It's certainly a blow to the program. You had to figure it would happen sooner or later. I read somewhere-- either speculation or an actual quote Davis dropped somewhere-- that he might have been looking to openings in the future because of money, security, career development, etc. There are very few programs on the men's side (maybe BYU, Hawaii, UCLA, USC) that could justify the kind of salary that Davis deserves at this stage of his career. On the women's side, there are several programs (19 that average over 2000 in attendance per game) and much more potential at larger programs (Big 10, etc.) that bring in the kind of revenue to pay what a man with Davis' credentials and experience should expect.
My hope is the assistants and the team can carry over some of the building blocks that Davis put in place to continue success over the next several years. I hope the university learns from this and develops the program more in revenue, attendance and stature so its not caught up a blind success alley with no place to go again. Good luck to Shane-- what a great success story for him personally, and good luck to him. He certainly paid dues at Loyola, got all the experience he could, and brought the program to enormous heights. But he also needs to think of his family's future, understandably.
Men's volleyball, even at the most successful and highly-functioning athletic departments, is not a really lucrative place for salaries. Only Hawaii and BYU drew over 3000 per match last year. Loyola was 6th in men's volleyball attendance last year with 888 per game, and had just over 1000 in the 2014 season (including the NCAA tournament matches at Gentile) rank 4th... so you do the math.
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