Thank You Coach Suzy Merchant

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Still very easy to look at. Much better looking than Izzo.

And "The Don" of MSU is the first to respond!

10/10 you know the rest.

Official statement:

https://msuspartans.com/news/2023/3/13/womens-basketball-michigan-state-announces-womens-basketball-leadership-change.aspx

Duffy is going to be devastated.

Too damned bad she had to step down at 53 due to her health, especially only one year into her latest contract that finally had her catching up to what other Big Ten women's coaches are being paid.

Hope Suzy has a very long retirement.  

Got to believe AD Haller knew this was a possibility as the days rolled into weeks with no public announcement regarding when Coach Merchant might return.  Hopefully he's started reviewing his list of possible candidates if the news was worst case.

tGreenWay wrote:Duffy is going to be devastated.

I am. Be Well Suzy and I will always love you.

Would be cool if someone got her to join this board.

Get on it Travis.

Would it be sketch if MSU tried to lure Amaka Agugua-Hamilton back to EL after one year at UVA? I doubt she would leave, but I think she is a rising coach.

I liked Merchant. It seems like her time at MSU was a bit up and down, and I am convinced her MSU teams had more major injuries than the average team over the past few years, but she will be missed. Another great basketball product from Traverse City and Central Michigan University.

The Pantry wrote:Would be cool if someone got her to join this board.

Get on it Travis.

You want a Blue incel to recruit a Spartan coach? How is that going to go?

tGreenWay wrote:

The Pantry wrote:Would be cool if someone got her to join this board.  

Get on it Travis.

You want a Blue incel to recruit a Spartan coach? How is that going to go?

Figured he'd have a better chance than Turtleneck.

Would Dendro ask for dick pics, or can we send her?

AvgMSUJoe wrote:Would Dendro ask for dick pics, or can we send her?

Dendro probably enjoys being the alpha female here. Not sure she'd be willing to recruit Suzy.

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DWags wrote:[tw]1645244056056782848?s=46&t=o_-92Ldle66XHQBlJVUMFQ[/tw]

Good for Suzy. She looks much better.

Link to Coach Merchant's interview.

https://www.wilx.com/2023/04/21/suzy-merchant-adjusts-retirement-focuses-family/

Trapper Gus wrote:Link to Coach Merchant's interview.

https://www.wilx.com/2023/04/21/suzy-merchant-adjusts-retirement-focuses-family/

Kinda leaves more questions than answers.

Sounds like some stuff was said off the record for Fred to reach the conclusion he did.

NigelUno wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:Link to Coach Merchant's interview.

https://www.wilx.com/2023/04/21/suzy-merchant-adjusts-retirement-focuses-family/

Kinda leaves more questions than answers.  

Sounds like some stuff was said off the record for Fred to reach the conclusion he did.  

I'm pretty sure from that interview that Coach Merchant didn't want to retire at the time, however her body had other ideas about that, one doesn't go to Mayo on a whim, and MSU Administration probably felt they needed a full time coach.

She sounds like she has come to terms with whatever her health issues are, and has moved on.

NigelUno wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:Link to Coach Merchant's interview.

https://www.wilx.com/2023/04/21/suzy-merchant-adjusts-retirement-focuses-family/

Kinda leaves more questions than answers.

Sounds like some stuff was said off the record for Fred to reach the conclusion he did.

No question there is more to the story. Like him or not, Uncle Fred is a pro and would never betray the trust of people like Suzy.

duffy munn wrote:

NigelUno wrote:

Kinda leaves more questions than answers.

Sounds like some stuff was said off the record for Fred to reach the conclusion he did.

No question there is more to the story. Like him or not, Uncle Fred is a pro and would never betray the trust of people like Suzy.

Unless Coach Merchant is willing to open up about her health issues, and it is very clear she is not, we probably will never know the whole story.

A few thoughts:

Suzy Merchant is a class act, no other way to put it. She has always represented her self and the university extremely well.

