Ah, what to do with the torrent of broadcast money flowing into college football in the age of amateurism?
I think we know the answer to that.
The linked article is a hoot… unless you’re a strength coach’s agent, in which case it’s manna from heaven in terms of planting the awareness in the heads of every P5 athletic director in the country that everybody gets to make bank these days.
Iowa’s Chris Doyle is the highest-paid strength coach in the country, with a base annual pay of $625,000. That is the same salary Iowa pays to its offensive and defensive coordinators. Alabama’s Scott Cochran had his base pay bumped from $420,000 in 2015 to $525,000 this fall after a high-profile dalliance with rival Georgia; much a like an assistant coach, Cochran saw his salary rise due to outside interest.
Doyle, Marotti and Cochran each are paid more than 17 public school head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Five strength coaches — Doyle, Marotti, Cochran, UCLA’s Sal Alosi and South Carolina’s Jeff Dillman — are making at least $400,000 annually. Six — the aforementioned quintet plus Oklahoma State’s Rob Glass — make more than two FBS head coaches: Louisiana Monroe’s Matt Viator and New Mexico State’s Doug Martin.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s America and people should make whatever the market will bear. But this is a perfect example of the kind of market distortions you get when you combine lots of money, an artificially inexpensive labor base and athletic directors who have to kowtow to what their boosters and coaches think is appropriate.
The fun will come in trying to predict where the next bubble comes. My money’s on recruiting directors.
By the way, if you really want some indication of how vast the money flow is these days, check out USA Today’s chart on assistant pay and guess where Georgia ranks among all the schools in the country. Given B-M’s reputation for frugality, combined with the absence of chest-thumping and/or fretting about handing out those kind of bucks — remember the days when Richt had to come out of his own pocket to pay bonuses to his staff? — that’s pretty remarkable stuff.
Get The Picture 
I should have majored in Sports Studies or PE or something and gone into coaching.. What was I thinking?
LikeLike
My money is on nutritionists.
LikeLike
I know it’s a dumb idea but I will throw it out anyway.
If I were the dean of the franklin college I would sue the athletic association for a significant amount of the money that they get from the SEC and CBS networks. Yes, the money is compensation for broadcasting Georgia football. I contend that Georgia football represents the University in its entirety, not just the athletic association. In this vein, the university at large should be compensated as well.
LikeLike
Hit em with the ole “It’s the name on the front, not the name on the back” whammy….love it.
and certainly what Terry, Franklin and Grady do contribute to that name on the front.
I think we can all agree that Terry is the football of the schools and should get the biggest cut.
LikeLike
Terry is the football of the schools? Sounds about right. Shiny new facility, new(-ish) leadership. a few good programs but overall underwhelming, and dropping in the rankings.
LikeLike
dawgrading the academics now…great work.
LikeLike
Nope, not academics as a whole. The University is doing just fine rankings wise and headed the right direction. One unit is just not following suit.
LikeLike
It really gross that they just keep pouring money into any guys pocket that they can find, except for the players. And act broke the whole time.
Does anyone think that the quality of football in the SEC is better today than it was previously?
I dont think so. And there was probably more spending on football this year in the SEC than at any point in college football history.
LikeLike
The next bubble comes as a burst. When the TV money starts to go away because when the inevitable expanded playoff causes dwindling interest in the regular season, networks are not going to be willing to pony up as much for those contracts. Perhaps that will be replaced by more playoff money, or perhaps not. I just don’t think – given the nature of football versus basketball – that more money can be sucked from and expanded cfb playoff. Richmond Football is not knocking off Alabama, and thus the pure volume of content across 64 teams would not be the same. I speculate that the rapid, exponential TV revenue increase over the last two years has got to burst. When it does, college admins do not and will not have the expertise to navigate that situation.
LikeLike
We’re not getting our money’s worth.
LikeLike
What else you going to do with all that money…leave it to the kids?
LikeLike
Hush your mouth!
LikeLike
I really think this is substantially similar to the vast increase in CEO salaries that has occurred at the same time. Studies have shown that the increase in CEO pay is a psychological phenomenon where the Board of Directors for each company are concerned with public perception of the CEO’s salary versus their competitors. If their competitors are paying their CEO twice what they are, they are concerned that investors will think their competitor has a better CEO. It is the same with replacements. If you pay the replacement CEO less than what the last guy made, they are worried that investors will think they are getting a down-grade.
We saw this same behavior on this board. Doesn’t everyone remember back when people were complaining that McGarity was exploiting Richt’s loyalty inorder to enrich the reserve fund and how the public perception of a lower salary was hurting recruiting and that some other team was going to poach him away because he was insulted that he wasn’t getting a giant raise?
LikeLike