‘Schlereth and Evans’: Time to pay Buffaloes head coach MacIntyre

First winning season in the Pac-12? Check. First Pac-12 South title and trip to the conference title game? Check. The single biggest turnaround — from 4-9 (1-8) in 2015 to 10-2 (8-1) as of today in 2016 —in Pac-12 Conference history from one year to the next? Check.

Certainly Colorado Buffaloes head coach Mike MacIntyre was the obvious choice for Pac-12 Coach of the Year, awarded this week, having led his squad from conference basement dwellers to within grasp of a College Football Playoff berth.

So, is the next check on the list a contract extension for the fifth coach in CU history to be named Coach of the Year?

Mike Evans and Mark Schlereth, co-hosts of 104.3 The Fan’s “Schlereth and Evans,” believe so.

“He is the lowest-paid head coach in the Pac-12 …. His contract runs through 2018. Pay the man,” Evans said Wednesday. “An extension needs to be in the works immediately because you’re right, a big program is going to come around sniffing at this guy.”

And with Mark Helfrich’s departure from Oregon serving as a recent example, Schlereth said CU should be nervous about all the recent head coaching openings and should lock up MacIntyre long term in Boulder.

“Just show me the money. You have got to pay this guy,” Schlereth said. “I look at this like I look at NFL free agency. It’s better to pay the guy early and lock him up long term (IE Chris Harris Jr., Derek Wolfe) than it is to let that guy hit the free agent market. Because if you let him hit the free agent market, he’s going to, one, be gone or, two, cost you a lot more in the long run.”

By comparison, MacIntyre makes just north of $2.01 million per year as the lowest paid coach in the conference while Stanford’s David Shaw makes $4.06 million a year at the top, according to USA Today.

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh makes the most out of the NCAA coaches at $9 million per year. MacIntyre comes in at No. 55 in the country.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.