Ah…the life and times of athletics coaches. University of Cincinnati basketball coach Bob Huggins, responding to an ultimatum from the university president, has just quit his job and raked in $3,000,000 for his trouble. Recognized as a good coach (sometimes driving drunk, however), he was nevertheless known as the guru of teams known, fairly or unfairly, as groups of thugs setting graduation rates in the 1990s that were practically nonexistent…shades of former basketball coach/god/guru Nolan Richardson at the University of Arkansas, who also signed a resignation worth $3 million a few years ago, and then sued the university for something or other. Egad…where do these guys get off? They seem to be setting a trend, to wit, get a contract covering a number of years, then figure out a way (not too hard, actually) to get fired and be set for life without ever working another day.
Retired University of Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton was retained after retiring a few years ago at a cool $75,000 per year for doing essentially nothing. Former Eastern Kentucky president Robert Kustra drew $170,878 plus benefits after resigning a few years ago for doing absolutely nothing, while going on the payroll of something called the Council of State Governments, apparently a "consulting" organization. These guys were in the catch-all category of consultant, a euphemism for "profiteer," although Newton called it some kind of deferred payment left over from 1989. One wonders who, if anyone, is telling the truth.
Much was made of the fact a short while back that former University of Kentucky president Charles Wethington, just before leaving office, increased UK athletic director Ivy's contract by 10 percent to $192,500 per year while the NCAA was furiously in the process of condemning the athletic department, and the rest of UK's employees could eat cake. Nothing new there. When he announced his resignation, Kustra extended basketball coach Travis Ford's contract and increased his salary by 25 percent to $100,000 a year after one losing season (7-19). These men did this because coach's contracts are not handled by regents, but by presidents who can do anything they like. The average professor's salary at Eastern was $53,061 and the average salary of an instructor (Ford's classification) was $34,779.
Earlier this year, Ford, under contract at Eastern until 2007, just signed on with the University of Massachusetts in a five-year deal worth a base salary of $200,000 per year plus additional incentives and bonuses, thank you, and apparently expected to just walk away. Eastern claimed Ford owed $225,000 for the privilege of quitting and not honoring his contract, but agreed to settle for $150,000 instead, guarding the taxpayers’ money negligibly, but, surprisingly and unlike other institutions, actually demonstrated that a contract means something.
Consider the case of Tom Jurich, athletic director at UL. When hired in 1999 to a 13-year contract, he started at a paltry $183,000 a year with yearly bonuses up to another $120,000. It gets better. If he stays ten years, he gets a deferred payment of $400,000 plus accrued interest. At six percent compounded annually, that payoff will amount to more than $716,000. Counting the usual salary increases, this amounts to about a possible $4,000,000 over the ten years. The corruption comes from the top down and the legislators and university officials are the perpetrators. They lead by example. UK’s AD, Mitch Barnhart, rakes in a cool $500,000 plus each year, and the list of goodies that make this possible, though too long to list here, challenges belief. Of course, he skipped out on a previous contract, owing $100,000, but has it fixed in the UK contract so that the “loan” he receives of $100,000 (surprise!), plus interest, will be forgiven entirely if he stays at UK for five years. Another term for this is “stealing from the taxpayers,” never mind all the balderdash about the UK Athletics Association in the mix.
Then, of course, there's the $1,000,000 paid to UL football coach Ron Cooper in 1999 (one of Jurich’s first acts on the job) for quitting and the $1,000,000 paid to UK football coach Hal Mumme for quitting and the $600,000 paid to UK football coach Bill Curry for quitting. UK assistant coach Bassett, the perpetrator (but not the lone cowboy) of much of UK's recent NCAA mess, was paid $10,000 a month until the summer following his resignation (or firing) in November of 2000.
The stench of these arrangements is overwhelming, but is the constant companion of the college/university sports scene today. Is it wonder that athletes learn early that cheating or some sort of con game is always in order, but that they must be careful to cover their tracks?
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
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