College coaches salaries rise along with tuitions

According to the website collegedata.com, a resident of Alabama can expect to pay $7900 in tuition per year. If that student lives on campus, he/she can add another $8214. Throw in books, and "other expenses, and the website estimates it will cost an Alabama resident $20,279 to attend the University for one year. Barring any additional increases in college tuition or living expenses, the four year total comes out to $83,516. If you are coming from outside the state, the cost goes up to $32,879 per year, or $131,516 for a four year degree.

Go west to Austin, Texas, and a prospective student at the University of Texas can expect to pay an estimated $23,872 per year for in-state college tuition, room and board, books, and "other expenses." Students who are not Texas residents can expect to see that number nearly double to $45,672 per year.

While students, and their parents scrape together the college tuition needed to achieve a four year degree, Nick Saban, the head football coach at Alabama, received nearly $5.2 million($5,166,000) from the university in 2010. Over in Austin, the Longhorns' head football coach Mack Brown was handed $5.1 million by the University in 2010 salary and bonuses. Both men also earned money outside their schools from appearances and endorsements. Saban received an additional $830,000, while Brown got a paltry $61,500. Still, Brown's outside earnings would still cover nearly three years of tuition for an in-state student at the University of Texas.

Now before anyone gets the idea that I am one of those people who believes colleges should be insitutions of higher learning only, and athletics should be kicked to the curb, please remove that silly notion immediately. I believe that a school's athletic program is as important to a school's reputation as is its academic standing. Whether it be high school or college, success on the athletic field shows a school's commitment to competition, and sooner or later, all of our kids are going to have to compete for something.

The problem comes in when we put a higher price tag on the cost of winning on the athletic field than we do in the classroom. While Mack Brown was paid $5.1 million for his services in 2010, the Dean of the University of Texas Business School received $487,500 in compensation. The Dean of the Law School took home $374,167, while the Dean of the Education Department received $222,000. Makes you wonder where our priorities as a society lie. While politicians and acadmeic experts tell us we need to keep spending more to educate our kids, the Dean of a major university's Education Department earns roughly 4.4% of what the head football coach makes.

The second highest salary at the University of Texas goes to Rick Barnes, the school's head basketball coach. With a salary of $1.9 million, Mr. Barnes makes about 91.5% more in salary than the school's Dean of Education. The third highest salary goes to Gail Goestenkors, the Lady Longhorns' head basketball coach, who has an annual salary just above $930,000.

In the 2010 salary pecking order at the University of Texas, sixth place goes to University President William C. Powers Jr., who receives $746,738 according to the website Edu-share. The employees directly ahead of Mr. Powers are Augie Garrido, the school's head baseball coach at $760,000, and Will Mushcamp, Mack Brown's former defensive coordinator. Muschamp left a few weeks ago to become the head coach at the University of Florida, where he will make an estimated $2.75 million over the next five years.

His replacement at the University of Texas, Manny Diaz, is the former defensive coordinator at the University of Mississippi, where he received a $260,000 annual salary.  With Texas, Mr. Diaz will nearly triple his earnings, signing a contract that pays him $625,000 per year, or about $121,000 less than University of Texas President Powers.

It's not just Texas that grossly overpays their athletic department employees. Remember Nick Saban's $5.1 million plus salary from the University of Alabama? The President of the UA's Tuscaloosa campus was paid $592,161 in salary and bonus in 2010. Robert Witt also received a $120,000 car/housing allowance from the University, bringing his package to $712,161, or roughly 14% of what the State of  Alabama pays Coach Saban.  (Remember, coaches at public colleges are technically employees of that state).  Nick Saban's defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart, just received a raise for the upcoming year, raising his salary from $750,000 to $850,000.

Supporters of the current pay scale for college coaches will argue that major college sports bring the university major revenues. Thetotal revenue for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa's athletic department was $62,287,192for the fiscal year 2010. Operating expenses for the athletic department came to $56,989,608, leaving a profit of $5,297,584. Over at the University of Texas, athletic revenues came in at $89,651,682, while operating expenses were $82,400,829, leaving an operating profit of $7,250,853.

There appear to be a number of people making a whole lot of money here, and no one really seems to care, unless it concerns a university's administrators.  Former Florida Governor, and U.S. Senator Bob Graham is concerned with the inflated monetary packages of some university presidents. He is targeting those presidents that have compensation packages over $700,000, which would include both Texas and Alabama.  Mr. Graham probably has a valid argument, but it rings hollow when they make a fraction of what the athletic coaches at their schools earn.

Congress always seems to be investigating the collegiate football Bowl Championship Series(BCS) for everything from unfair slotting of teams to anti-trust violations.  It seems every year a number of groups get their collective noses out of joint because their team was passed over for the BCS title game. Boise State is a prime example.  Undefeated for most of the season, Boise State was soundly defeated by the University of Nevada on November 26.  The rumblings began in late October over the Bulldogs' being passed over for the number one slot in the rankings as the year progressed.  Had they not lost that game, the din of Boise State supporters would still be droning on as we head into summer.

I am not a big fan of the BSC system; I believe it unfairly ranks major programs based upon their athletic conference affiliations.  But when we have troops on the ground in three foreign countries (Iraq, Afghanastan, and Libya), when the country seems to be sliding into a second recession, don't our elected officials have more important issues than college football to address?  But enough about the BCS.  I will address the organization, along with the TV contracts that allow this emeging industry which preys on college athletics to make huge sums of money in a later posting.

The real issue here is the growing cost of a college eductation. Every state is struggling to find the dollars to fund the existing programs in their budgets, public colleges included.  Simple economics tells us that when the cost of public education rises, and funds to support those institutions dwindle, the burden is passed on to the student in the form of tuition increases.  These students, and their parents, who are already paying taxes to support their state's budget, are bearing the brunt of these increases twice; first through taxes, and secondly through the rising costs of tuition.  While our political leaders argue over who gets the right to play for a national championship, maybe it is time they focused their attention on what is important to the majority of Americans who struggle to scrape together the funds needed to equip their children with a college education.

We have a major revenue source in the form of college athletics that could help fund every facet of our public learning institutions, thus lowering the cost of college tuition.  All we need to do is use a little more common sense, and exhibit a lot less greed.