The Chronicle of Higher Education has analyzed the pay packages of more than 4,000 employees of several hundred private colleges and found that USC coach Pete Carroll is the single highest-paid private college employee in the country.According to the Chronicle, Carroll received $4,415,714 in 2007. That's actually lower than other estimates I've seen; the Chronicle might not have included deferred compensation, endorsements, or other compensation.
Whatever Carroll's exact take was, these kinds of studies always result in some hand-wringing about whether coaches get paid too much. The Chronicle study focused on private schools, but the issues are similar to those raised by the journalist/activist who questioned UConn basketball coach Jim Calhoun about his status as the state of Connecticut's highest-paid employee. But for all the hand-wringing, no one is ever sure whether these coaches should be paid like educators or like pro coaches.
Is it utterly ridiculous that Carroll is making millions of dollars a year for coaching "amateur" athletes at a tax-exempt, non-profit institution? Of course it is. Is it perfectly reasonable that Carroll is making millions of dollars a year for running a football team that routinely sells out a 90,000-seat stadium and draws tens of millions of TV viewers for its games? Of course it is.
And there you have it. I vote for paying coaches like professionals, and I also vote for the IRS revoking the tax-exempt status of the NCAA and the schools that run big-time sports programs. Somehow I think only one of those things is going to happen.
