Coaching Salaries Spin Out of Control

At the University of Maryland, where I started teaching a course last semester, the university president just before last Christmas announced that the campus would have to implement a furlough plan -- unpaid leave -- this year because of budget cutbacks from the state due to the economic downturn. Maryland wasn't alone.

Arizona State implemented furloughs. Utah State did the same for all of its 2,995 employees the second week of last month. That followed layoffs at Clemson. Small schools like John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio, aren't immune as it, too, forced unpaid vacations on employees.

All across the country, universities are feeling the pinch of the recession and taking drastic and painful cuts to deal with it just like so many other employers in the country. The president of the University of Kentucky announced early this year that the school would have to trim at least $10 million in spending and freeze any hiring.

Apparently, the Kentucky president's message excluded his athletic department, which Tuesday was set to hire a new basketball coach, John Calipari, at an average annual salary upwards of $5 million, or about twice as much per year as the guy they just hired two years ago, Billy Clyde Gillispie, and recently dismissed.

It was just a few weeks ago during baseball's Winter Meetings when the Steinbrenners and their Yankees were being criticized for doling out hundreds of millions of dollars in free agent contracts to a handful of players. ESPN.com's Buster Olney wrote that a high-ranking MLB executive said: "Are the Yankees aware the country is going through a recession? Are they crazy? They're going to ruin the sport."

It is time to ask that of college athletics, especially the basketball coaching department.

After all, there appears to be no sanity, let alone sensitivity, around the basketball gym. It makes it almost grossly inappropriate that college basketball next weekend is landing its grand show to Detroit, arguably ground zero for the national recession.

The Final Four is, undoubtedly, a nice diversion for the tens of thousands in the Detroit area so hardboiled by this country's economic collapse. Maybe some of the millionaire coaches, who will be using the weekend as their annual convention, will chip in a few bucks to buy the folks who can't afford to get into Ford Stadium some tickets.

The University of Virginia was forced to cut back its budget campus-wide this year and next year but its athletic department just spent roughly $2.5 million to buy out the remaining contracts of two basketball coaches -- the one it decided to dump, Dave Leitao, and the one it targeted as a successor, Tony Bennett, who was at Washington State. Then it signed Bennett for around $1.7 million per year.

It is true that basketball on the college campus is one of two sports called revenue-generating. The other, of course, is football. It doesn't matter that in many cases the phrase revenue-generating is more a misnomer, or wishful thinking, than anything else. Schools and their boosters and fans continue to dump millions upon millions not so much into those programs as much as into coaches' bank accounts in the great chase for the national championship, or some facsimile thereof like the Bowl Championship Series title in football.

This is taking the win-at-all-cost mindset in college athletics to an even lower level.

Kentucky's deal with Calipari will make him the highest paid college coach in the country and he's never even won the national title.

Of course, it isn't winning or not that winning the national crown that even matters in this argument. It is the spending spree for coaches at universities, particularly public universities, while they are cutting back on what is supposed to matter most, the education of young men and women.

For this to be going on in this atmosphere is nothing short of obscene. It was bad enough last year, before everything went to hell , when we learned that Kansas State pushed an assistant -- I said assistant -- basketball coach's salary over $400,000, ostensibly for having recruited the would-be player of the year, Michael Beasley, who promptly left the school for the NBA after just his freshman season. The Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics, a national group of faculty, decried that news as it does the continued escalation of athletic salary spending in this dourer atmosphere.

"Now that universities rich and poor are dealing with declining budgets, layoffs, furloughs, and major cutbacks, it is immoral that college presidents are allowing athletic departments to spend at the same pre-fiscal crisis level, let alone issuing huge contracts to big-name coaches, erecting extravagant new arenas and stadia, and building lavish training and practice facilities," professor Nathan Tublitz at Oregon, and a COIA chair, told me Wednesday. "What responsible family would go out and buy a new BMW when their roof is leaking? No one is asking for the demise of college athletics, only that our universities and colleges focus on their one and only mission: to educate our students and generate cutting edge research that will produce the leaders of tomorrow and keep this country healthy and productive. Spending so much money on intercollegiate athletics when our universities and colleges are treading water fiscally and academically is irresponsible and indefensible."

Latest College Basketball Images

Penn State's Jamelle Cornley (2) drives past Notre Dame's Zach Hillesland (33) during the first half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Penn State's Talor Battle (12) reacts after hitting a shot during the first half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game against Notre Dame on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Penn State's Talor Battle (12) celebrates with teammate Stanley Pringle (11) after Pringle hit a shot during the first half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game against Notre Dame on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Notre Dame's Tyrone Nash (1) shoots over Penn State's Jamelle Cornley (2) during the first half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

San Diego State's Lorenzo Wade (31) shoots over Baylor's Curtis Jerrells (0) during the second half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. Baylor won 76-62. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Baylor's head coach Scott Drew yells to his team during the second half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game against San Diego State on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. Baylor won the game 76-62. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

San Diego State's head coach Steve Fisher reacts to a call during the second half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game against Baylor on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. San Diego State lost the game 76-62. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

