It’s been a week since Western announced the firing of Head Football Coach David Elson, and already there’s an intriguing storyline shaping up for the coming weeks and months.

How does the Western administration, specifically President Gary Ransdell and Athletics Director Wood Selig, respond to growing criticism within the Western community?

We heard support on numerous occasions for Elson and the job he was doing from Selig, who often preached patience.

But last Monday, it all took a sharp left turn.

Faculty Regent Patricia Minter said much of the criticism she is hearing about the situation has less to do with Elson and more with Ransdell and Selig saying one thing and doing another.

“We’re faculty of a university, we’re trained to analyze things, and we get very upset when we’re told that something is black when it is clearly white or when something is up when it’s clearly down,” Minter said. “I think going forward, what needs to happen is the spin needs to stop and it’s time for a new era of honesty.”

Now Selig is faced with bringing in a coach that will ignite interest in the fanbase and put a successful product on the field.

The other hot topic in the coming weeks: How much will the next coach be paid?

Elson earned $250,000 a year, but that number presumably will go up for the next coach. That will potentially leave more ground for faculty to be upset on the basis that after years of no raises, a new football coach could come in and be one of the top-five highest paid employees at Western.

“(The salaries are) marketplace driven,” Selig said. “Neither (Ransdell) or I have set the rate. The market place sets salaries, not just in the coaching profession but every profession. There is a market place, and there is a going rate. And again, we didn’t set it, but we need to play by those rules.”

There’s still disagreement out there about Western moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, but that’s in the past. We can only look forward now.

Minter said that if Western is going to give Selig and the next coach FBS-level pay, then the faculty need to be paid at that rate as well.

“I can understand the faculty being concerned about the level of compensation, especially when it is compared to their compensation,” Selig said. “I get that, and I understand it, and I don’t necessarily disagree with them either. I think it’s absurd, some of the salaries being tossed around in college athletics.”

Western has entered a market where, according to a recent report by USA Today, 81 of the current 120 FBS coaches earn at least $1 million annually, and 12 of those coaches earn at least $3 million.

Ransdell’s dream of FBS football has been a nightmare early on.

Now the weight rests squarely on Selig’s shoulders to bring in a home-run hire to get this thing where Ransdell wants it to be.

And as we all know, what Ransdell wants, Ransdell often gets.

Only time and more money will tell on this one.