You want to know why coaching salaries continue to rise? Jimmy Sexton will tell you.
Q: There has been a sharp increase in coaching salaries in the last 10 years. Did you see that coming?
A: Not really. People say, “How did you not see it coming?” I remember in the mid- to late-90s, the top salary was in the $1.2 to $1.3, $1.4 (million) range in college football. Now it’s three to four times that. I don’t know if I ever saw it coming like that. What you’ve got to look at … is that it coincides with the way the revenues expand. I’ve always said this over and over again — businesses won’t pay more than they can afford to pay, or they don’t stay in business very long. College sports, pro sports, they’re big businesses nowadays. They’re not going to pay more to a coach than they can afford to pay.
People say, “These salaries are out of whack.” Well, are they out of whack? Then why to they keep paying them? I think you’ve got to look at it that way. At some point if they get to be too much, they’ll stop paying them, but I don’t see an end in sight to it right now.
And you wonder why college presidents get their asses kicked by agents? One side sees this as business; the other wants to see it as an extension of academia. One side embraces the power of the market place; the other wrings their hands and rails against the laws of supply and demand. It’s not exactly a fair fight.
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Spurrier was making $2 million a year in 1997, which at the time was tops for NCAA Footbal Coaches. That does not necessarily refute the point the author is making, but the increases in salary are not quite as much when that is taken into account.
Also, $2 million a year was a pretty standard salary for top notch NFL coaches at the time. That is the reason Florida payed Spurrier that rate, as they were competing with the pros for his services.
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escalating TV revenue free talent rabid fan base looking for wins = $$$ for coaches
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The salaries for the top coaches are not a surprise. It makes sense. The ridiculous thing is the salaries for the rest of them. Just like second tier players in pro sports. Apparently the agents have sold them on some kool-aid that I don’t understand. Especially mid-level baseball players. In my opinion a playoff caliber coach/player is worth 50% of a Championship caliber coach/player. Nice but no one wants just the playoffs or a lower tier bowl. The AD who pays Kiffy that much money is the idiot that will bankrupt the system, not the salaries of the best coaches. Those guys earn their keep.
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