College Sports Totally out of Balance

[Bright Raven]

This was in the news here today:

The AD, Tom Jurich makes more than the entire math department at the University of Louisville. It is so ridiculous, you cannot keep from laughing.

Rick Pitino, who the University of Louisville recently suspended, is the highest paid basketball coach in the NCAA. He made $7.7 million last year — $5.1 million of which was university salary. But it came to light on Thursday that the school's athletic director, Tom Jurich, is also the highest paid in the NCAA; he made $5.3 million last year — over $3 million more than any other athletic director in the U.S., according to the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Jurich also made more money than the school budgeted for the following departments, the Courier-Journal calculated:

English ($4 million)
Math ($3.5 million)
Biology ($3.3 million)
History ($2.4 million)

Its a shame. I visited U of L several times when my son worked as a researcher at the U of L med school. U of L is a fine University.

 

[Bestoutwest]

People wonder why our country is falling behind? It's because we've turned sports into God. I'm not against sports, but there is absolutely no reason that the a person who coaches 15 people should be making more than an entire department.

 

[Bright Raven]

I am not anti-sports. But where you put your money says a lot about your values.

Pro sports advocates argue that sports brings in revenue. True, but at U of L it went to Pitino and Jurich:

https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.c ... d=50328853

 

[TexasBred]

I am not anti-sports. But where you put your money says a lot about your values.

Pro sports advocates argue that sports brings in revenue. True, but at U of L it went to Pitino and Jurich:

https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.c ... d=50328853

Make it profitable and the entire university benefits:

That amount of money, which puts the A&M men's athletic department in the top echelon of moneymakers in the country, isn't likely to be sustainable long-term. Almost $50 million of it came from donations earmarked specifically for Kyle Field's renovation, officials said. But they say the school's new "normal" for annual football revenue is now around $60 million. That's enough to create a financially stable, profitable department, they say.

Officials say the turnaround has benefited more than just the sports teams.

"When we were raising money for Kyle Field, it was not uncommon for someone to give $10 million to build Kyle Field and another $10 million to the chemistry department or $10 million to engineering," Sharp said.

The department hasn't required any kind of subsidy from the university since 2009, officials said. And now university officials are planning to reverse the flow of cash. Jeff Toole, chief financial officer for the athletic department, said A&M athletics has committed to sending the university some additional money back to assist "with some one-time expenditures."

The exact amount it will send hasn't been determined, Toole said. But the transfers will put A&M in rare company. Only a few dozen athletic departments — out of hundreds — in the country survive without some kind of subsidy from their university. Far fewer send money back to their school, though UT-Austin has done it for years.

"As we have the ability to provide funds to the university to assist in meeting academic needs while still achieving our core athletics mission, we intend to do so, as it it's the right thing to do as part of Texas A&M," Toole said.

Without football, the situation would be much different. A&M fans are known to be strong supporters of all their teams, showing up in the thousands even at women's soccer games. But those other sports don't pay for themselves. The women's soccer team spent about $4 million in 2015, while generating about $3 million. Women's softball spent $2 million, while earning $600,000. And men's golf spent more than $1 million, while only bringing in $165,000.

Overall, the football team turned an $86.7 million profit in the 2014-15 school year. The rest of A&M's sports teams lost a combined $19.4 million.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

You can thank the booster clubs for a lot of that...here Alabama business men put tons of money in the coaches pockets..you can bet as good a coach as Saben is,,he don't want to lose this gravy train rolling on biscuits .. They make a lot of the decisions and twist the colleges arms...

 

[JWBrahman]

Louisiana spends more than any other state on coach salaries. It's a sheeyit investment. We perennially top the list of poverty, obesity, STD infections, teen pregnancies, etc.

We spend so much on the salaries that the actual facilities are falling apart and a national embarrassment. The local sale barn is cleaner and doesn't stink as bad as Tiger Stadium at LSU.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Louisiana spends more than any other state on coach salaries. It's a sheeyit investment. We perennially top the list of poverty, obesity, STD infections, teen pregnancies, etc.

