In college I came to appreciate a few things. First, to have a profound respect for the life of the mind; second, try to live a meaningful life; third, to love college football. Since I went to Notre Dame, football was in the DNA of the place and it was great fun to watch with the dueling mascots, colorful team uniforms, cheerleaders, marching bands, tailgate parties, the fight songs after every score and beer fueled student sections willing a home team victory. The NFL, try as it may, can never replicate the pageantry of a college football game.
Joan Didion once wrote: “time passes, memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to what we think we remember.” While this is often the case, I have one football memory that has never “faded,” “adjusted” or “conformed” because it really happened.
My classmate and friend Dave Martin was a starting linebacker on the 1966 Notre Dame National Championship team. The Southern California game, Notre Dame’s most heated rivalry, was being played on Thanksgiving weekend in the Los Angeles Coliseum. I was listening to the radio report of the game (the game was not on TV because, the week before, #1 Notre Dame had played #2 Michigan State to a nationally televised 10-10 tie in East Lansing, Michigan and, in those days, a team only appeared on national TV once a year during the regular season). Then, I heard the announcer say that the ball has been intercepted by Dave Martin and that he has returned it for a touchdown. And when I heard that, I started screaming at the radio, to myself and to an empty room: “I know that guy!” Indescribable joy, as if I, not Dave, had scored the touchdown.
So what happens when a game that you love is turned upside down? Because that is exactly what has happened.
William F. Tate, IV was hired in 2021 to be President of Louisiana State University (LSU). He received an employment contract of $725,000 a year plus a housing and car allowance totaling $50,000. He is responsible for multiple campuses (total of 8), a law school, a medical school, a veterinary school and the flagship campus in Baton Rouge. LSU faculty and staff number almost 5,000 and the student population is over 34,000.
Also in 2021, Brian Kelly was hired as head football coach at LSU and he is receiving a base salary of $9 million plus “bonuses” of at least $1 million per year (a “longevity” bonus of $500,000 each July and another $500,000 if LSU plays in a bowl game, a near certainty). He is also receiving car allowances ($24K a year) and an interest free housing loan up to $1.2 million.
The president of Michigan State University makes $720,000 a year. He is responsible for 13,000 faculty and staff employees and 50,000 students.
Mel Tucker, the successful second year coach of the Michigan State football team, was just rewarded with a $9.5 million a year contract for the next 10 years. Like the coach at LSU, he is probably responsible for the supervision of about 100 student athletes and maybe 200 support staff.
The 10th highest paid college football coach in 2021 was Kirby Smart of Georgia who made slightly more than $7 million with a bonus of not less than $850,000, which he undoubtedly collected when his team won the national title a few weeks ago. It’s almost a sure thing that Kirby’s salary next year will approach the $10 million level. The president of the University of Georgia which educates 30,000 students makes less than 10% of Coach Smart’s salary.
The University of Southern California just awarded a $10 million a year contract to its new football coach, Lincoln Riley who, until a few weeks ago, was the football coach at the University of Oklahoma. Riley’s “package,” according to published articles, includes a $6 million home in Los Angeles and a private jet for his family’s use. The Southern California Athletic Department tweeted “we got our man” but it surely seems that their “man” also got them.
The top 10 college coaches make more money than all but three of the NFL coaches and the highest paid college coaches when all “perks” and “bonuses” are counted (Nike, Under Armor, Aflac commercials) likely make more than any NFL coach. You have to give it to the lawyer who coined the term “longevity bonus” to award someone $500K per year when he actually honors his 10 year contract.
How do we get to the state of affairs where the football team is more important than the university’s mission? It was a long time coming but may have been jump started in 1991 when NBC entered into a contract with Notre Dame to broadcast all of the Fighting Irish home games. The college football world was stunned by this contract which has now been extended until 2025. And then the arms race began. Now we have a Big 10 television network, the SEC television network, and repeated reconfigurations of teams and conferences in order to enhance television coverage. As the money rolled in, the first pig at the trough was the football coach who argued that his enterprise was reaping untold dollars for the school. In most cases, the school acquiesced. Oddly enough, Notre Dame ‒ which may have started it all ‒ was “only” paying Coach Kelly a little less than $2 million a year which he parlayed into $10 million a year at LSU.
