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Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,372
Registered: ‎04-16-2011

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

Salaries for the coaching staff come from various sources and not solely the university's alllocation from state and federal funds.  Some is funded by athletic foundations, contracts with comapies such as Nike, etc.  It also makes a difference if the coach is in a revenue producing sport, football or basketball, siuccess of the conference, television rights, and so on.  A successful coach with a winning team can help support non-revenue producing sports, e.g. wrestling, golf, tennis, etc., and impact enrollment positively.  

 

Nonetheless, those that complete the most teaching tend to receive less salary unless they are in the research and economically impactful schools and departments such as engineering, business, computer science, and a few other disciplines.  Adjuncts are some of the most marginalized and underpaid employees along with graduate teaching assistants.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

Have you ever taken a look at college endowments? The University of Texas recently hired Steve Sarkisian as their new head football coach for six years at $34.2 million. They have a system-wide endowment of over $30 billion (that's billion with a b). If they get just a one percent return on their investments from that endowment, they'd be making $300,000,000 a year. They can afford to hire a coach and pay him whatever they want to pay him., And they make a lot more than a 1% return on their investments.

 

When you look at the billions that major schools have in endowments, their spending on sports programs, and pretty much everything, else is a drop in the bucket. 

 

Given the size of the endowments many universities have, you have to ask, why do they charge tuition at all? 

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,511
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

@gardenman  before Mohamed El Erian joined Allianz, he was the Chief Investment Officer for Harvard's Endowment. Managing more $ than many nations in the free world.

 

Why do these scools still charge tuition? Simply because they can.

Frequent Contributor
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎05-06-2012

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

My daughter is a college sports coach.  She is in her 4th year.  One year was not paid, only free grad school which was 3 classes in return for working 40-70 hours/week.  One semester was for a $7500 stipend and free schooling.  I am still suporting her because these positions don't pay much.  Less than $20/hr for a position that requires a college degree and wants a Masters degree.  At least now I don't fully support her, just pay for the big things like tires for her car, new a/c, doctor/dentist bills, etc.  Hopefully she'll get to be a head coach in a few years and make maybe $60K and be in an area where she can live on that salary.  She told me that the March Madness tournament pays for all of the other sports (except football) which is why the NCAA was pushing so hard to get that tourney running this year.  The whole college system is a problem no matter how you look at it.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?


@Snowpuppy wrote:

@gardenman  before Mohamed El Erian joined Allianz, he was the Chief Investment Officer for Harvard's Endowment. Managing more $ than many nations in the free world.

 

Why do these scools still charge tuition? Simply because they can.


Yeah. Harvard's endowments are worth $53.2 billion as of June 2021. Major colleges and universities have more money than they know what to do with and can afford to pay any and every coach in their systems a good salary just from the return on the investments. The average return over the last ten years on stocks has been 9.2% annually. The return on the S&P 500 has been 13.6% annually. The average return on bonds is 3.05%.

 

If Harvard invested their money in just bonds, they'd be taking about $1.622 billion per year. You can pay a lot of coaches with that kind of money. If they invested in stocks and got the 9.2% average return, they'd get $4.8 billion per year. If they got the 13.6% return, they'd get $7.2 billion per year. (Harvard's operating costs are reportedly around $4.7 billion a year.)

 

Yeah, what colleges pay coaches isn't a big issue. They can afford it without a blink. Some people want to make it an issue, but the reality is, it isn't. They can easily afford even the most expensive coaches.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,223
Registered: ‎02-14-2017

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

@Snowpuppy, no one’s tax dollars are funding Penn State athletics. At Penn State, the athletic department is self funded.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,936
Registered: ‎07-02-2015

Re: Money for College Coaches--Funding?

[ Edited ]

@candyagain 

 

That was a good response to the criticism of highly paid coaches. 

 

Their worth lies heavily in the revenues that a winning team can generate for the entire  school  (and students) via....

 

--TV rights  (huge moneymakers).

 

--Game attendance and tickets, snack bar sales

 

--Team and school logo items sold in campus book stores (along with text books, of course). 

 

 After last night's Georgia/Alabama game, Georgia's win reportedly has people flocking to any type of store  that sells team clothing and accessories.  This can be a  retail bonanza that comes back to the school in generous contributions  from sponsors such as shoe, athletic wear and sporting goods businesses.

 

Note all the bank, credit card, insurance, auto and other types of advertising banners  displayed around playing fields--nice TV and fan exposure for the advertiser.

 

And last but NOT least:

 

--More generous alumni contributions to academic, research and sports scholarship programs