When UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma won his sixth national championship last week, he earned more than the right to cut down the net.
Auriemma will receive a $75,000 bonus for leading the Huskies to the title.
According to his contract, Auriemma will be paid a quarter of his annual $300,000 salary for winning the championship.
He will also receive an additional $12,500 for winning various “Coach of the Year” awards.
Auriemma is not alone among UConn coaches who were paid bonuses for their recent postseason successes. Men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun earned $50,000 for reaching the Final Four and football coach Randy Edsall received $25,000 for making it to a bowl game.
As states across the country grapple with growing budget deficits as a result of the broader economic crisis, questions are being raised about whether or not college coaches make too much money.
Connecticut made national headlines over that debate when blogger and political activist Ken Krayeske confronted Calhoun about the $1.6 million he made in 2008.
When Krayeske asked Calhoun if he would take a pay cut to help offset the state’s growing $8.7 budget deficit, Calhoun defended his pay.
Calhoun, Auriemma and Edsall are the three highest paid state employees, and together they made $4.3 million last year. Those numbers don’t include individual endorsements the coaches sign with outside companies.
“I think that college coach’s salaries are unrealistically inflated,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a prominent sports economist from Massachusetts-based Smith College.
In a normal open market, Zimbalist said top college players would be making $500,000 or more, but since they don’t get paid, coaches who recruit them make most of the money.
Zimbalist also said that the pay for college coaches is completely disproportionate to what professional coaches make.
According to Zimbalist, the average NFL team brings in about $240 million in revenue a year, while the top 32 Division I college football teams bring in about $50 million on average. NBA teams bring in about $130 million in revenue while the Top 30 college Division I basketball schools bring in only about $10 million in revenue.
Yet many coaches on both levels are paid similar salaries.
Last year, the UConn basketball team brought in about $14 million in revenue, but came away with a $6 million net profit after expenses were subtracted.
“I think it’s completely out of whack,” Zimbalist said. “It sends a terrible message to the student body when the college president is getting paid less than the school’s coaches. The idea that Calhoun is responsible for all that revenue is ridiculous. The players are responsible for it.”
UConn president Michael Hogan, who earned about $614,000 last year, has said Calhoun’s salary represented “fair-market value and his teams generate considerable resources for our Division of Athletics.”
Compared to other coaches, Calhoun’s salary does come in at a discount. John Calipari, for example, recently agreed to an eight-year, $31.65 million contract with the University of Kentucky. Billy Donovan, the head coach of the University of Florida, made $3.3 million last year, while Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski made $2.2 million in 2008.
Connecticut taxpayers might be surprised to find out, however, that the bulk of UConn coaches’ salaries actually come from speaking and media appearances that they make for the school, rather than their role as a coach.
For each fiscal year, beginning July 1 and ending June 30, Calhoun is paid over $1.2 million to appear and/or speak at a minimum of six events, including several golf outings, the UConn Hall of Fame dinner and the UConn Club Endowment dinner, according to his contract.
Calhoun’s annual base salary, which he makes for his role as a coach, is $300,000 for the current fiscal year. Edsall also earns a base salary of $300,000.
Auriemma receives about $1.1 million a year for speaking engagements, while Edsall receives over $1 million in that same role.
“It’s a common template for college coaches to have that structure in their contract,” said Mike Enright, a spokesperson for the athletic department.
Other perks for each of the coaches include a $13,000 automobile allowance, a free family membership to a local golf country club, free tickets to sporting events, and travel expense reimbursements for them and their wives to team-oriented events.
Enright defended the coaches’ pay, saying that their salaries aren’t paid for directly by taxpayers. Instead, the money comes from the athletic department’s $55 million budget, which is largely funded through student fees, gate receipts, private fundraising, and corporate partnerships.
“This is market value,” Enright said.