In 1996, teams played a 10 game regular season schedule and there were a total of 8 bowl games in Division 1 football. In 2021, teams played 12 games in the regular season and there were 43 bowl games.
So is this just an old man reminiscing about the good old days? Maybe so but I think football has become the tail wagging the university dog and that’s not right.
There is one other thing I know. On one magical Saturday in November of 1966, Dave Martin and I scored a touchdown against Southern Cal.
Very nice article ,Jay. I get your point but I must interject the fact that basketball and football income keeps many other athletic programs going. The athletic programs at many schools help develop the schools reputation and attraction for students and athletes alike. Coaches are a commodity that have a market value and the big schools stay on top by paying their price. Fortunately or unfortunately, money talks and coaches seem to be more valuable to schools that have strong athletic programs than the president.
Jay, not just the tail wagging the dog; the tail thrashing the dog. And you’ll never go wrong writing about Dave Martin. You’re sure to build up your readership. And weren’t you alone every game? I don’t remember you having any kind of of a social life. – Love, Tom
Jay, absolutely yes about the life of the mind, living a meaningful life (social justice and Viet Nam had major impacts) and enjoying ND football (and basketball in the old fieldhouse). If one surveyed all of the major universities today with Division 1 football, my guess is that the football coach makes more than the university president, especially if the coach has a winning record. The imbalance is obscene. It makes success at football a higher value than the pursuit of knowledge and a meaningful life. Interestingly, winning football or basketball teams lead to greater donations from alumni…more than a Nobel Prize would!
Yes, I still enjoy a good game and good competition, but college athletics and the universities within which they operate are upside down!
When we arrived at ND in 1964 the school had already figured out that football made money and that the alumni liked winning teams. and gave more. ND owned the local NBC affiliate and earned revenues from the games that way as well.
But the real change came for sports in general in the late 60s when Mark McCormack became a major sports agent and professional players started to earn major multi-million dollar contracts. At this time my father’s company, Revere Sportswear, paid Jack Nichlaus for his endorsement of their golf sweaters and shirts. They all carried the golden bear logo associated with Nichlaus.
McCormack saw the TV revenues increasing in sports and concluded the pay for players had to increase and it did. Revere could no longer pay Nichlaus for his endorsement.
The rest is history, Pro sports paid serious money for even entry level players.
This has become a problem in baseball versus footbal because the revenue sharing among teams strongly favors the big city teams like NYC and LA versus Oakland or Cleveland. They get more of the TV revenue and pay players more. Some years when Sandy Alderson was the GM of the Oakland A’s, he and Billy Bean developed a metric to stretch their payroll dollars. The Yankees could pay for stars, The As decided to pay to get players who got the most hits rather than home runs. The book and movie Moneyball told the story.
But this corrupts the whole sports world. As we play the Super Bowl today, we are focused on the QB of each. Joe Burrow is a true star and has nor forgotten his roots in Appalachia regions of Ohio. That he got to be the Benglals QB is also unusual. But there are many players in the pros who were evaluating their careers as they exited high school. College is a necessary prelude to making mega millions in the pros be it football, baseball or basketball. Players often strategically are red shirted to have another year of eligibility. I once heard about a kid who repeated 8th grade at another school so he would be able to be bigger when he left high school for college and the maybe the pros.
There was an article the other day about how many Super Bowl QBs were named Joe. Of course ND had Joe Montana and Joe Theismann among them.
But back to ND, I lost any confidence that ND was not just like every other college a long time ago. College presidents have to be all things to all people to raise lots of money every year. Their favorite color is plaid. But at ND they look at football and basketball revenues as well. I still recall the fanfare when they hired Tyrone Willingham from Stanford. Admittedly he had a bad time at ND, But ND moved swiftly to fire him and move on. The major schools knew where the money is. But despite all the arguments that ND makes about its program, like other major sports schools if you do not win you do not get the money. This will always create an ethical conflict between what you say and what you do.
