. It's not your typical coach/program relationship. It goes back his entire life.
I understand being skeptical of an anonymous internet poster, but he has repeatedly turned down significantly more lucrative opportunities already. He has had a number of opportunities to become an assistant coach dating back many years, where the career trajectory would have been the higher ranks of basketball. This has led to many people to think that he is not as motivated by money and prestige as most people, myself included.
Do I think he'd turn down the opportunity here? Probably not. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity (theoretically). However, the argument that we'd pay more or that that the job is clearly more prestigious is entirely missing the point. The question is not about which job is better, it's clearly the U by a mile. The question is about who Johnny Tauer is as a person. For the overwhelming vast majority of people, including me, it's a no brainer. For him, I don't know if it's as simple.
