University of Florida President
Bernie Machen wants to make
Urban Meyer the highest paid
football coach in the SEC |
Critics of unrestrained and outlandish spending in collegiate sports have a new target Bernie Machen, President of the University of Florida, told the Orlando Sentinel that he intends to make Gators’ coach Urban Meyer the highest paid football coach in the SEC. For those of you who may not be keeping score, at $3.49 million a year Meyer isn’t exactly in need of a government bailout. Nor is he asking the university for a raise. But Meyer’s salary apparently doesn’t please Machen, who says he feels Meyer deserves a bigger paycheck.There’s no denying Meyer’s on-field success in Gainesville. The Gators have won two mythical (without a playoff, what else can you call it?) national championships in the past three years. And the school’s athletic program runs in the black, contributing approximately $6 million last year to the university, most of it from the football program. On the other hand, it’s hard to argue that Meyer isn’t well-paid for his success. The issue, according to Machen, is that there are at least two coaches in the SEC - Les Miles at LSU and Nick Saban at Alabama - who make more than Meyer. And neither has been as successful as Machen’s man, Urban. All well and good. But at the same time that Machen is championing a raise for Meyer, the university is cutting faculty, entire programs, and that rarity in academia, administration. As a result of declining state revenues, university trustees voted on May 26 to slash next year’s budget by $42.2 million. That’s in addition to the $69 million in cuts over the past two years. Despite the decreased expenses, students may see a 15% tuition increase, meaning they’re effectively paying more for less – fewer teachers, fewer courses and fewer programs. Florida isn’t alone in throwing outlandish sums of money at coaches. The University of Kentucky recently lured basketball coach John Calipari away from the University of Memphis with an eight-year $31.6 million contract. Ohio State – with a $115 million annual sports juggernaut – pays its football coach, Jim Tressel, $3.5 million a year, almost quadruple what he made when he first arrived on the Columbus campus in 2001. According to a report in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State’s athletic payroll has grown two-and-one-half fold in a decade, from $10.6 million in 1998 to $25.4 million last year. During that same period, the total number of employees in the athletic department has grown 43%, to 317. But OSU was ever-so-proud to tout a recent cost-saving measure by the department. In a joint press release with the University of Michigan, the Buckeyes announced that the Big Ten rivals would stop printing media guides, saving each school approximately $250,000 a year. Honk if you think that money won’t be spent elsewhere on athletics. If you get the idea that athletics trumps academics at many BCS schools, you may be on to something. And the NCAA does its best to validate such action. The SEC recently announced its revenue sharing plan for the fiscal year ending August 31. Included in the $132.5 million to be distributed to the 12 league institutions is $23.1 million from NCAA championships. The NCAA threw in another $744,000, or roughly an additional 3%, to be divided equally for “academic enhancement.” The reason Machen is determined to raise Meyer’s salary in the face of staggering academic cutbacks may have more to do with Machen than it does Meyer. Such action is guaranteed to curry favor with Florida alums and boosters, most of who are more concerned about losing Meyer than they are about the quality of academics at the university. The loss of Meyer would be a bigger blow to Machen’s popularity than his inept handling of the budget crisis and may seal his fate as the leader of Florida’s flagship campus. If Machen succeeds in lavishing Meyer with additional millions - and don’t bet against him - it’s unlikely the coaching salary race in the SEC will end there. LSU’s Miles is reported to have a clause in his contract that guarantees he will be the highest paid coach in the conference. See you one and raise you one. Anyone want to bet what Machen’s next move will be?
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 Jordan Kobritz is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network. He is a former attorney, CPA, and Minor League Baseball team owner. He is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Eastern New Mexico University and teaches the Business of Sports at the University of Wyoming. Jordan can be reached at
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