Most fans will admit sports have transformed into something more than staunch competitiveness and playing for the love of the game.
A 30-second commercial for the Super Bowl this year costs $2.6 million, and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will make an astonishing $33 million in the coming 2010 season.
Okay, so professional sports have always been just that — professional — but collegiate sports have always been seen as a different breed, a sacred untouched realm in which student athletes leave it all on the floor in pursuit of victory.
Unfortunately, college basketball has come to a crossroads where it might have passed the “love of the game” threshold into the more common “it’s a business” excuse everyone wants to use these days.
Although college basketball has not morphed into a stock exchange of sorts as college football has, coaches’ salaries still stand astoundingly high.
When signing with the Kentucky Wildcats last year, John Calipari accepted a job with heaps of prestige, history and a passionate fan base.
If that doesn’t exactly bring tears to your eyes as any diehard Wildcat fan would hope, how about an eight-year deal worth over $4 million annually?
Excuse me a moment while I lift my jaw off the table.
You will find no argument from me trying to negate what Calipari has accomplished in his NCAA coaching career or what he has done so far in his short tenure at Kentucky, but is any college basketball coach worthy of such a high contract?
Whatever the answer may be, collegiate sports — particularly college basketball — are heading down a dangerous road implicating the NCAA does not treat its coaching stars any different than the NBA or NFL treats theirs.
Even more frightening is the rate at which coaches salaries are expanding.
According to a Sports Illustrated study in 2002, only three NCAA coaches made more than $1 million, and the high man was former Kentucky and current Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith at $2.4 million.
In less than eight years, the highest paid salary for a college basketball coach has nearly doubled, and the list of coaches making more than $1 million has gone from three to an incredible 13.
What might be fueling this spike in salary?
Could it be the competitive nature of the game today? Is it an increasing demand for perfection on the court? Or is it simply an increased percentage of schools’ money is being directed toward athletics?
This is the current battle Rutgers University faces.
New football head coach Greg Schiano has changed the longtime losing culture the Scarlet Knights have had to endure.
The basketball program is still in last place in the Big East, but the school has invested millions the last several years in modernizing both football and basketball facilities and venues.
“It’s unfortunate people can’t get excited about other aspects of the school,” said a distressed Rutgers administrator on ESPN’s investigative show “Outside the Lines.”
Unfortunate as it might be, successful athletic programs bring in exposure, tons of revenue and even a larger applicant pool for schools.
Certainly, this is not the case for every student, as location, academics and sometimes weather often play the largest roles. However, I personally was vehemently against attending a school with below average athletics.
I chose to attend Wisconsin over the other UW, the University of Washington, because of the differences in athletics. And to date it seems I have made the correct decision (Washington went 0-12 in football in 2008, ouch).
Perhaps this excitement figures largely into why many schools have invested in improving facilities, venues and most recently coaches.
The University of Florida has received more applicants every single year since winning national championships in both basketball and football during the 2005-2006 academic year.
Coincidence? I think not.
The Gators also have an athletic budget among the highest in the country, pledging more than $85 million toward facilities and sports teams.
Oh yeah, and Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan’s salary also ranks second at $3.5 million per year.
Is it just me, or do athletic expenditures and on-field success have a strong correlation?
Where does this leave the little guys, or the schools who simply refuse to fall into the arms race most colleges around the country are currently participating in?
After receiving an angry email from a Siena fan last week outlining all the mighty accolades they have accomplished the past few years, I now realize even more how amazing the success of a mid-major school can be.
Props to you Gonzaga, Xavier, Butler and yes, you too, Siena.
Unfortunately, however, the game of college basketball does not maintain parity very often.
Expect the same 10 to 15 teams you have heard about your entire life to continue their dominance for the next generation.
Try not to laugh, but even Indiana might eventually come back to basketball prominence because of the historical success they enjoy and the money they now pump into their program.
As sad a story college basketball has become in terms of the sheer amount of money spent on the sport, indications are that this new industry of college basketball is merely beginning.
