Wisconsin takes a pass on paying inflated salary to football coach

[Knight Shift]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...-chryst-barry-alvarez-gary-andersen/73546334/

Wisconsin's coach makes $2.2 million.

In 2006: The average compensation for head football coaches at 119 major colleges then was roughly $950,000. Today, at 128 Football Bowl Subdivision schools, it is up to just over $2 million.

Wisconsin chancellor Rebecca Blank criticizes her Big Ten peers who are paying their football coaches so much.

“Those are the choices they make,” she says. “That really begins to threaten the whole sense that we are not professional athletic teams. I’m not terribly happy about the fact that they made those choices. That’s my opinion.”

Blank understands market forces. She was acting secretary of commerce in the Obama administration and holds a doctorate in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Well, clearly the market for football and basketball coaches is a whole lot tighter than the market for chancellors and presidents,” she says, chuckling. Her salary is $499,950.

-----
Blank is advocating a salary cap. Interesting concept. College coaching salaries are a bit out of control

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

About time.. SALARY CAP. Not sure it is legal or constitutional.. but if a bill is offered to make it legal, what politician, not answering to one of, maybe, ten programs with unlimited funds, could vote it down?

eh... wouldn't work.. it would probably be just a cap of total salaries and other coaches in other sports would end up paying the price. If a conference made a cap, then its members would not be able to compete for top coaching talent compared to other conferences.. and when public perception reduces the TV ratings, revenues would suffer.. and the talent would stay away wanting to play for the best coaches.

If it happens it has to be the coaches who will allow it to happen. And that ain't gonna happen.

 

[Local Shill]

It will never happen but there should be one.

 

[Knightmoves]

Ms Blank sounds like a Socialist. Does she want to put a cap on revenues for Wisconsin's selling price for FB tickets, parking and alumni donations as well ? I think we know the answer to that one.

 

[rutgersguy1]

No I don't think there should be a salary cap but just have your own cost boundaries of how far you're willing to go. When they let Bielema go over his salary and some staff salaries, I thought it was the right move even though I thought he was a good coach. Still do despite what's going on in Arkansas. There's only so far these schools should go for coaches not named Saban/Meyer. More times than not you're not letting anything special walk out the door. Occasionally, yes you might be letting go that next great coach but most of the time you're more likely to end up in the black.

Look at the salaries in the SEC. Most of them are paying huge figures in the 3-4M range. They all can't be winners and some surely won't be getting a return on that investment. Strong at Texas is another example, just spending money because you can. Be smart with your resources and specifically don't put a crimp in your financial flexibility. Fisher is a national champ coach who got his salary bumped to 4M and you have other coaches (some who I think are good) with nothing close to that who are making as much or more, that's just not smart IMO.

If a coach wants to go, let them go and get working on finding the next guy. Again sometimes you might regret it but more times than not you most likely won't. Raising salaries and tearing up contracts just at the first whiff of some success isn't good business to me, look for consistency before you do that.

 

[drewbagel423]

Ms Blank sounds like a Socialist. Does she want to put a cap on revenues for Wisconsin's selling price for FB tickets, parking and alumni donations as well ? I think we know the answer to that one.

Exactly. And, just like anywhere else, she is free to offer whatever salary she feels the job merits.

 

[RU'70]

Ms Blank sounds like a Socialist. Does she want to put a cap on revenues for Wisconsin's selling price for FB tickets, parking and alumni donations as well ? I think we know the answer to that one.

Brevity is the soul of wit, Knightmoves, and in 3 sentences you have synthesized completely the issue.

 

[zappaa]

A two million dollar plus salary in Madison is a damn attractive job.

 

[RUInsanity]

Ms Blank sounds like a Socialist. Does she want to put a cap on revenues for Wisconsin's selling price for FB tickets, parking and alumni donations as well ? I think we know the answer to that one.

She's a socialist because she wants fiscal responsibility and doesn't want to use excess taxpayer and benefactor money to fund a Football coach at a Public Institution/Agency who's primary aim is higher education? That sounds like the opposite of a socialist.....more like someone who is fiscally conservative.

In regards to revenue derived from tickets etc......again, the University of Wisconsin is essentially a Government institution....revenue from Sports helps fund the sports programs and reduce the overall expense burden ordinarily provided by Benefactors, Taxpayers and Student Fees.

 

[Knight Shift]

No I don't think there should be a salary cap but you just put have your own cost boundaries of how far you're willing to go. When they let Bielema go over his salary and some staff salaries, I thought it was the right move even though I thought he was a good coach. Still do despite what's going on in Arkansas. There's only so far these schools should go for coaches not named Saban/Meyer. More times than not you're not letting anything special walk out the door. Occasionally, yes you might be letting go that next great coach but most of the time you're more likely to end up in the black.

Look at the salaries in the SEC. Most of them are paying huge figures in the 3-4M range. They all can't be winners and some surely won't be getting a return on that investment. Strong at Texas is another example, just spending money because you can. Be smart with your resources and specifically don't put a crimp in your financial flexibility. Fisher is a national champ coach who got his salary bumped to 4M and you have other coaches (some who I think are good) with nothing close to that who are making as much or more, that's just not smart IMO.