San Diego State's Mehdi Cheriet, left looks on with teammates Ryan Amoroso, center, and Tim Shelton, right, during the second half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game against Baylor on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. San Diego State lost the game 76-62. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Michigan State's Kalin Lucas is interviewed Tuesday, March 31, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State faces Connecticut in an NCAA men's college basketball tournament Final Four semifinal on Saturday. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Baylor's Curtis Jerrells (0) drives past San Diego State's Billy White (32) during the first half of the NIT semifinal college basketball game on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Even Larry Eustachy, who was caught on camera partying the night away with coeds while the basketball coach years ago at Iowa State, realizes how inebriated his business has become. Now rehabilitated at Southern Mississippi, Eustachy a couple weeks ago refused a $25,000 bonus.

"I feel like the Donner Party going over the pass," Eustachy told The Associated Press. "I just felt particularly during this recession that we are in and the situation our school is in, it just didn't go right with me to accept anything above and beyond my normal contract. I'm not trying to make a statement."

It's too bad he wasn't trying to be heard. His brethren would look a lot better heeding his words.

Kevin B. Blackistone is a panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn, the Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, and a former award-winning sports columnist for The Dallas Morning News. He currently lives in Silver Spring, Md.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

4-01-2009 @ 11:50AM

horatiowrd said...

How much do you get paid?

If we are gonna talk spiraling salaries lets get some full disclosure.

4-01-2009 @ 2:22PM

lthousega said...

Is being a "gatherer" anything like the "mafia"--
john calaperi quoting he is a gather

4-01-2009 @ 3:27PM

bench said...

Well ... if you had done your due diligence, you'd have found out that Kentucky's athletic department is self-funded and they don't use state funds to pay the basketball coach (or any coach for that matter). Are salaries high? Absolutely. But you can at least pull Kentucky from this article.

4-03-2009 @ 10:08AM

dinohealth said...

So, if they are "self-funded", I guess they are placing all their profit on salaries and the rest of the University of Kentucky's sports programs? Right....

4-01-2009 @ 3:51PM

Danny said...

Completely and totally agree with bench, either the writer of this article has no idea what they are talking about or they are deliberately leaving out key details to make their rant more credible. The BASE salary of Calipari is the same as Gillispie and Tubby Smith, the rest of the money comes from endorsements and TV deals. Also, if you had listened to the press conference today you'd also realize that UK's basketball and football programs not only support themselves, but fund all other sports as well.

4-01-2009 @ 4:44PM

blaqBoi327 said...

Sounds like hate who made you become a writer shoulda been a coach

4-01-2009 @ 4:55PM

Matt Richardson said...

Hey, Coach Cal will be paid 400k from the university. The rest is from the self funded athletics. The basketball and football teams make money. That's why we can have other "smaller" sports. That's why we can afford the best coach.

4-01-2009 @ 5:59PM

ed344mu said...

Haven't any of you realized that Blackistone refuses to let facts get in the way of any of his stories? He has a dead horse to flog so please don't try to stop him. His articles rarely shed light on anything but his pet peeves.

4-01-2009 @ 8:03PM

kenhill03 said...

Kevin,
Does their salary come from the general fund or do they get paid from an account held by the Athletics department? That's what I want answered. If Bobby Bowden gets his salary because Doak Campbell statium is sold out every Saturday, then I'm good with that. In college football and basketball to a lesser extent, the coach is the star. You will see a college player(Tim Tebow) come along who is truly special who makes you think "Now who's the coach?" but that is rare. You think Penn State, you think Joe Paterno, not LaVar Arrington. If the ticket sales are there, pay the coach. Hopefully ticket prices could go a little higher and go back to helping the school!

4-02-2009 @ 9:45AM

brughwhoo said...

At Virginia, neither the buy-outs nor the bulk of the compensation paid to the basketball and football coaches come from the University. Such funds come directly from supporters of the athletic program, either in the form of special donations or annual contributions to the athletics foundation.
Maybe coaches get paid too much money. Maybe pro players and coaches and entertainers do, too. But apparently the people who pay them think their salaries are not inappropriate in relation to the income they help generate - ticket and concession sale, TV and post season money, increased booster gifts to both athletics AND the school itself. It's pretty clear that in the college game, good coaches are required to get good results, which are required to get lots of money. It's not a charity, it's a business.

4-02-2009 @ 1:45PM

Vidal said...

bench and bench's buddy miss the point entirely. your fundamentals, basketball term, are errant when a coach receives a salary as much as Coach Cal's. the university is at an hiring freeze and the state is in double digit unemployment. the column speaks to the priorities of a nation. one where we say out loud that we hurt and agonize over this recession but immediately turn to the other cheek when the money spent serves our mysteriously strange and compulsive sports fixations. we are a selfish and opportunistic society and let's just call it that. sports is the one drug worth ruining ourselves and our country over. i guess it doesn't leave any visible marks so it's ok?

4-02-2009 @ 9:11PM

manny said...