Major schools every year are about raising money. Every year there are several small schools that close because they do not have the money.
And yes to what you say about at the end. College athletics and the universities in which they operate are upside down. Some years ago a writer at Sports Illustrated said the only way to end this would be for the Pros to pay for players as they leave high school to join minor league teams and groom them there for the pros. And this way to end the whore house environment you have described.
Jay, blessings. Very good article.
Many moons ago, The University of Chicago dropped football. It remains one of the finest ce ters of higher learning in the world.
I doubt any of the Notre Dame presidents have ever or will ever receive what we regard as a out of the ballpark “salary & benefits” as long as the president of N.D. is a Holy Cross priest.
Did the last ND football coach leave for salary and other reasons ? The last few years he did not seem like a happy camper.
I believe many of the buildings built in the last 50 years were financed by individual donors. I’m guessing that some folks who could afford to make huge donations(millions) did not give because of football wins, but I know many with lotsa moola do value the almighty victory.
I like football. I hope the coaches who make the millions, the buckeroos share the riches with folks who are hurting.
Jay and other classmates, keep writing, keep thinking, keep doing good. thank you. am proud to be a classmate. shalom
NeD Buchbinder ’68
Jay, great article. I saw the game on TV from a saloon at 91st & Ashland on the South Side of Chicago. In those days a few taverns, especially those with Irish subway alumni, rigged very tall antennas to get the broadcast from WNDU TV on campus. I can still see myself jumping up and down screaming about our mutual friend as he lumbered into the end zone. One of the top 10 days of our lives. Best, Durk
Ned, your comment is a fine one. I am proud to be a classmate, too.
Durk: The picture in the blog is ACTUALLY the pic of Dave making the interception.
Good, thoughtful piece. It leaves me a little sad. Go Irish!
There is indeed something wrong in the college football universe, and it ain’t gonna get better. I actually stayed on campus the Thanksgiving of that USC debacle, watching and gnashing teeth with a handful of mostly Latino students who couldn’t make it home.
But this posting inspired me to do some homework on the history of tv revenue for college football, and I meant to respond sooner. Here’s what I found:
Back in that ’64 season total tv network payout for college football was $273 million, by NBC that year. Last season the figure was $1.15 billion, paid out by 4 broadcast networks, ESPN and Fox Sports. In 1964 the NCAA negotiated a single tv contract. A 1984 Supreme Court decision stripped the NCAA of exclusive bargaining rights. So individual conferences and the old College Football Association all negotiated contracts, This fall it’s projected the Big 10 will get $450 million to lead all conferences. The SEC is projected to be the top earner by 2024 -25, at $599 million per season. Most conferences now also have their own networks generating extra $ from football and basketball, with the small bonus of broadcasting non-revenue sports.
The real explosion in revenue came when ND withdrew from the CFA and negotiated its own conract with NBC in 1991. That became the stimulus to all the conference shuffling since, also driving independents without the national appeal of the Irish to join conferences, e.g., Pitt and Penn State.
So Brian Kelley follows the $ south without losing national prominence. Top-line coach, but a human being I’ve disrespected since his refusal to publicly accept responsibility when student videographer Declan Sullivan was blown off hiIgh scaffolding to his death while shooting practice on a dangerously windy day.
And let’s not forget we signed Lou Holtz just after he’d signed a contract extension at Minnesota.
Go Irish.
Tiger: Thanks for correction. The TV contracts in 1964 amounted to 1.4 million $$ ; now the number is 1.4 BILLION $$.
Tiger: The debacle was 1964 when ND blew a 17-0 lead at halftime to lose 20-17 and thus losing the National Championship
1966 saw ND win 51-0 with Dave’s score making it 50-0 before PAT, and ensuring the National Championship.