You Get Paid for Football.. Why Can’t I?
Mark Richt's signature on his University of Georgia coaching contract is worth $3.3 million — and running back Todd Gurley's on various pieces of sports memorabilia is worth roughly $3,000, plus a four-game suspension1. It’s absurd when you take into account the amateur restrictions that the NCAA has in place to ensure that student athletes are not able to receive even the smallest compensation from an outside source, without facing repercussions. The spectrum is so skewed that coaches are in most cases one of the highest paid employees at a university; but the very thing that them these contracts (the work of student athletes) goes unrewarded.
“Top-tier college football coaches are making twice as much as they did in 2006, when USA TODAY Sports ran its first coaches' salary survey.1” Then, coaches at the NCAA's 119 Football Bowl Subdivision schools were making an average upwards of $950,000. Currently, at those same 119 schools (of the 128 current), the average salary is about $1.95 million. Even when adjusted for inflation, salaries have nearly doubled.1 Richt, whose 14 seasons at Georgia make him one of the nation's longest-tenured coaches at his current school, has a middle-of-the-pack salary for coaches in the Southeastern Conference, where schools generate staggering amounts of football revenue. Georgia's athletic programs generated $77.5 million in revenue for 2012-13 seasons; This total was only good for fourth in the nation and second in the SEC, According to school's most recent financial reports to the NCAA. Richt's base salary is $400,000. His contract with the UGa Athletic Association lists "other university compensation" as $1.5 million for media appearances, $1.2 million for footwear and apparel endorsements and almost $130,000 for camps and clinics. The $3.3 million figure also includes about $114,000 from Richt's athletically related outside income report.1 
As of the 2014 season the top 3 highest paid Division 1 Football coaches are Alabama’s Nick Saban with $7,160,187; Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio at $5,636,145; and Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops bringing in $5,058,333.2 These coaches are rewarded for their success in their programs, in other words they win, they get big checks. No one comes to a game to see a coach talk into a headset; fans come to see their favorite players perform and their team win. When a player or team has success, revenue is generated. When revenue is generated, the head coach is rewarded. In my next installment I will be looking at more of the penalties faced by athletes for accepting what is termed “improper benefits” while under the NCAA umbrella.
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Man, you have me against the wall here .... I never thought college athletes should be paid. I have always viewed it as 'play ball in exchange for an education,' that the rest of us have to pay for. However, the salaries of the coaches is staggering. It is true that I have never gone to a game to watch the coach. Looking forward to more of your writing. You may just change my mind!
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