We spend so much on the salaries that the actual facilities are falling apart and a national embarrassment. The local sale barn is cleaner and doesn't stink as bad as Tiger Stadium at LSU.

Might need to put a little more grease on their palms, when they let Troy state beat em :cowboy:

 

[TexasBred]

You can thank the booster clubs for a lot of that...here Alabama business men put tons of money in the coaches pockets..you can bet as good a coach as Saben is,,he don't want to lose this gravy train rolling on biscuits .. They make a lot of the decisions and twist the colleges arms...

I've always thought Alumni associations and individuals had way to much influence on universities. Once the alumni turn against you, you might as well pack your bags and it shouldn't be that way.

 

[JWBrahman]

TB there was a good article on businessreport.com comparing Louisiana and Texas.

At least with the alumni you get some sort of accountability. Our head coach at LSU is basically picked by our governor. In Texas the universities have more autonomy. Therefore, your academics are better and the sports programs are more profitable.

The clown coach at LSU has no incentive to win. He gets a $12 million payout if he gets fired this year.

 

[Craig Miller]

I am not anti-sports. But where you put your money says a lot about your values.

Pro sports advocates argue that sports brings in revenue. True, but at U of L it went to Pitino and Jurich:

https://www.google.com/amp/abcnews.go.c ... d=50328853

Make it profitable and the entire university benefits:

That amount of money, which puts the A&M men's athletic department in the top echelon of moneymakers in the country, isn't likely to be sustainable long-term. Almost $50 million of it came from donations earmarked specifically for Kyle Field's renovation, officials said. But they say the school's new "normal" for annual football revenue is now around $60 million. That's enough to create a financially stable, profitable department, they say.

Officials say the turnaround has benefited more than just the sports teams.

"When we were raising money for Kyle Field, it was not uncommon for someone to give $10 million to build Kyle Field and another $10 million to the chemistry department or $10 million to engineering," Sharp said.

The department hasn't required any kind of subsidy from the university since 2009, officials said. And now university officials are planning to reverse the flow of cash. Jeff Toole, chief financial officer for the athletic department, said A&M athletics has committed to sending the university some additional money back to assist "with some one-time expenditures."

The exact amount it will send hasn't been determined, Toole said. But the transfers will put A&M in rare company. Only a few dozen athletic departments — out of hundreds — in the country survive without some kind of subsidy from their university. Far fewer send money back to their school, though UT-Austin has done it for years.

"As we have the ability to provide funds to the university to assist in meeting academic needs while still achieving our core athletics mission, we intend to do so, as it it's the right thing to do as part of Texas A&M," Toole said.

Without football, the situation would be much different. A&M fans are known to be strong supporters of all their teams, showing up in the thousands even at women's soccer games. But those other sports don't pay for themselves. The women's soccer team spent about $4 million in 2015, while generating about $3 million. Women's softball spent $2 million, while earning $600,000. And men's golf spent more than $1 million, while only bringing in $165,000.

Overall, the football team turned an $86.7 million profit in the 2014-15 school year. The rest of A&M's sports teams lost a combined $19.4 million.

That's a surprising read TB. Why cdo they continue to support those sports that don't make money? Looks to me like if they dropped non profitable sports--and other cut backs---they could lower their tuition cost and get back to teaching students

 

[TexasBred]

That's a surprising read TB. Why cdo they continue to support those sports that don't make money? Looks to me like if they dropped non profitable sports--and other cut backs---they could lower their tuition cost and get back to teaching students

Good question Craig...I'm sure Title IX comes into play somewhere in the grand scheme of things.

 

[WalnutCrest]

When Georgia Tech won the football national championship (1993?), they saw their applications for admission nearly double. Admissions standards went way up. Higher GPA and SAT scores than for any other clad in the history of the school. To my knowledge, they've never looked back.

The spike in applications occurs at most schools that have atypical success in football or men's basketball, but not every school retains the benefit.

Separately, some coaches do quite a bit for their schools. It's my understanding that the reason Texas Tech got a new library several years ago is because Bobby Knight personally raised the entire amount of the seed capital from boosters for the campaign.

