OT: Dan Mullen and SEC West Coaches

[bobaloo000]

Every coach in the SEC west now makes over 4 million dollars a year after Mullen signed his newest contract earlier this week. That got me thinking about the states those schools are in. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It immediately came clear to me that those are some of the poorest states in the country so I searched the poverty rates for these five states and lo and behold these states have some of the highest poverty rates in the country. Here's where they rank:

Alabama - Poverty Rate 16.7% Rank 47th
Mississippi - Poverty Rate - 20.1% - Rank 50th of 51 (DC is 51st)
Louisiana - Poverty Rate - 18.3% - Rank 49th
Arkansas - Poverty Rate - 15.9% - Rank 45th
Texas - Poverty Rate - 16.2% - Rank 46th
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[Scarlet16E]

They also have people with money who enjoy donating it to their favorite college football program.
All of these teams make money for their schools, so all the hand wringing over poverty rates is misplaced.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[RUBigFrank]

so what are the salaries for coaches where there is the highest income per capita - say NY, NJ and Ct?

Likely a statement bout regional society and culture.

 

[Knight_Light]

Originally posted by bobaloo000:
Every coach in the SEC west now makes over 4 million dollars a year after Mullen signed his newest contract earlier this week. That got me thinking about the states those schools are in. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. It immediately came clear to me that those are some of the poorest states in the country so I searched the poverty rates for these five states and lo and behold these states have some of the highest poverty rates in the country. Here's where they rank:

Alabama - Poverty Rate 16.7% Rank 47th
Mississippi - Poverty Rate - 20.1% - Rank 50th of 51 (DC is 51st)
Louisiana - Poverty Rate - 18.3% - Rank 49th
Arkansas - Poverty Rate - 15.9% - Rank 45th
Texas - Poverty Rate - 16.2% - Rank 46th
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Did you have a point?

Are poor people in NJ big RU Boosters? No.

Thise schools above have generations of SUCCESSFUL Alumni that donate back to their Univ in huge numbers.

This thread is almost embarrassing if you think most of RU's Alumni are.rich but choose not to.support their.school's Athletics Dept like those from poor states.

 

[anon_ivydyf0amkzay]

Talk about an IRRELEVANT data comparison!!

 

[RUJMM78]

College football is like religion down south .In NJ college football simply isn't as important because of the professional teams and the lack of media attention and donor support.

 

[Ru2bnj]

You get what you prioritize. It's not suprising...if the working people of those states don't mind the HC of State U football getting 100x or more what they make...what are you going to do? It's a cultural thing, those states have been often criticized to an unfair degree about how backward, uneducated and poor they are. The NFL never really established itself there, so the point of pride for many in those states is the university's football team. It's not hard to understand when you think about it.

 

[rubaseball78]

Those states are poor because they overspend on athletics and coaches.

 

[hooeagle]

Alabama had the highest surplus on its football program in the country last year at 53millioon dollars. Rutgers , according to USA Today, at least, had the highest subsidy. This explains the disparity, along with the fact that there are no pro teams in any sport in Alabama, so college football is no. One and there is no second place.

 

[Chags]

Do you equate pro football with state pride? So NY Giants/Jets are the pride of NJ? Sounds like a problem here.

Playing relevant football and/or pride in your school for generations makes a difference. We are still just 8 years (2006) in on that road. In another 20 years we'll have another generation though the cycle.

 

[derleider]

Originally posted by Scarlet16E:
They also have people with money who enjoy donating it to their favorite college football program.
All of these teams make money for their schools, so all the hand wringing over poverty rates is misplaced.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Mostly what they have is college programs running pro programs for historic reasons (lack of NFL teams until recently). And not surprisingly in that light, they fund their programs as if they were pro programs, not some add on to the university ot bring it a little attention>

Among other things, I would bet that the non-alumni/alumni fan ration is alot higher in the South (which leads to stuff like theym not caring about say academics - because they didnt go there.)

But yes - there is something unseemly about public universities in states that could most use great public universities(because they are so poor and thus their students dont have the elite options so many in say NJ have) spending so much energy on sports.

 

[JQRU91]

With the exception of Texas, those are places that need something like a great college football program to take pride in. That's something that people are willing to see money go towards. It makes them feel good about themselves and their region of the country.

 

[rutgersal]

For the 2012-2013 school year, Alabama Football had 47 million dollars in Profit, easily justifying his salary. When you consider that much of his salary is likely funded by boosters, it's a no brainer.

This post was edited on 3/2 7:22 AM by rutgersal

 

[Knight_Light]

Originally posted by derleider:

Originally posted by Scarlet16E:
They also have people with money who enjoy donating it to their favorite college football program.
All of these teams make money for their schools, so all the hand wringing over poverty rates is misplaced.
Posted from Rivals Mobile

Mostly what they have is college programs running pro programs for historic reasons (lack of NFL teams until recently). And not surprisingly in that light, they fund their programs as if they were pro programs, not some add on to the university ot bring it a little attention>

Among other things, I would bet that the non-alumni/alumni fan ration is alot higher in the South (which leads to stuff like theym not caring about say academics - because they didnt go there.)

But yes - there is something unseemly about public universities in states that could most use great public universities(because they are so poor and thus their students dont have the elite options so many in say NJ have) spending so much energy on sports.

In most cases (especially in the SEC), those Univ are not using public general funds like RU has to do to make up short-fallings in Athletic Spending/Revenue equation.

Bottom line, those donated $$$/Ticket sale Revenue is not coming from those Univ funds...so those funds would have never been available for the Univ to use on other projects.

Heck, as noted, schools like Bama, UF, etc...give back MILLIONS of so-called Athletic Profit BACK to general Univ Funds (generally done to help hide the for-profit athletic model).

For most alumni (in almost any state) there is a much closer tie to your alma mater (and why you support it, why you want to come back to your campus, etc...), much more so that any tie to a pro team.

There is something about tailgating with your family on YOUR (or other relatives own) campus...vs showing up in a giant asphalt lot or parking garage for a pro game.