I am not sure why, and it is probably a combination of things - health, NIL, the portal, drive and determination, whatever - but I am pretty sure we were destined to continue finishing in the bottom half of the big ten in the future with her as coach. Every coach always believes they will turn things around (even Bobby Williams) but objectively from a distance, you can see that is unlikely to happen.

She signed a new 5-year contact in June of last year - that raised her pay significantly. I wonder (and I cannot find answer) if MSU agreed to pay any of that after her retirement. To me, that answers a lot of questions about how voluntary her retirement was.

I truly hope she enjoys being retired as much as I do.

MSU addict wrote:A few thoughts:

Suzy Merchant is a class act, no other way to put it. She has always represented her self and the university extremely well.

I am not sure why, and it is probably a combination of things - health, NIL, the portal, drive and determination, whatever - but I am pretty sure we were destined to continue finishing in the bottom half of the big ten in the future with her as coach. Every coach always believes they will turn things around (even Bobby Williams) but objectively from a distance, you can see that is unlikely to happen.

She signed a new 5-year contact in June of last year - that raised her pay significantly. I wonder (and I cannot find answer) if MSU agreed to pay any of that after her retirement. To me, that answers a lot of questions about how voluntary her retirement was.

I truly hope she enjoys being retired as much as I do.

I bet Suzy got a nice compensation package.

duffy munn wrote:

MSU addict wrote:A few thoughts:

Suzy Merchant is a class act, no other way to put it. She has always represented her self and the university extremely well.

I am not sure why, and it is probably a combination of things - health, NIL, the portal, drive and determination, whatever - but I am pretty sure we were destined to continue finishing in the bottom half of the big ten in the future with her as coach. Every coach always believes they will turn things around (even Bobby Williams) but objectively from a distance, you can see that is unlikely to happen.

She signed a new 5-year contact in June of last year - that raised her pay significantly. I wonder (and I cannot find answer) if MSU agreed to pay any of that after her retirement. To me, that answers a lot of questions about how voluntary her retirement was.

I truly hope she enjoys being retired as much as I do.

I bet Suzy got a nice compensation package.

That is my guess as well. I hope she did - I think she deserved it.

Anyone with access want to accidentally cut and paste the article and message it to me?  

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state-university/2023/05/29/suzy-merchant-michigan-state-spartans-womens-basketball/70255313007/

Got it! Thanks!

FWIW, the article NigelUno posted does provide a lot of answers, even if it skirts the actual facts. She got a buyout "of at least 1.4 million." It sounds like she was not sure if she wanted to coach or not - 100% understandable given her health issues that are ongoing and not yet fully resolved/diagnosed. MSU wanted to know definitively whether or not she wanted to remain as coach and was pressing her to make a decision - again 100% understandable from the athletic department's perspective.

She seems very happy in her retirement, good for her.

MSU addict wrote:FWIW, the article NigelUno posted does provide a lot of answers, even if it skirts the actual facts. She got a buyout "of at least 1.4 million." It sounds like she was not sure if she wanted to coach or not - 100% understandable given her health issues that are ongoing and not yet fully resolved/diagnosed. MSU wanted to know definitively whether or not she wanted to remain as coach and was pressing her to make a decision - again 100% understandable from the athletic department's perspective.

She seems very happy in her retirement, good for her.

She does seem happy. I'm not sure she's happy with how her time at MSU ended.

Suzy Merchant is 53 and this is probably the first summer in at least 40 years that hasn’t been consumed by basketball as a player then coach.

Everyone wants to go out on the own terms and if she’s like most of us, she’d just gotten a new 5 year contract, even with her previous health issues and hoped to fulfill it.

On the other side, AD Haller had a head coach who survived a crash that totaled the Land Rover she was driving following two other incidents in the last few seasons. Don’t think he could wait it out.

John Wooden and Al McGuire are only college basketball coaches I remember retiring on top after winning NCAA Championships and Woden’s retirement was because at the time the UC system required people to retire at 65.

