# Why are college sport coaches paid so much? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976 "2017-03-12T03:02:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/1 "2017-03-12T03:02:07Z")
> **[State House News Service](https://www.wcvb.com/article/derek-kellogg-fired-umass-in-hunt-for-new-mens-basketball-coach/9118742)** The UMass basketball coach was the highest paid state employee. He was making over $1 million/year. More than six times more than the salary of Governor Baker. Why do colleges pay their coaches so much, and does the revenue the teams bring in really offset the cost of the coaches? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/2 "2017-03-12T03:09:38Z")
Because college football makes a lot of money for the universities. > [@boffking](#): > > and does the revenue the teams bring in really offset the cost of the coaches? For top-tier football schools, [yes](http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-football-profitable/). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/3 "2017-03-12T03:13:28Z")
The current figures have 39 states where the highest-paid public employee is a football or basketball coach at a public university. ---
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/4 "2017-03-12T03:36:22Z")
Indirectly, there’s also the promotional/advertising value of the school’s sports/name on national TV , and pride in the school’s achievements and stature results in large donations from alumni/boosters. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/5 "2017-03-12T03:39:05Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Because college football makes a lot of money for the universities. > > For top-tier football schools, [yes](http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-football-profitable/). From your link: “even within the so-called top tier, 82% of college football teams actually take away money from the university’s budget, rather than generate net revenue.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/6 "2017-03-12T04:26:41Z")
Also, the high salaries paid to top-team coaches [raise the baseline](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-zimbalist/college-coaches-salaries-_1_b_6400256.html) for other schools: > [@](#): > > One day after Jim Harbaugh was fired by the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, he signed a seven-year contract to coach at the University of Michigan. According to the Michigan Athletic Director, Harbaugh will be paid a guaranteed annual salary of $5 million, plus healthy bonuses for team success, a $2 million signing bonus and an unspecified amount of deferred salary. The AD said Harbaugh’s compensation package is similar to what he got from the 49ers. > > How can it be that the head coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines is paid the same as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers? The 49ers, after all, have yearly revenue in excess of $300 million. The Wolverines’ revenue is closer to $90 million. Can the coach’s incremental value really be similar in the two cases? No. […] > > Since the athletes can’t be paid, they are recruited without explicit financial incentives. Rather, the coach or his assistants makes a pitch to most promising high school footballers based on the college’s reputation, its facilities, its national exposure and its likely performance. A significant part of its exposure and its performance is expected to be related to the coach’s renown. > > Thus, the Jim Harbaugh’s, the NIck Sabin’s, or the Urban Meyer’s of the college football world have an advantage in recruiting the best high school players. The coach’s reputation is a part of the currency (in lieu of dollars) that is used to build a leading college football team. And, hence, the coach’s salary reflects the value of the athletes he brings to the school (who are not allowed to be paid.) The salary is then further boosted by two other artificial, extra-market factors: university and state subsidies to intercollegiate sports (the median operating deficit of FBS athletic programs is over $11 million) as well as a variety of federal tax preferences. As with CEO’s, the “going rate” for coaches has increased steeply over the past few decades. Not necessarily because the recipients are suddenly worth orders of magnitude more money, but because it’s very far from an ideal-market model. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/7 "2017-03-12T05:07:17Z")
Bread and Circuses. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/8 "2017-03-12T05:11:28Z")
Moved to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/9 "2017-03-12T06:29:06Z")
A key factor is there in **Kimstu** ’s quote: college football coaches are working in a market where there is a lot of money available due to a massive demand for the product, and where the people who provide the most essential component of the product—the players—cannot be paid. Or, to be more correct, can only be paid in tuition and other college expenses, the value of which is far lower than the market value of the skills and abilities the players bring. I’m not arguing that coaches’ salaries would take an immediate and massive nosedive if players were paid, but the fact that the pot of money would have to be spread among many more people would almost certainly result in a noticeable decline for coaches and other administrative aspects of college sports. Why do you think coaches and administrators love to wax lyrical about the values of amateurism while pulling in six and seven figure salaries? ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/10 "2017-03-12T16:40:53Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > A key factor is there in **Kimstu** ’s quote: college football coaches are working in a market where there is a lot of money available due to a massive demand for the product, and where the people who provide the most essential component of the product—the players—cannot be paid. Or, to be more correct, can only be paid in tuition and other college expenses, the value of which is far lower than the market value of the skills and abilities the players bring. > > I’m not arguing that coaches’ salaries would take an immediate and massive nosedive if players were paid, but the fact that the pot of money would have to be spread among many more people would almost certainly result in a noticeable decline for coaches and other administrative aspects of college sports. Why do you think coaches and administrators love to wax lyrical about the values of amateurism while pulling in six and seven figure salaries? Dabo Sweeney even asks us to believe that he would leave coaching rather than try to lead “entitled” Clemson players who were making money by playing college football. That’s an amazing lack of self awareness. