An elite DI set of assistant coach salaries

[jimbogumbo]

For Ohio State: The Buckeyes' 10 on-field assistants will make a combined $8.78 million in 2022, an increase of over $1.13 million since last season when their base salaries totaled $7.65 million. Their collective salaries had never previously surpassed $8 million.

I am so glad they finally broke that $8 million barrier!

[kaysixteen]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

[mamselle]

It's a kind of sickness.

The well people learn to just work around it.

Or else we leave....

M.

[FishProf]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

OSU athletics had revenue of in $205.5 million in 2018 and $210.5 million in 2019.

[RatGuy]

The athletic budget is kept separate from the other university budgets. I don't know if OSU's football program pays for all its other athletic programs; once upon a time, only LSU and Virginia Tech had athletic departments which operated in the black. For everyone else, the huge football programs simply offset the cost of other athletics. It could be that OSU, Alabama, Georgia are generating enough revenue now. That doesn't speak to the coaches' salaries, I realize. But in the media circus that is college football -- where there is lots of money up for grabs -- sometimes you gotta spend a lot to make a whole lot more.

[Mobius]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34417911/big-ten-completes-7-year-7-billion-media-rights-agreement-fox-cbs-nbc

[Volhiker78]

At least OSU football is seeing a return in their investment.  At my D1 school,  the current football staff is 3-20 over the past 2 years. 

[dismalist]

It should be clear that

Very few Division I athletic departments are self-funded; instead, most programs rely on athletic subsidies from institutions and students. However, the largest per-athlete subsidies are in those
subdivisions with the lowest spending per athlete. Without access to other large revenue streams, these programs have increasingly turned to their institutions to finance additional athletic spending.

From here https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/downloads/report/Academic-Spending-vs-Athletic-Spending.pdf

Thus, all part of the increasing cost of higher education!

What's going on with this bundling strategy is that some customers [students] are willing to pay tuition for the stuff in classes but not for the stuff on the football field, and vice versa for other customers. This strategy gets more students and more revenue for the colleges, muchly spent on sports, of course. But the additional athletic spending will attract a particular type of student.

I wouldn't disallow it, but why the government should have anything to do with subsidizing this in any way is beyond me.

[research_prof]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34417911/big-ten-completes-7-year-7-billion-media-rights-agreement-fox-cbs-nbc

It is very simple. College football generates a massive revenue thus universities take a small portion of this massive revenue (which is still massive on its own) back. A better question to ask is what revenue does faculty research generate for universities? If faculty research could generate as much revenue as college football, then we could make an argument that faculty should be paid the same as head coaches.

It is the same line of argument regarding the salaries of NBA vs WNBA players. We can argue whether from a societal point of view this is misogyny, nevertheless, that's what viewers like to watch and spend their money on.

[jimbogumbo]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/34417911/big-ten-completes-7-year-7-billion-media-rights-agreement-fox-cbs-nbc

It is very simple. College football generates a massive revenue thus universities take a small portion of this massive revenue (which is still massive on its own) back. A better question to ask is what revenue does faculty research generate for universities? If faculty research could generate as much revenue as college football, then we could make an argument that faculty should be paid the same as head coaches.

It is the same line of argument regarding the salaries of NBA vs WNBA players. We can argue whether from a societal point of view this is misogyny, nevertheless, that's what viewers like to watch and spend their money on.

College football generates a massive amount of revenue for a relative few. I don't begrudge the universities that make it, just fault the much larger number who take from academics and student services to fund programs at too high a competition level.

Here is an article which details which coaches in Ohio were well paid a few years ago. Note that it is NOT an exhaustive list: there were many more coaches who made as much or more. Coaches of even minor sports at OSU benefit (I'll admit I was really only shocked at the Women's rowing coach): https://www.cleveland.com/sports/erry-2018/05/571c0d0f7b6137/49_ohio_college_head_coaches_p.html

[Hibush]

A better question to ask is what revenue does faculty research generate for universities? If faculty research could generate as much revenue as college football, then we could make an argument that faculty should be paid the same as head coaches.

Researchers at my school generate a lot more revenue, even IDC recovery, than the football program. Nobody is making OSU-level athletic-staff money.

[jimbogumbo]

I was really interested in the Youngstown State salaries. Recall that they have cut academic programs and positions while running a roughly $4 million athletics deficit each year.

[mamselle]

That's the trouble with the sickness.

It spreads to those who have fewer resources to allow for the time it takes to heal (a few generations, in the state of Ohio, overall, I'd say) and weakens their systems overall.

Every school in Ohio has to take OSU into account in some form or other; some do well at ignoring it, but others are trapped by demographics, the stars-in-their-eyes high school athletes who won't make it onto a "good team" but haven't yet learned the pivot run (to another game), etc.

It was bad when I lived there, but it's so much worse now.

The last time I was on the campus, while I was grateful for the libraries I was working in, and the chance to check in with a few longstanding acquaintances, other parts of it--like the Brutus Buckeye idolatry and fans dancing drunk all over the place--were sickening.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

How do the, ahem, people out there justify, even attempt to start justifying, this sort of football pay?

People love college football.

I don't think D1 sports ever have to justify themselves. 

Coaches salaries are hardly a secret, and the only people I ever complaining about them are the academics, at least that I've ever heard. Coaches are heroes in their communities and on their campuses.  They are much more feted and honored than even faculty Nobel Prize winners.  Heck, even some professors defend the pageantry and heroism of D1 sports.  I certainly enjoy them, although my favorite college sport, wrestling, only gets attention when a pro-wrasstler or an MMA fighter was a college wrestler.

Face it, folks, for many but not all people, the football and basketball programs are the best part of college.

[kaysixteen]

How many of these why the heck is this kid in college students, or their parents, even know how little most of the kids' teachers are being paid there, whilst coaches in an *extracurricular* activity, get easy street compensation, for doing something that adds nothing to education, and in most unis' cases, outliers like OSU notwithstanding, do not even make their athletic depts operate in the black?

And why is it that really no other country operates 'intercollegiate athletics'?