This is bullshit. Providence paid KE $4M per. There’s not a single A-10 team with the financial wherewithal to match that offer and frankly I don’t think we should have even if we could afford to — it was an outlandish amount of money for a coach who has proven absolutely nothing.
That situation was not handled well, mostly because of the lack of a permanent AD, but it’s not fair to say because Mason didn’t match a crazy offer it is not committed to the basketball program.
vcu also lost their coach to a similar offer. It’s going to happen. Hell, P5 teams lose coaches to the blue bloods.
As for an arena, I think you need to keep in mind EBA is incredibly lucrative outside of collegiate sports: it was ranked 63rd worldwide in concert revenues, for instance. And this is also why I think the calls for a smaller “basketball-centric” arena won’t happen.