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/11 "2017-03-12T20:57:21Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > From your link: “even within the so-called top tier, 82% of college football teams actually take away money from the university’s budget, rather than generate net revenue.” I thought athletics were seen as key to generating alumni donations - is that taken into account? I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the University of Kentucky’s basketball coach is our highest paid state employee, and you could probably double that salary accounting for endorsements and such… ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/12 "2017-03-13T15:25:35Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Dabo Sweeney even asks us to believe that he would leave coaching rather than try to lead “entitled” Clemson players who were making money by playing college football. That’s an amazing lack of self awareness. I don’t see that as having a lack of awareness at all, it’s completely true. Given his position I have no doubt that Dabo is an arrogant asshole, but he’s an arrogant asshole who worked his whole life to be paid what he is. The kids who would be paid for playing in college are in no way mature enough to handle that and would absolutely act like they’re entitled. Hell, they act that way NOW… > [@epbrown01](#): > > I thought athletics were seen as key to generating alumni donations - is that taken into account? This is a major part of it. I went to/tour guided at a mid-major school, and while all our sports were division 1, we don’t have a winning record of the Big Ten schools around us, and we absolutely lost students because of it. When you have a winning school it attracts students, and students equal money. I don’t have a cite for it, but a handful of years ago little ole’ Florida Gulf Coast University went to the Final Four, their attendance shot way up in the subsequent years because of the exposure the sports gave that school. Rinse and repeat for every subsequent successful year of sports and you have a near-constant revenue system. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/13 "2017-03-13T15:38:29Z")
> [@NetTrekker](#): > > Indirectly, there’s also the promotional/advertising value of the school’s sports/name on national TV , and pride in the school’s achievements and stature results in large donations from alumni/boosters. Or, “marketing.” The more you look at the cycle of college/sports/“prestige”/marketing/repeat, and how it runs the upper academic cycle (including spiraling college costs) the more absurd and disgusting the whole thing gets. Everyone wearing their sweat-stained, beer-soaked dear-old-U bleachers sweatshirt can just assume I know their reply to that. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/14 "2017-03-13T15:40:01Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Rinse and repeat for every subsequent successful year of sports and you have a near-constant revenue system. …that largely goes to maintaining the revenue system for its own sake, with the academic/non-sports side of the equation getting little more than reflected glory. And everyone knows that schools with championship teams issue better diplomas. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/15 "2017-03-13T16:43:19Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > The kids who would be paid for playing in college are in no way mature enough to handle that and would absolutely act like they’re entitled. Hell, they act that way NOW… Except these kids are the product. Everyone in the system gets paid except those who actually do the work. I know coaches do a lot of work, but they’re not going to lose out on their ability for a career when their knee gets blown out from a bad block. I agree that it’s hypocritical to fault the athletes for wanting to get paid by someone who gets paid very handsomely to coach. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/16 "2017-03-13T17:19:36Z")
I’m an outlier and I’d like to see the whole collegiate sports system yanked out of the schools and turn them into what they really are - minor league feeder systems for the major leagues. Then you can pay the kids. Then leave the college and university slots to those who actually want to get an education. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/17 "2017-03-13T17:31:19Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Except these kids are the product. Everyone in the system gets paid except those who actually do the work. I know coaches do a lot of work, but they’re not going to lose out on their ability for a career when their knee gets blown out from a bad block. I agree that it’s hypocritical to fault the athletes for wanting to get paid by someone who gets paid very handsomely to coach. The atheletes are paid with a free college education, the fact that they don’t apply themselves in school to actually learn something isn’t the system’s fault. Don’t let the athlete “wah wah I was too poor to eat one day” horror stories fool you, if an athlete is prevalent enough to be on TV whining about his lack of money, then he’s in a tier of athlete which can get whatever they want from whomever they want without going so far as getting a recruiting violation about it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/18 "2017-03-13T17:35:20Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I’m an outlier and I’d like to see the whole collegiate sports system yanked out of the schools and turn them into what they really are - minor league feeder systems for the major leagues. Though, this is really only true for football and basketball, and even then, mostly only at the Division I level. The vast majority of college athletes (even those playing football or men’s basketball at a “power conference” school) will never compete professionally, and many are in sports in which there is little (or nothing) in the way of a professional career path. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/19 "2017-03-13T17:54:15Z")
One thing you are failing to note is that in many cases at the larger schools, the football programs essentially foot the bill for ALL other sports (most of which are massive money losers), as well as pay the coaches’ salaries, facilities costs, etc… and in some cases, actually pay back INTO the general fund. In addition to that, wealthy donors often pair athletic and academic donations together when donating, so the better the athletic teams do, the more money the academic programs tend to get. For example: > **[Protecting the Weak Side: College Football Revenue Props Up Other Sports](https://www.texastribune.org/2016/03/17/how-college-football-props-entire-athletic-departm/)** > > The NCAA men's basketball tournament may have the nation's attention now, but football is the true cash cow in Texas college sports, according to records reviewed as part of the Tribune's Ballpark Figures project. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976/20 "2017-03-13T18:25:23Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > The current figures have 39 states where the highest-paid public employee is a football or basketball coach at a public university. > [@epbrown01](#): > > I thought athletics were seen as key to generating alumni donations - is that taken into account? > > I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that the University of Kentucky’s basketball coach is our highest paid state employee, and you could probably double that salary accounting for endorsements and such… Yes. I am far from well informed on this issue, and I have no cite, but I understand that there are often side deals (like a percentage take on “spiritwear” at the student bookstores) added into this. Frankly, I think this is to reduce transparency, so that it is hard to see just how very much they are raking in. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-college-sport-coaches-paid-so-much/781976.md?page=2)