It's sad that most of the readers have totally missed the point of this article. Maybe more time in the textbooks and less time chugging beers and keg stands at tailgate parties would've been more beneficial during your four (maybe six for some) collegiate years. Albeit, the majority of these inflated salaries may be received from outside-the-university sources. Doesn't the university still have the responsibility to make fiscal choices that benefit the other 95% of the university who is not playing on scholarship? If money is readily available from these generous boosters and tv deals, why aren't the universities (which primarily serve as institutions of higher learning) requiring that partial funds be dedicated to academia. The ethos of this country must begin to shift where sports are not the end all be all. How many pro athletes are dedicating their time and money to fixing this recession problem? We already know how many universities are.

4-02-2009 @ 6:23PM

rob said...

So Manny what you're saying is that if a booster donates his money to the athletic team the university should be allowed to take that money and spend it on other things? What if the booster doesn't want his donation going to other things? Maybe you should take your head out of some of those text books

4-02-2009 @ 4:09PM

cool mo dee said...

what u guys are also missing out on is that FanHouse can't spell the word "basketball" correctly in the poll question.

Someone is getting paid a lot of money to make that poll, and they can't even spell basketball correctly.

4-02-2009 @ 6:31PM

Hey Blackistone, How much do you get paid? I'm sure you must be overpaid, afterall you're only a sportswriter. Why don't you donate your salary to some of these schools that are having economic problems?

4-02-2009 @ 6:33PM

EvilMark said...

@manny. Did you just say "How many pro athletes are dedicating their time and money to fixing this recession problem?" What are you stupid? Pro athletes play sports not solve complex economic problems. Write your congressman if you don't like the current allocation of state or federal funds. Furthermore for Blackistone to paint the Yankees with the same ignorant brush is beyond stupid.

If my business if doing well and I'm making money I have the right to spend it as I see fit - if the Yankees want to flush 100 bills down the toliet thats their business, who cares what the overall economic situation is. They didn't steal the money they earned it. Go crazy Yankees and buy 1000 ralph lauren cat beds - you earned it.

People need to stop thinking that people well off should come riding in on a white horse and save your broke loser self. Your paid what your worth and don't ever forget that - so if you look at your piddly check and you get mad that other people make more just remember you get paid less because your a loser who doesn't provide an equal or greater value to your organization.

4-03-2009 @ 10:21AM

EvilMark, Ayn Rand would be ever so proud of you! Survival of the
Fitest! After all, why should those who are successful carry the
world on their shoulders? Let the wretched masses compete! Social
conscience, philanthropy, altruism...rubbish! Heck, the Spartans
threw all the infirm and imperfect babies off a cliff rather than carry
the social cost! Let's nuke them all that can't make it! Does all this sound a bit pathetic to you, or, is it your idea of 21st century Utopia?

4-02-2009 @ 7:41PM

jzz3skys said...

According to the terms of the University of Maryland furlough plan, "intermittent" employees (e.g. lecturers contracted to teach a single course per semester) like Mr. Blackistone are completely excluded from having to take a furlough day.

The University developed a tiered plan based on gross full-time equivalent annualized salaries (base salary plus salary additions such as overloads or administrative increments) in which employees in the highest income bracket (gross annual salary $90,000 and above) are required to take five unpaid furlough days (unpaid leave) per semester which may be scheduled in full- or half-day increments.

BTW, while I was on the Web site, I checked the racial demographics of all 3 University of Maryland campuses, since Mr. Blackistone made an issue of the increasing number of Latinos and Asians (which he called "persons of color") in MLB. Here's what I found:

The University of Maryland at College Park, where Mr. Blackistone apparently teaches, has an undergraduate population that is 12.5% African American and 13.7% Asian. In comparison, the undergraduate population at the University of Maryland--University College in Adelphi, where Mr. Blackistone apparently chooses not to teach, has a whopping 32.2% black population but only 4.9% Asian. (The Hispanic percentage of both schools remains about the same - 5.7% vs. 5.2% - while the majority "white non-Hispanic" population of each school is within 7 percentage points either way, of 50%, or 56.8% vs. 45.3%.) Therefore, as the African American population at the two University of Maryland campuses increases, the Asian population decreases, while the Hispanic and white non-Hispanic populations are largely unaffected.

Just so we're clear on that.

4-02-2009 @ 9:19PM

When I refer to the professionals, I am not against them making as much as they can. I'm only stating that maybe we shouldn't put athletes/sports above everything and everyone else. And if the Yankees want to pay someone 100 million bucks, fine. But let's not forget the burden that WE undertake. So while that second baseman/wide receiver/point guard drives a Bentley and sleeps on "1000 ct ralph lauren sheets", WE pay the increased ticket prices. WE pay for the new stadium to be built. As much as the athletes/coaches/owners are part of the game so are we. So while the coaches' salary increases, WE the students suffer from the furloughs. WE the students miss out on great professors.

4-02-2009 @ 11:38PM

bendudley6 said...

Wow .... and I bet a lot of you also don't think the athletes at these schools should be paid by the same 'well heeled' boosters that pay the coaches.

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments