Change coming on coaches' salaries. Maybe
Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:46 AM
Filed Under:
Coaches, NCAA
For those who think college coaches’ salaries are excessive, change is coming. Slowly. Maybe.
It’s being talked about, so chalk it up as possibly.
A Knight Commission poll released Monday found that 85 percent of the 119 university presidents at D-I football schools think coaches’ salaries are too high, but 56 percent of them are pessimistic about controlling those salaries. Most would love to see a reduction in the sheer number of assistant coaches and support personnel for revenue-producing sports.
Translation: We’re not sure we want to anger the big guy by paying him less, but we’d like to take away part of his staff that helps him do his job.
No wonder university presidents are feeling pessimistic.
“There’s been an explosion of salaries, multimillion, multiyear contracts,” one president told the Kansas City Star. “It drives everything; fund-raising needs, ticket prices, exposure, need to win. If you don’t win a championship, the team is no good, and you need a new coach.
“Coaches get raises while faculty pay is frozen.”
Some may point out that faculty pay isn’t determined by the athletic department, but it’s certainly tied to it, no matter how many incentives are tied to a coach’s contract. Because they’re all in the same boat.
In the wake of last week’s story that only 25 percent of those 119 D-I football schools actual have a profitable program, it’s probably time to give this serious thought, no? Schools that only play D-I hoops are slightly better off, but not by much.
And true, some coaches are actually a bargain when one considers how much revenue they bring in, but that’s a year-to-year thing, dependent on how a team performs.
One president wants the NCAA to wield an iron fist and implement rule changes that help schools control these budgets, yet doesn’t sound optimistic.
“I think it would be great if the NCAA had rules about coaches’ salaries, but I don’t think they will ever have the guts to do that,” one president told the Star. “I’m in favor of the Knight Commission doing what they do if they actually do it and don’t just talk about it.”
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