stating some fact/details), there are some things that need to be pointed out. March 15th will complete the third year of Mike's NEW (after the extension in the summer of 2021) 6 year deal. After March 15, that changes over to year 4. The buyout in year 4 drops to $6M. IF, Whit were to ever make a change, he would simply wait until March 16 (which would not impact things that much to wait until then). That would NOT be a cost prohibitive move, as that could be spread out over 3 years. We might not be happy that we had to this, but somewhat manageable. This is NOT a Justin Fuente situation where the entirety of the buyout would come in the year of the firing, however. Those days of that type of contractual mistake are over. We had a similar discussion of Brent Pry's buyouts the last year and a half and those have died down :-). Now, Mike is nowhere near that type of discussion in Jamerson. Not close and that conversation should not be occurring after this season. Mike is well aware of the issues with this team, and has been aware of them the entire year. He is keenly aware of the roster issues as well, and nothing can be done during the season despite what so many (not you and I am just picking your post to kind of jump in) on this board clamor for (literally after every loss). Mike will need to assess the program and where it sits after the season concludes. Next year will be an important year, as it is with any head coach, because it gets time to either extend the contract again or not (and if you don't it creates well known issues as to your standing with the administration). But for some that run to this board literally during, and after, every loss with the same issues, need to keep in mind nothing will change during the season. Not telling anyone they can't have their own opinion, but gosh, fussing about it each game (and the entire next day) wears people out. As far as NIL goes. We (VT NIL monies) have actually raised a little more than we/most would have probably thought. Football is trending well (and needs to for obvious reasons), and that is evident with our roster. Basketball is decent (not bad nor great). The staff has discussed this with several folks in our NIL world. Basketball will improve some (and that is in the works). We will probably continue to look to work with 6-8 guys with the majority of our hoops NIL dollars. Just don't need to be heavily involved with 13 scholarship players--not practical anyways as playing time will dictate coming and going for some. There are some that are starting to want to do more sport specific NIL giving. So that can help sports other than football. Mike is more likely to retire than to be fired at this junction (this year). We want to do well in basketball, and can be good (and have been). What good means is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. People at VT want the hoops program to do well. While we can point out that we have only had 13 NCAA tournament bids in our history, 5 of those have come in the last 7 years. Next year will be big for our program. Let's see how the roster shakes out before we "predict" what next year will look like. No one, at this point, knows. It is easy to assume the worst (some seem to relish in that type of thinking), but it might be best to wait and see.