The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Periodically the Sports Section of USA Today publishes the salaries of football and basketball coaches in Division I universities and colleges. A few hundred men make over half a million dollars a year in total annual compensation, additional scores make one to three million dollars per annum, and some make over five million dollars.
Recently there was a story about the income of assistant coaches. Currently the University of Alabama football team is ranked No. 1 in the polls. By coincidence – or not – the total collective pay for their assistant coaches is also No. 1, at $8,850,000. (Their head coach is also the highest paid in college [or professional] football.) Ohio State is ranked No. 4, and their assistant total is No. 2, at $7,859,000. Clemson, No. 3, is No. 3, at $7,641,000. The highest paid of those assistant coaches were in the two-million-plus range. This is for an assistant coach.
The salaries of each of the top hundred head football or basketball coaches with the top athletic rankings ordinarily exceed the salaries of the presidents or chancellors of those institutions by a factor of two to six or eight times as much. Their salaries are usually the highest for any public official in their state, including the governor.
That is scandalous. As much as many Americans love sports, and I am one of them, it is a travesty that so much money is poured into college athletics compared to what goes into the education those colleges were established to provide. Too many universities and colleges are widely known for the quality of their sports programs rather than their academics.
From the time the first intercollegiate college football game was played in November of 1869 (Princeton vs. Rutgers), sports have grown in importance exponentially in higher education, while higher education has moved farther and farther toward the rear of the academic enterprise.
“Academic scholarships” have evolved into an oxymoron. Too much is required athletically of too many students on athletic scholarships, and too little is demanded of them scholastically. Obviously there are numerous exceptions to that generalization, but too many athletic recruits in too many schools go there solely for their athletic prowess, and their education is a decidedly secondary factor in their enrollment.
When the athletic tail is the primary factor in the wagging of the academic dog, there is a major institutional problem. If large numbers of students choose a college based mainly on its athletics and not on its academics, that college is inevitably and eventually going to suffer academically. State-supported schools particularly should benefit state students academically, and athletics should be a distant secondary concern. If students want excellent athletics along with excellent academics, let them choose Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame, or Northwestern, and best of luck in being accepted. But the fact that there are so few outstanding large private universities that are good in both academics and athletics suggests that too much emphasis has gone into athletics at the expense of academics in the state universities.
The Ivy League is the classic example for emphasizing academics and deliberately downplaying athletics. The fans might be almost fanatical, even if the football is somewhat farcical. If the administrations in every “athletic” conference made the Ivy League their ideal, the USA would not be slipping internationally in so many different areas of scholastic enterprise.
“School spirit” should involve far more than what happens on a football field or basketball court. Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame and Northwestern have it, as do Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.
Higher education has become too expensive for too many students. Cutting down on the costs of athletics might help to make colleges more marketable and affordable.
Put more money into academics and less into athletics, and make universities universe-ities again. Athletics can enhance school spirit, but it should not happen at the expense of academics.
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org. - December 23, 2020