Should college/university athletic teams have professional coaches?

[brandon]

I'm just wondering, if athletics at the college (university) level is supposed to be non-professional, done for the love of sport (and maybe a full-ride scholarship,) why doesn't this philosophy extend to coaching?

Coach	School	Salary
Pete Carroll	USC	$4,400,000
Charlie Weis	Notre Dame	$4,200,000
Nick Saban	Alabama	$3,900,000
Bob Stoops	Oklahoma	$3,800,000
Les Miles	LSU	$3,800,000
Jim Tressel	Ohio State	$3,500,000
Urban Meyer	Florida	$3,400,000
Kirk Ferentz	Iowa	$3,030,000
Mack Brown	Texas	$2,910,000
Bobby Petrino	Arkansas	$2,900,000

Top 120 college football* coach salaries for 2009 (Orlando Sentinel)

*American football

[Baseballfan]

No coach should make more the college/university  Chancellor/Dean/President.

[brandon]

I have now added that choice.

According to charitynavigator.org, based on 2007 data, USC's football coach received about five times what the President of USC received:

Head Football Coach            $3,974,320
   
Head Basketball Coach        $977,592    

President                               $812,565    

[genxnaturist]

Hi
I am personaly not a big fan of football coaches making more money than president of college.  But here is reason, having good coach that wins games, means the university makes a lot of money, which helps the school.  Problem is more often than not money made goes back into sports and not so much into athletics.  Also its college, focus should be on accademics, not sports.


Michael

[Craig]

No coach should make more the college/university  Chancellor/Dean/President.

Not only do they make more than them, but the ones that work at public schools always end up being the highest paid public servant.   

Coaches salaries also consist of deals with shoe companies and broadcasters so their actual salary from the university isn't near what the stated salary is.

[brandon]

My assumption is that the income from commercial endorsements is on top of the stated salary.

[prodigal_son]

I wish we had a coach at all!

[brandon]

Money. It's a huge business!

It is. For example, Ohio State University usually net $3.8 million to $4.5 million on a home game, depending on things such as weather and concession and merchandise sales. USA Today (And the visiting team can do okay too: OSU guaranteed U.S. Naval Academy $1 million to play at Ohio State in September, 2009. OSU beat Navy 31-27.)

[Luke M]

This is a silly question to me. Sports bring in money to colleges moreso than software engineers or the drama club. Sorry, but this is the way of the world.

[brandon]

Well, then why not provide monetary rewards the players too, beyond mere scholarships?

[brandon]

A University of Florida study in 1996, after the university won its last national football championship, found no correlation between that victory and giving for academic purposes. Other university fundraisers agree with those findings.

''We have never been able to track or show any parallel with the success of an athletic team and the amount of fundraising of individuals or corporations who want to give to the university,'' said Roger Addleman, communications director for Ohio State's Office of Development.

At most, a program's success means more people returning to campus, and that gives fundraisers the chance to point out nonathletic needs, he said.

''It enhances the opportunity to build relationships, and out of building relationships is how most universities do major fundraising,'' Addleman said.

Other studies over the years have failed to find much of an impact. Experts dub the mistaken belief that victories equal fundraising dollars the ''winning-team'' myth.

''The entire big-time college sport enterprise is built on a financial mythology,'' said Ellen Staurowsky, a sports management professor at Ithaca College.

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