If a coach wants to go, let them go and get working on finding the next guy. Again sometimes you might regret it but more times than not you most likely won't. Raising salaries and tearing up contracts just at the first whiff of some success isn't good business to me, look for consistency before you do that.

How much have we saved since Schiano left on his salary vs. Flood and the assistant coach salaries. One would think that Julie could use this as leverage to say to Bob, hey, we have saved $X million since we are not paying the salary we were to Coach Schiano. Not sure how that conversation would go.

 

[ru8081]

Ask yourself the question, Why to Universities pay the coach so much money? Because they win and winning increases donations and advertising etc. In other words, it pays off. Too bad our Legislature, Governor, RU Administrators, and professors do not understand basic economics.

 

[rutgersguy1]

How much have we saved since Schiano left on his salary vs. Flood and the assistant coach salaries. One would think that Julie could use this as leverage to say to Bob, hey, we have saved $X million since we are not paying the salary we were to Coach Schiano. Not sure how that conversation would go.

I think it would go much better if we didn't have the subsidy hanging over us. Regardless though I've always said I think we'll pay between 1.5-2.5M for a coach and I'm okay with that so to me it's a non issue even though everyone harps on it. That's the range for the first contract of just about every first time P5 HC out there.

 

[Knight Shift]

Ask yourself the question, Why to Universities pay the coach so much money? Because they win and winning increases donations and advertising etc. In other words, it pays off. Too bad our Legislature, Governor, RU Administrators, and professors do not understand basic economics.

Wonder if someone could put together data for Wisconsin and Michigan State donations versus their records as they improved over the years.

 

[RUMBA-JK]

Ms Blank sounds like a Socialist. Does she want to put a cap on revenues for Wisconsin's selling price for FB tickets, parking and alumni donations as well ? I think we know the answer to that one.

Is Chris Christie a "Socialist"?
Chris Christie did not just 'discuss' the concept of creating across the board salary caps - he actually put a rigid cap on school superintendents' salary into place :
- $125,000 for districts with 250 or fewer students to $175,000 for districts with 6,501 to 10,000.

In both head coaches and superintendents cases it isn't really "Socialist" ....it is just "too simplistic".

Ms. Blank's point that Head Coach salaries, in many instances border on the absurd, is a legitimate line of discussion - However I don't agree with her initial idea (and I would suspect that if tasked with actually coming up with a genuine plan, she would outline a more substantive solution).

If you look at those "Socialist "organizations - NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL .. they all have some sort of cap on total player compensation - their largest portion of their "means of production" - but it is mostly an "aggregate" cap. There are times when I don't like this - especially when artful deal structures become the center of attention - but in real world leagues with a priority on presenting quality 'competition' - composed of franchises in a variety of markets, there probably need to be some constraints - a pure totally Darwinistic approach would lead to grotesque competition discrepancies & the periodic extinction of lesser franchises.

Since Colleges don't "pay" players, and the 'non-currency' rewards of scholarships (number of and size of) and other things are already closely regulated by NCAA - player expense is under some degree of control .

There are already constraints on the number of official coaching staff members a team may have (and yes, some schools seem to find ways to game the system) - but maybe,similar to the professional's total player compensation cap, there should be exploration of a "total staff compensation" ceiling - so rather than a 'spend what ever it takes' approach ... it becomes more of a 'spend wisely' approach - smart head coaches will moderate their individual compensation requirements in order to be able to attract & afford strong supporting staff.

 

[RUInsanity]

Ask yourself the question, Why to Universities pay the coach so much money? Because they win and winning increases donations and advertising etc. In other words, it pays off. Too bad our Legislature, Governor, RU Administrators, and professors do not understand basic economics.

Of course. But that is not the question being raised here. At what point does it stop? $7 Million $10 Million? $15 Million? There will never be a salary cap for College Football coaches, so the salaries will continue to rise driven by football crazy schools in the South....but it does make for a good message board discussion/debate.

 

[srru86]

use excess taxpayer ...money to fund a Football coach at a Public Institution/Agency who's primary aim is higher education?

Utterly bogus canard. That is Dowling & Killighast's phony line. I'm sure at Wisconsin the FB coach is paid out of revenues generated by the football team. There is no diversion of academic funds. It's not like if they shut down the program the BTN will keep sending the royalty checks to fund faculty salaries.

Even at Rutgers the much talked about subsidy is all about Olympic sports. We start cutting non-revenue sports and that number drops immediately.

benefactor money to fund a Football coach at a Public Institution/Agency who's primary aim is higher education?

If the benefactors what to support athletics, including seven figure coach salaries why shouldn't they?
When was the last time a booster said "I'm cutting off my giving because the coach is overpaid"? How many times have boosters said, "If we don't start winning, I'm out"

 

[jup540]

Of course. But that is not the question being raised here. At what point does it stop? $7 Million $10 Million? $15 Million? There will never be a salary cap for College Football coaches, so the salaries will continue to rise driven by football crazy schools in the South....but it does make for a good message board discussion/debate.

