Is It Time For Well Paid College Coaches to Give Some of it Back?

Written by: Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. on 21st May 2009

Time for Some Folks to Grow Up and Use Their Brains When it Comes to College Coaches’ Salaries

I confess that I am fed up. I am disgusted. I have had it with people who think that a tanking economy has now made it a great time to take incredibly successful college coaches to task about their salaries. HOW RIDICULOUS!

We are not talking about non-revenue generating coaches. Nobody frankly cares what a crew coach makes or any other sport for that matter when the sport itself can’t even pay for itself. We are talking about the top earners. We are talking about the Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo types. We are talking about the Jim Tressel’s of the world.

Tom Izzo is paid MILLIONS of dollars. He wins. He doesn’t cheat. He graduates players. At the end of the day, in a straightforward and honest world that doesn’t matter, Tom Izzo is worth every dime because he makes MILLIONS for the University. We have hammered on the money that sports generates both in publicity, hot dogs, parking and shirt and souvenir sales that gets raked in by the school and never hitting Mark Hollis’ checkbook.

Tom Izzo is constantly attending nearly every gathering that he is asked to do and does a massive amount of under-appreciated appearances and work that NO ONE sees. I would say that Tom Izzo not only isn’t overpaid, he is underpaid. The same argument is germane when you discuss Dantonio.

Because of the success of the MSU football program the revenue streams have significantly increased. Mark Hollis is my friend. I confess that, but our friendship doesn’t change the facts that he is brilliant and he gets the fact that in today’s world there are revenue sports and everything else. One MSU head coach of a non-revenue sport told me about a meeting with Hollis and the head coaches, “Well Hollis made it clear to us today. He wants unnecessary spending eliminated. We will be held accountable for championships and competitiveness and he made it plain that football is the horse that pulls the cart. We better accept it.”

The coach wasn’t offended; in fact they were impressed with Hollis being straightforward and blatantly honest. Hollis simply identified the pink elephant in the room.

Class warfare is sweeping our nation. Does anyone remember when Izzo lived in a house with a group of guys and they all had to look under the couches for pennies to get a pizza while he worked a million hours as an underpaid assistant? How about Mark Dantonio taking Becky on a date and eating fast food because a restaurant was out of the question for financial reasons.

This is America. We reward people who succeed. Every non-revenue sport coach and the fans that they have should be beating down a door to thank Izzo and Dantonio for what they have done.

At Ohio State they pride themselves on one of the biggest athletic departments in the nation. The entire trailer of non-revenue sports is hooked up to the big tractor that is being driven by Tressel and his super successful program. It is about dollars. Tressel’s success makes him one of the most underpaid coaches in the nation. He has single-handedly resurrected the program and that success allows OSU to be competitive in EVERY sport that they compete in. The facilities that they offer are second to none and all of it is directly related to Tressel.

No one bats and eye when a Hollywood actor or starlet gets paid $25 million for a new movie. They work their four months and take their huge pay day. Good for them, but the highly successful coaches generate tens of millions and work countless more hours for significantly less.

I understand that times are tough. I understand that fans are sick of being fleeced. I also understand that non-revenue cuts are coming. I also understand that asking people who are the producers to give up much earned income is foolish and short sighted.

People are wondering how to pay for tickets. Being mad at Hollis isn’t the answer. He is dealt the hand and has to play the cards. It isn’t fair to blame the Coaches who produce revenue; they earn every dime. Being mad at the University makes sense considering how much money never sees the coffers of athletics, but that is another story.

Coaches that win in the revenue sports are pulled and prodded from every angle. They earn their paycheck. I, for one, think they earn it, and I get disgusted when people want them to give some of it back.

At the end of the day, athletic departments have to be leaner, but people who demand winning and success can’t punish the ones that give it. Love or hate Nick Saban he is a winner on the football field. Since his arrival the Crimson Tide are accumulating cash and his gigantic contract has more than paid for itself. Some have called Nick a carpetbagger, they have ripped him for never staying anywhere. Those arguments and discussions are not for this story. The simple fact is that he gets paid and sought out because he wins. Because in Tuscaloosa he brings in significantly more cash than he ever will get.

That concept thou foreign to some is called capitalism. It is called the ebb and flow of economics. Don’t blame the coaches. Watch them leave. Watch the programs that lose them begin to falter and then watch how fast the Universities want them back.

This isn’t about class warfare. This is about reality. If they produce then pay them, and don’t complain. If you run them off, someone will pay and while your program falls into the rut of ambiguity, you will wish you had them back.