NigelUno wrote:

MSU addict wrote:FWIW, the article NigelUno posted does provide a lot of answers, even if it skirts the actual facts. She got a buyout "of at least 1.4 million." It sounds like she was not sure if she wanted to coach or not - 100% understandable given her health issues that are ongoing and not yet fully resolved/diagnosed. MSU wanted to know definitively whether or not she wanted to remain as coach and was pressing her to make a decision - again 100% understandable from the athletic department's perspective.

She seems very happy in her retirement, good for her.

She does seem happy. I'm not sure she's happy with how her time at MSU ended.

Who would be in that position? You eat, breath, sleep for the program and it is taken away from you before you get it to where you want it . I have had projects that were cut short due to funds drying up (thank you sequestration) and a decade plus later it still doesn't still well with me that I didn't "complete" it. Having an end without completion is difficult.

NigelUno wrote:

MSU addict wrote:FWIW, the article NigelUno posted does provide a lot of answers, even if it skirts the actual facts.  She got a buyout "of at least 1.4 million."  It sounds like she was not sure if she wanted to coach or not - 100% understandable given her health issues that are ongoing and not yet fully resolved/diagnosed.  MSU wanted to know definitively whether or not she wanted to remain as coach and was pressing her to make a decision - again 100% understandable from the athletic department's perspective.

She seems very happy in her retirement, good for her.  

She does seem happy.  I'm not sure she's happy with how her time at MSU ended.  

I agree she is not happy about how her time at MSU ended - but I am 99.9% sure she would not be happy if she stayed.

There is an old saying in boxing, and I think it applies here (and to athletes in general):

"If you are thinking about retiring, you already have."

Perhaps part of her concerns are just basically about money.  At 53 her retirement planning probably wasn't set for immediate retirement, and though she was in the top 1% (about $450k) now this isn't crazy money.

Does she receive a pension from MSU?

Trapper Gus wrote:Perhaps part of her concerns are just basically about money.  At 53 her retirement planning probably wasn't set for immediate retirement, and though she was in the top 1% (about $450k) now this isn't crazy money.

Does she receive a pension from MSU?

According to the article:

"Merchant is happily describing her new life as "Retirement Suzy." She doesn't have to work again; Merchant received a buyout of at least $1.4 million from Michigan State, and Rakan (her husband) works and does well."

Coaches typically do not get a pension, but can have deferred compensation in their contract.

From what I got, besides the lack of completion her biggest negatives are that she misses her players and Izzo.

MSU addict wrote:

Trapper Gus wrote:Perhaps part of her concerns are just basically about money.  At 53 her retirement planning probably wasn't set for immediate retirement, and though she was in the top 1% (about $450k) now this isn't crazy money.

Does she receive a pension from MSU?

According to the article:

"Merchant is happily describing her new life as "Retirement Suzy." She doesn't have to work again; Merchant received a buyout of at least $1.4 million from Michigan State, and Rakan (her husband) works and does well."

Coaches typically do not get a pension, but can have deferred compensation in their contract.

From what I got, besides the lack of completion her biggest negatives are that she misses her players and Izzo.

Retirement Suzy is happy.

(Undercurrent that Retirement Suzy didn't really retire.)

NigelUno wrote:

MSU addict wrote:
According to the article:

"Merchant is happily describing her new life as "Retirement Suzy." She doesn't have to work again; Merchant received a buyout of at least $1.4 million from Michigan State, and Rakan (her husband) works and does well."

Coaches typically do not get a pension, but can have deferred compensation in their contract.  

From what I got, besides the lack of completion her biggest negatives are that she misses her players and Izzo.

Retirement Suzy is happy.

(Undercurrent that Retirement Suzy didn't really retire.)  

Who knows what her medical issues are?

I was "retired" in the middle of a day in November, as I was working on a data reduction procedure for my test engineer.

I got, for my yearly salary, as good a deal as Suzy, but yes, there was still unfinished business.

There always is.

Still is with my first muse, from 1976.

Whatever her issues, she is in a better situation, today.