Prices will stop rising when it doesn't make economical sense to pay it. like @ru8081 said, winning brings in money and donations, so paying a few million more for a better coach actually probably pays off. However, paying 15 million probably won't unless it's saban/UM. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[MoobyCow]

The problem with HC salaries, is that HCs are worth almost any amount of money you might pay them if they win big, and very little money (relatively) if they don't win. It's just pretty damn hard to figure out which you're going to get before hand and the coaches who are worth it are going to drag up the salaries of everyone else as schools scramble to cash in on the lotto ticket of top 10 football.

 

[ru8081]

Of course. But that is not the question being raised here. At what point does it stop? $7 Million $10 Million? $15 Million? There will never be a salary cap for College Football coaches, so the salaries will continue to rise driven by football crazy schools in the South....but it does make for a good message board discussion/debate.

The market will stop it. When University "X" spends "Y" and doesn't get result other Universities will notice and not pay that rate. Meanwhile, we need to pay around the average for a B1G coach and staff. The economic realities prove that paying too little will result in less revenue due to incompetence. When Schiano left we should have searched for a suitable replacement at his compensation level. By not doing this the University and State was not showing it's dedication to it's Alumni and supporters.

 

[jmc11201]

Salary caps are ridiculous.

In the NBA, you have Joe Johnson of the Nets making basically the same as Lebron James. Which player is more valuable and is underpaid?

 

[srru86]

Prices will stop rising when it doesn't make economical sense to pay it. like @ru8081 said, winning brings in money and donations, so paying a few million more for a better coach actually probably pays off. However, paying 15 million probably won't unless it's saban/UM. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

In baseball lots of people said the advent of free agency and big pay days for players would kill the game. Still waiting on that bubble to burst. Has the market cooled some? I suppose we are unlikely to see any deal as bad as what ARod got some years ago. But we are never going back to ball players needing to work in the off season to make some extra bucks.

Hockey a little different. The players were taken down a peg or two when owners held the line.

NFL somewhere in between.

 

[RUInsanity]

Utterly bogus canard. That is Dowling & Killighast's phony line. I'm sure at Wisconsin the FB coach is paid out of revenues generated by the football team. There is no diversion of academic funds. It's not like if they shut down the program the BTN will keep sending the royalty checks to fund faculty salaries.

Even at Rutgers the much talked about subsidy is all about Olympic sports. We start cutting non-revenue sports and that number drops immediately.


If the benefactors what to support athletics, including seven figure coach salaries why shouldn't they?
When was the last time a booster said "I'm cutting off my giving because the coach is overpaid"? How many times have boosters said, "If we don't start winning, I'm out"

Dowling had it wrong. The way to eliminate big time college athletics at a University is to make it cost prohibitive. I want RU to be able to compete and vie for BIG titles and it is extremely difficult to do that given the benefactor/financial gaps between RU and peer schools.

 

[RUskoolie]

Blank understands market forces. She was acting secretary of commerce in the Obama administration and holds a doctorate in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Well, clearly the market for football and basketball coaches is a whole lot tighter than the market for chancellors and presidents,” she says, chuckling. Her salary is $499,950.

-----
Blank is advocating a salary cap. Interesting concept. College coaching salaries are a bit out of control

I'm sorry, but these two contradictory statements made me crack up.

 

[derleider]

Ask yourself the question, Why to Universities pay the coach so much money? Because they win and winning increases donations and advertising etc. In other words, it pays off. Too bad our Legislature, Governor, RU Administrators, and professors do not understand basic economics.

Its actually basically the reverse - schools pay so much because they won in the past and now have money to throw away on coaches who havent proven much of anything. (see Texas and Strong, or PSU and Franklin.) If you looked at initial starting salary when hired, I would bet that you would find almost no correlation between winning percentage and that salary.

Realistically - it only pays off if everyone else pays less. If the ante keeps getting upped, then you end up paying $5 million for Charlie Strong based on 4 good years at Louisville. Nd then everyone below Strong gets a bump too.

skoolie - why are the contradictory. A salary cap works just fine as long as everyone plays by the rule. Do you think the NFL is suffering because it has a hard salary cap for players?

The issue isnt that a salary cap doesnt work - its that you could never get the schools to agree to one. But its the only real solution to a Red Queen type problem - where its in everyone's best interest (or at least perceived) to keep upping the salaries, even though in doing so, you only push the general market higher without really increasing your chances of winning.

 

[srru86]

Meanwhile Dantonio is under paid if you ask me.
Detroit Free Press
Harbaugh among highest paid coaches; Dantonio 21
Interesting what PJ Fleck is making in the MAC.

 

[Panthergrowl13]

College Football and Basketball need an NFL Type Coaches rule.

If an NFL Team has a Coach under contract no other NFL Team is permitted to contact that Coach until the contact expires.

If such a rule did not exist, you would have Super Bowl winning coaches leaving every year for another NFL Team.

This rule should be incorporated via the NCAA or maybe P5 Conferences.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!