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September 02, 2008, 04:43 PM ET
Where $1-Million Is Modest Pay
It’s reassuring to learn that some major institutions of higher education are getting their budget priorities right. Support for this conclusion comes in an article in the August 29 Wall Street Journal, headlined “A Saner Approach to College Football.”
The salute to mental health derives from the relatively modest salaries paid to the football coaches at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, though both are what is known as gridiron powerhouses. BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall, the Journal reports, “earned no more than $1-million” last year, while compiling an 11-2 record and a No. 14 ranking. His counterpart at Utah, Kyle Whittingham, did not fare as well in wins and losses, which perhaps accounts for his lesser recompense, “about $680,000.”
For the hired help in the classrooms and labs at these and other universities, the coaches’ pay is beyond munificent. In 2006-2007, full professors at private doctoral institutions averaged $136,689, and it was downhill from there throughout the rest of academe. But, in fact, coaches Mendenhall and Whittingham are practically working pro bono for their schools, giving it away, for who knows what reason?
The Journal reports that 21 coaches now make $2-million a year; last year, four coaches topped $3-million. Alabama’s coach is paid six times more than the president of the university. Economists tell us that in a market economy, price and value match up. Who knows?
Oddly, one need not be a winning coach to run with the hedge-fund crowd. Charlie Weis, the latest in a string of coaches who have misguided once-proud Notre Dame to the little league of football, reportedly holds a 10-year contract totaling some $30-million. To some extent, however, money counts. The Journal calculates that 13 coaches who made $2-million or more had a .686 winning percentage last season, while those making between $1-million and $2-million came in at .606.
The downside in the news is that price control at Utah may be shaky. To keep up in football, the Journal points out, BYU “is working on a fund-raising program called Coaches Circle, that will create an endowment, paid for by boosters, to finance the inevitable raises needed to keep successful coaches from bolting.”
No point going against the inevitable.
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