The University Presidents

College Sports Out of Control – Blame the University Presidents by Rene A. Henry

Special to HNN, December 17, 2007

A quick look at the athletic department budgets of many colleges and universities, and the salaries being paid to football and basketball coaches, you would think you were reviewing the financial statement of a Fortune 500 company.

The cost of running sports programs at major colleges and universities is spiraling completely out of control and needs to be brought back to reality. If the same rules are applied to all, there will be a level playing field and costs can be reduced for all across- the-board. The ultimate responsibility lies with the presidents and chancellors of the universities and the boards of regents and governors to whom they report. All must start being held accountable.

What is needed is a Sarbanes-Oxley Act for higher education with complete transparency when it comes to the athletic program.

If you’re upset about mega-million dollar contracts being handed out to coaches, then blame the college presidents. Even worse is when a coach who has years and millions of dollars left on a contract, fails to win and is fired. Too many colleges are paying more than double the price for a coach.

What kind of message is this sending to the American public? Many public colleges and universities who once called themselves “state supported” now, because of decreasing funds, use the term “state assisted.” Some who received less than 15 percent public support from their legislature now even say they are just “state located.”

Are you upset that your favorite football or basketball coach just left to go to another university with several years remaining on his contact? The presidents at both universities involved must share responsibility for allowing a breach of contract. Actions by the president of the proselytizing institution should be carefully scrutinized if not penalized. The coach who made promises to the athletes, alumni, fans and administration needs a remedial course in veracity and conviction. Higher education, which should be a bastion of ethics and integrity, seems to have little respect today for contracts and agreements.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association which sets the rules and governs competition in all intercollegiate sports is not run by coaches or athletic directors, but the college and university presidents. In 2002, the presidents chose one of their own, Myles Brand, former head of Indiana University, to run the NCAA. What about the increased cost of tickets to games because of spiraling costs of the athletic program? Again, blame the presidents. The same is true if you lost your favorite team mascot or the logo was changed and thousands of dollars had to be spent for a new design and cost implementation because of a “political correctness” campaign. Should athletic department budgets exceed $100 million with tax exempt revenues?

In professional sports, when a coach or player is lured away from one team to another, a price must be paid with financial compensation or the loss of a draft pick. Why not have a similar arrangement in intercollegiate sports regarding coaches? If an athlete decides he wants to change universities, the NCAA requires that she or he must sit out a year before competing at the new college. I would suggest that the NCAA require the coach who has a contract with a college to sit out a year before he can coach at the new institution.

However, the University of Michigan will make sure this will never happen. In April, Mary Sue Coleman and William C. Martin, Michigan’s president and athletic director, respectively, lured John Beilein away from West Virginia University to be the new head men’s basketball coach for the Wolverines. After being turned down twice for a replacement for head football coach Lloyd Carr, Coleman and Martin turned again to West Virginia and succeeded in getting the Mountaineers’ head football coach, Rich Rodriguez, to breach his contract to come to Ann Arbor. Rumor has it that Michigan is looking hard at the head coach of another sport in Morgantown. Dr. Coleman is a member of the NCAA’s board and also a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Last year after turning down an offer by the University of Alabama, Rodriguez promised his allegiance to WVU and signed a contract extended to 2013 but with a $4 million buyout if he left before September 2008. Now lawyers and agents will determine the payment of the $4 million.

Teams will be playing in bowl games later this month and the players will be without the coaches who helped direct them to their successful seasons. The NCAA should not allow any discussion between institutions regarding coaching changes until after the last bowl game in football and after the finals of the basketball championships.

But when coaches fail to win or the program gets in trouble, the presidents never admit making an error and sometimes even fire the athletic director. In October, Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman fired his athletic director, Steve Pederson, after the Cornhuskers suffered back-to-back losses of 45-14 to Oklahoma State and 41-6 to Missouri. Just three months earlier, Perlman renewed Pederson’s contract for five years.

In December, Mark Emmert, who makes nearly $1 million a year as president of the University of Washington, terminated Todd Turner, his athletic director, who was in the middle of a five-year contract. The action came only six days after the school, with Emmert’s approval, retained football coach Tyrone Willingham following a 4-9 season. The NCAA has been gutless when it comes to limiting spending on sports. For example, why does a college football team need to have two or three times more uniformed players than a professional team in the NFL? Or larger coaching staffs? Or coaches being paid more than their professional counterparts? There is no justifiable answer. The number of players on a team should be limited and scholarships appropriately reduced over a three-year period. Eliminate redshirting. With fewer players, fewer coaches and support staff would be needed. Training, travel and per diem costs would be slashed. A level playing field can be created but only if the people in charge – the presidents and chancellors – do their jobs.

The NCAA and its leadership and members forget that intercollegiate sports exist for one reason only – because there is an academic institution. The institution of higher learning does not exist so there can be football, basketball and other sports team. In response to the overpaid coaches and the cost of athletic programs, some presidents, chancellors and athletic directors will offer the excuse that the funds are paid by alumni and friends. If this is the case, let those so-called “philanthropists” endow scholarships to young people who otherwise might not be able to afford a college education and who might just be the next Nobel prize laureate, break through scientist, or even a governor or president of the U.S.

What a different world it would be if coaches were given bonuses not for winning, but for molding character of individuals and insuring the scholar athletes graduate with degrees. And hold these same coaches to conduct standards with salary deduction penalties if thugs are recruited who might win games but end up being arrested and disgrace the institution. Taking the money out of winning might result in fewer recruiting violations and more honest athletic programs.

Change is needed and change is needed now. It can start first with public institutions where the governor of the state and the state legislature have oversight.

Rene A. Henry lives in Seattle, Washington and is the author of six books. His experience in national and international sports spans five decades and during his career he spent 10 years at institutions in higher education, including West Virginia University. Other commentaries and opinion pieces he has written can be seen on his website at www.renehenry.com.