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Jason Shay’s Contract Makes ETSU Look Cheap
It isn’t the equal to his rivals in the Southern Conference
Say you have just been hired for a job that you have worked for your entire life and are the most qualified candidate for.
But you are given a rate of pay that is less than what a peer received who had fewer qualifications than you did when hired.
Such is the case with new East Tennessee State head men’s basketball coach Jason Shay. Yesterday ETSU revealed he will earn a $250,000 base salary on a contract that runs through 2023.
Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris, whose career record is 42–56, earns the same base salary on a contract that lasts through 2025.
Paris was hired after a 12-year career as a Division I assistant, three less than Shay.
But Paris had not been a part of an NCAA Tournament team for nine straight seasons. Paris had never been part of a coaching staff of a team ranked №1 in the Associated Press poll.
Shay has, but ETSU administration is making Shay look as if he was selected as ETSU’s coach not because of his work as an assistant coach but because he was the most economical.
After all, rather than hire Shay immediately following the departure of Steve Forbes, who made $650,000 at ETSU last season, they pursued New Mexico…
