God bless The NCAA and Miles Brand.
From USA Today, December 7, 2006:
Compensation for college head coaches — especially the fast-escalating deals for football coaches — is becoming an increasingly significant issue for NCAA schools, association president Myles Brand said Monday.
During a session at the annual Street & Smith’s Intercollegiate Athletics Forum here, Brand and other panelists were asked what they thought would be the most important story to follow in the upcoming year.
“Coaches’ contracts,” said Brand, who added “agents have the upper hand” now and schools may need outside help negotiating these deals. Antitrust laws bar the NCAA from setting salary limits.
“The salaries take your breath away,” said Hartford President Walter Harrison, whose school does not have a varsity football team but plays Division I basketball. “We all want the best coach we can afford … but individual presidents have to start looking at all these costs and say, ‘Can we really afford this?'”
From today’s Indianapolis Star (h/t The Wizard of Odds):
NCAA president Myles Brand, whose organization has been scrutinized by Congress over the past year for its tax-exempt status, received compensation of more than $895,000 in 2005-06, according to public tax records released Wednesday.
University of Hartford president Walter Harrison, whose term as head of the NCAA’s executive committee ended in April, said Brand is doing a “spectacular job.”
“The job is incredibly challenging in a way most people wouldn’t recognize,” Harrison said. “Most people think of the major headlines — congressional inquiries, overseeing academic reform, the controversies of the day. But there are lots of other things, like how one keeps the peace among numerous constituencies. And, he’s running a $500 million organization.”
There is one public university president and eight private university presidents who make more than Brand, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
One little side item of note: The NCAA reported revenue of $549 million on the tax form, the vast majority of which comes from the Division I men’s basketball tournament. Just think what kind of raise would be in store for Brand if D-1 football’s postseason came under the auspices of the NCAA.
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The football thought is interesting, but I think that money would be sent back to the schools as well. Currently, 94 percent of NCAA revenue is sent back to member institutions.
Dr. Brand makes a lot of money, but let’s remember that he was a philosophy professor, university president and has a doctorate. Do the millionaire football coaches boast those credentials?
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Josh, I’m a free market guy, so I don’t begrudge the salaries paid to either Dr. Brand or the football coaches.
I just find it somewhere between funny and hypocritical that the presidents – who, after all, are the ones who sign off on both of these salaries – can take these kinds of contradictory stands with a straight face.
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I don’t disagree with you. I think the entire system is out of whack. I’ve asked Dr. Brand about salaries before, and he believes they are becoming excessive for coaches.
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