50K Job

My last blog centered on a conversation I had with a friend who happened to be a college professor that feels professors should get the “coach” treatment for the job they do. After that conversation with her, I reached out to an old friend of mine who coached college football. Just so you know, he’s coached in at least two of the power five conferences and has been a head coach as well. We started off talking about coaches’ salaries versus teachers’ salaries, but the conversation moved to coaching and how much of a business it has become.

According to NCAA college athletic statistics, an estimated 47.9 million people attend NCAA college football games per year. The average revenue for a Division 1 school is over 15 million per year. That’s after all the bills are paid. In other words, college athletics makes a lot of money for the university. Having good coaches, a winning program and championships all go under that umbrella.

Going back to my conversation with the college coach, sometimes a team’s success comes down to two or three plays. One play can cost you a lot of money. It’s so big that some universities become creative trying to get a competitive edge. He told me about a particular university that hired a staffer who was paid 50k annually and his only job was to steal signs from other teams in the conference. As crazy as it sounds, it’s a legitimate story. He said the guy literally sits in the press box and steals play signs. “Mark”, the coach said, “If his team makes the right play and results in a win, that turns into money so that 50k was just a drop in the bucket.” My first response was wow, can I sign my son up since he’s in college. That would be the perfect job for him! Especially since he has managed to steal items from my house like food, towels and so on. Anyway, the next thought that came to mind was how much the average K-12thgrade teacher makes annually. No matter what it is, it probably doesn’t compare to a 50k job like the one that particular staffer had. It also makes you really think about where our priorities are in this country when it comes to education.

Now I know all colleges/universities cheat in some form of athletics to have a successful program! I’ve heard lots of ways colleges gain an advantage, but this one was a first. The crazy part about it all is the NCAA and colleges make so much money from the student athletes but fail to believe they should be paid. Don’t give me the argument that the pay is the education. Most of the student athletes aren’t even there for the education, and the ones that are seem to paying more for theirs than the average student. They pay for it with blood, sweat, and tears.

#NCAA #markedwards