Successful coaches deserve high-end salaries
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Beat up Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun, if you must. He probably deserves it after the whining he did a week ago about the rough play in Pitt's win against his then-No. 1 team in Hartford. He was at it again over the weekend when he joked of the rematch March 7 at Pitt, "We've ordered the shoulder pads and helmets." Gamesmanship? Sure. But it also was a bit unseemly for a Hall of Famer and a coaching legend.
Here's guessing the kids in the Oakland Zoo will let Calhoun hear about it when Connecticut pulls into Petersen Events Center.
But though Calhoun is a fair target in that regard, he shouldn't have to defend his salary. He says he makes a lot more than the $1.6 million that state records show, what with shoe endorsements, camps and radio-television opportunities. I say he earns every penny.
Calhoun's salary became a national story Saturday when he was confronted by a freelance journalist/political activist after Connecticut's win against South Florida. Basically, Ken Krayeske wanted to know how Calhoun justifies making the big money as Connecticut's highest-paid state employee at a time the state is going down the financial toilet.
It made for quite the YouTube moment.
"Not a dime back. I'd like to be able to retire someday. I'm getting tired," Calhoun said, attempting to shrug off the question.
But when Krayeske persisted, Calhoun erupted. He was dead wrong to call Krayeske "stupid" and to tell him to "shut up." But he was dead on with the point he then made.
"Quite frankly, [the Connecticut men's basketball program] brings in $12 million to the university ... nothing to do with state funds," Calhoun said. "We make $12 million a year for this university. Get some facts and come back and see me."
Here's another way of looking at it:
If every Connecticut employee did his or her job as well as Calhoun, the state wouldn't be in such trouble.
The same is true in Pennsylvania.
If every employee were as successful as Penn State football coach Joe Paterno and Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon, we would be better off.
It starts with winning, of course. Calhoun has won two national championships and will be going for his 800th win at Marquette tomorrow night. Paterno has won two national titles and is major college football's winningest coach with 383 victories. Dixon has Pitt ranked No. 1 in the national polls and will be taking the Panthers to the NCAA tournament next month for the sixth time in his six seasons.
But what really matters is what the winning generates.
Huge money.
No one in Connecticut is quite sure where Calhoun came up with that $12 million-a-year figure, but the profits from his basketball program surely are substantial because of ticket sales, television revenue and alumni donations. Paterno, alone, has raised countless millions for Penn State.
"When you're successful [in intercollegiate athletics] it generates enthusiasm," Pitt chancellor Mark Nordenberg said a few years ago. "It helps develop a sense of community. It brings the student body together. It energizes the alumni. It positions you to make new friends."
That's why Nordenberg probably doesn't mind that Dixon ($1.3 million) and football coach Dave Wannstedt ($824,000) were Pitt's two highest-paid employees with salaries that dwarfed his ($460,000) in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007. Their basketball and football programs, along with the fund-raising that goes with their success, fund Pitt's entire athletic department.
Unfortunately, we live in such troubled economic times that many people care too much about what the other guy is making. It's understandable, I suppose. We're bombarded with news about CEOs taking millions out of their crumbling companies while their employees are losing their jobs.
But coaches aren't like those CEOs. Their salaries aren't set by their cronies on their board of directors. They have a boss to whom they answer ...
Well, maybe not Paterno, but other coaches.
Anyway, a coach's salary is a direct reflection of what he gives back to his university. Chancellors and presidents don't hand over the big money because they like a coach. They do it because they believe that coach will be worth every cent.
And when the coach stops being worth it? He is fired, much quicker than he would have been years ago. It's fair to think Wannstedt's job was in some jeopardy when Pitt opened last season -- his fourth -- with a humiliating home loss to Bowling Green. His team ended the speculation by bouncing back to finish 9-4 with a trip to the Sun Bowl.
But the pressure to keep winning despite greater parity in college sports and the pressure to keep the revenue rolling in despite a rough economy never end. If anything, those pressures grow a little more every year.
Clearly, the Calhouns, Paternos and Dixons of the sports world earn their pay.
They especially earn it in these difficult financial times.
First Published February 24, 2009 12:00 am
