Satan was just seen at a local coat shop so it appears that hell has frozen over. Jimbo Fisher is guaranteed a muti million dollar buy out if he is not offered the coaching job. Both peach bowl coaches,Tommy Tuberville gets a raise for going 8-4 two losses more than his 11-2 season last year ( but he did beat his rival for a 6th straight time.) And Tommy Bowden also gets a raise for keeping his team middle of the pack. Both schools were said to have "rebuilding years" but this money really is to keep them from other jobs.
Les Miles had a buyout in his contract specificly for Michigan, and still he almost bolted. Instead he gets millions for being in the right place at the right time. Schools have gotten ridiculous, extending coaches one year and firing them the next to pay a huge buyout only to back up the brinks truck for the next guy.
Nick Saban gets a 32 million dollar deal for eight years, and he may not remain at Alabama for the duration. Rich Rodriguez of West Virginia is at his alma mater contending for a Big East title every year, and he came close to bolting last year but he got a lucrative extension.
Any contract a coach signs now means nothing. After each year they look to jump ship (see Dennis Erickson.) The coaches roll in their money while the players work just as hard going through "voluntary" summer workouts, classes, practices and actually make the plays to win games for their school. This is as close as it gets to exploiting cheap labor. This is beginning to get the slavery feel to it (too far, they get education, cars, clothes.........i mean education and thats it.) This is not to say that coaches dont work hard. With recruiting as crazy as it is, the job is no doubt all year long. But so are many other jobs in America. Others work much harder and there is no multimillion dollar buyout to keep teachers, firefighters or policeman from jumping ship. They make much more of an impact than many of these coaches ever will. I know for every Erickson there is a Joe Pa, or Bobby Bowden, and who am I to stop a man from setting up his kids (and their kids) for life? It stings to know that Mike Shula collected a fat check to be booted. Blame the presidents and boosters. Thanks for the tuition increase fellas.
The tommy's are being paid to stay away from Arkansas, I understand. The point is contracts are worthless. If a coach leaves early, a lottery should be drawn from loyal fans to see who gets to light him up with a paint ball gun. Its fine if they want to get to a better situation, but dont sign for 6 years and leave after one or two.
Someone has to pay for this but I guess those billion dollar TV and radio contracts do not go toward athletics at the university's. That is why they "justify" the special fees for students. Fee's for season ticket holders, parking fees, tail gating fees, and the list goes on... but congrats to all the teams and your million dollar coaches and Independent Bowls...
A contract is a contract is a contract. You sign for 8 years you stay 8 years or don't coach/play anywhere else. I agree, its out of hand. Yes big time college sports is a money maker for the schools but, well see the first line.
I do know of one coach who will never leave his coaching job for another. that is Jim Tressel at Ohio State. he has his dream job already and does not have any significant pull from another school. he is already making plenty of money and quite frankly he is coach of one of the nations premier college football teams.
I agree that college coaches are paid an awful lot of money. Of course, our society does not seem to value anyone who does not make a lot of money. Just look at CEO's of companies and bankers. They also make way too much money but we as a society have decided the way we judge success is by money. College Presidents also are bringing in higher and higher salaries.
I was not surprised when Joe Paterno's salary was revealed that he made a lot less than other big time coaches. He is of the Woody and Bo generation that coached football for the love of the game, not for money. Woody Hayes was paid approximately $60,000 per year at Ohio State and that salary was a Professor's salary not a football coach salary. He actually taught a military history class in the History Department in the quarters when Ohio State was not playing football. He also gave the University money he earned as a speaker and the royalties from the books he wrote. Woody lived in a modest house and never cared much about money. He loved football and his team and despite his flaws was a very fine man who was always willing to visit people in the hospital or do other small favors for people who were just ordinary citizens. You did not have to be "somebody" to talk to Woody.
I agree with you about Jim Tressel. He does make a lot of money but it is comparable to other major college coaches. He is an Ohio person, through and through. He grew up with a father who was a football coach at Baldwin Wallace college outside Cleveland. He played quarterback there and went into coaching and was an assistant under Earl Bruce at OSU. Earl encouraged him to take the Youngstown State job where he was very successful and won championships several times. The OSU coaching job is where he wants to be and he is doing fine things with the program and not just on the football field. He now has both Earl Bruce and John Cooper on his staff as Emeritus Coaches and they have an office in the football facility. I'm sure he regularly talks football with them and perhaps that is one reason OSU has done so well during his time at OSU. He is a smart, classy guy who does not make a big show nor does he ever talk trash about other coaches or teams. He sets a positive example for the players. He, like Woody, has given back to the University and has also been generous in giving back to Youngstown State since he has been at OSU, not only playing them in football but donating money to the school. Jim Tressel is a class act all the way and it is not fake.
Last edited by footballgranny on December 8th at 2:57 AM.
Coillege football is big business. To run a big business you need a competent CEO. A college football coach does more than just coach. he is responsible for allocation of funds which amount to millions of dollars which is a full-time job. The bigger the program, the more funds to allocate. June Jones has a $50,000 recruiting budget for travel. Most Big 10 schools have a $500,000 travel budget for recruiting and this is only what shows up on the books. It makes sense to pay a coach according to his level of job responsibility. It's far easier for a Steve Spurrier to leave a $4 million college job for an $8 million NFL job because he has less responsibility in the NFL. Unless we want a "brain drain" in college football, we should be happy that colleges are willing to pay for the services they receive.
Coaches should get as much as they can...Thin about it...In an era when an 8-4 or 9-3 season is considered a failure (which is ridiculous), imagine the pressure!!!! Fans are so fickle, and at any big-time college, as soon as a coach takes a job, the count-down to his firing has already begun...No fan-base has the patience to let a good coach build a program anymore (think Bowden, Paterno, Bryant, etc)....Until fans learn to show loyalty to a coach who puts up winning season after winning season (and helps produce produtive citizens too) regardless of National Titles, I say grab what you can and then run.
The solution is a simple "non-compete" clause in the contract that many major and minor corporations, as well as government agencies have in their employment contracts. You may be restricted from doing the same type of work, or working for a competitor for one, two,...five years.
The really gross situation is what they have at Nebraska where they have to pay five million or more to former AD Pederson and former coach Callahan to get rid of that #### pair after they wrecked one of the top programs in college football.
Last edited by Mountainman2 on December 8th at 2:07 PM.
I agree coaches definatley make too much money these days. Our coach is the highest paid state employee. Go figure. But, football gives a lot of people a chance to break away from everyday life and just root for their favorite team. Amazing though that the players can't take any money and they are the ones that win and lose games. Coaches today make all this money and can do endrosement deals until the sun quits shining..kinda ridiculous. We definately judge success by the amount of money earned or at least made as one other blogger put it. I also hate seeing coaches who are paid well jump from school to school. I was glad to see Rutgers coach stay put when Michigan came calling. Loyalty is big in my book, but a highly paid coach needs to be victorious in order to stand up and say they deserve that kind of money...Remember that the assistant coaches are also being paid well. Go Hawks!
Last edited by badger11 on December 8th at 2:11 PM.
A hater in every sense imaginable. Hate bandwagon championship fans, hate that people think baseball is boring, hate stupid croc shoes, hate the cell phone ear piece, hate that Anaheim, Carolina, and Tampa were the home to three consecutive Stanley Cup winners (who really plays hockey there, why not here in bama?) hate Tommy T, hate spelling correctly, and hate Kevin McHale.
