Many people often wonder why the ‘Cats always fall short in football and basketball to other Big Ten teams like Michigan and Ohio State. Part of the answer, of course, is tradition. Top high school football players almost never turn down a program with the history of an Ohio State. (Remember that top running back Tyrell Sutton only came to NU after being ignored by his home state Buckeyes.) But a factor that fans and media often ignore, for various reasons, is money.
ESPN’s Mike Fish did some impressive research into the salary packages of coaches at top college football programs. The numbers in his article boggle my mind. All coaches have incentives written into their contracts based upon the bowl games their teams reach, the team’s spot in the final rankings, and whether they win championships.
The amount of money some of these universities throw at their coaches makes me wonder. What if they spent that cash on improving academic facilities or keeping their top professors from defecting to the Ivy League?
Ohio State, for example, pays head coach Jim Tressel an annual base salary of $450,000. His team, ranked #1 in the nation since the start of the season, qualified for this year’s championship game. Tressel will pocket $200,000 for qualifying, and if the Buckeyes win, he gets to renegotiate his contract automatically. Throw in signing bonuses, salary increases built into the life of the contract, and various freebies (game tickets, parking passes, and two cars), and Jim Tressel – a great coach in his own right – will cost Ohio State millions of dollars before his current deal expires after the 2012 season. Fish estimates Tressel’s total compensation between $1.6-$2 million a year.
As a private institution, Northwestern doesn’t have to release salary figures for its staff. According to unofficial information from Greenandwhite.com, coach Pat Fitzgerald makes $141,000, his salary as an assistant under previous coach Randy Walker. Not only is Fitzgerald the least paid coach in the Big Ten, he makes less than a quarter of what the next lowest paid coach, Indiana’s Terry Hoeppner, collects.
So why Ohio State beating Northwestern is almost as certain as death and taxes? (Except for the occasional upset, of course). Besides its coach, Ohio State spends more money on its athletic facilities, marketing, and recruiting. And say what you want about tradition, but money is a huge deal. In fact, I’d argue that, with a strong (read: seven or eight figure) investment, Northwestern could build a perennial Top-25 football program within four or five years. But is spending millions of dollars on football really worth it? Couldn’t we spend that kind of money on new buildings or scientific research? (Or technology so new Medill kids don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on school-approved gadgets? But never mind.)