College athletes should get paid beyond the value of their degree. Coaches and bureaucrats should make less.

However, as long as the advertising dollars are there, the TV contacts will be gigantic... which is pretty much the only way TAMU football is that profitable. ESPN is sucking wind. I can imagine we may have peaked in terms of TV contacts.

 

[TexasBred]

When Georgia Tech won the football national championship (1993?), they saw their applications for admission nearly double. Admissions standards went way up. Higher GPA and SAT scores than for any other clad in the history of the school. To my knowledge, they've never looked back.

The spike in applications occurs at most schools that have atypical success in football or men's basketball, but not every school retains the benefit.

Separately, some coaches do quite a bit for their schools. It's my understanding that the reason Texas Tech got a new library several years ago is because Bobby Knight personally raised the entire amount of the seed capital from boosters for the campaign.

College athletes should get paid beyond the value of their degree. Coaches and bureaucrats should make less.

However, as long as the advertising dollars are there, the TV contacts will be gigantic... which is pretty much the only way TAMU football is that profitable. ESPN is sucking wind. I can imagine we may have peaked in terms of TV contacts.

TAMU and ALL other members of the SEC get EQUAL shares of the TV money. There are no big dogs. Vanderbilt gets just as much as Alabama from any TV monies. It helps to have a stadium that seats 110,000 and fill it up every game. Most larger schools also get from $3 to $5 million a year from Nike/Adidas, Under Armour etc. to wear their uniforms and the uniforms, shoes, etc. are all free to the university. ESPN is sucking wind only on the Longhorn network as are the Longhorns who thought they had struck gold only to find out the SEC Network makes much more now as does the Big 10.

 

[TexasBred]

When Georgia Tech won the football national championship (1993?), they saw their applications for admission nearly double. Admissions standards went way up. Higher GPA and SAT scores than for any other clad in the history of the school. To my knowledge, they've never looked back.

The spike in applications occurs at most schools that have atypical success in football or men's basketball, but not every school retains the benefit.

Separately, some coaches do quite a bit for their schools. It's my understanding that the reason Texas Tech got a new library several years ago is because Bobby Knight personally raised the entire amount of the seed capital from boosters for the campaign.

College athletes should get paid beyond the value of their degree. Coaches and bureaucrats should make less.

However, as long as the advertising dollars are there, the TV contacts will be gigantic... which is pretty much the only way TAMU football is that profitable. ESPN is sucking wind. I can imagine we may have peaked in terms of TV contacts.

TAMU and ALL other members of the SEC get EQUAL shares of the TV money. There are no big dogs. Vanderbilt gets just as much as Alabama from any TV monies. It helps to have a stadium that seats 110,000 and fill it up every game. Most larger schools also get from $3 to $5 million a year from Nike/Adidas, Under Armour etc. to wear their uniforms and the uniforms, shoes, etc. are all free to the university. ESPN is sucking wind only on the Longhorn network as are the Longhorns who thought they had struck gold only to find out the SEC Network makes much more now as does the Big 10. As for paying athletes, I'm against it. I'm sure successful athletic programs help but in the case of A&M they've never had a hugely successful program (football especially) even though they've had a few good years. When I was there they had 7500 students.....today they have 60,000 and the campus is over 5,000 acres. I'd have to have a taxi to even find my classes. :lol2:

 

[Craig Miller]

Which is why if you check the coaches polls you find every sec coach voting for alabama for the last few years. Even auburn. He has to vote for the money

 

[ALACOWMAN]

It goes on to a lesser extent...in high school sports...

 

[TexasBred]

Which is why if you check the coaches polls you find every sec coach voting for alabama for the last few years. Even auburn. He has to vote for the money

Well Craig they also have to vote for them because they've kicked everybody else's a$$ usually. :lol: :lol:

What I wonder about even more than college sports is HS sports. WE've got some of the more wealthy rapidly growing schools down here building $25 million dollar football stadiums. Just doesn't make sense.