I’m a big college basketball and college football fan. But I’m turned off by the huge money now involved in college athletics. Priorities seem misplaced. The money seems excessive. Major universities seem to focus excessively on athletics.
However,
I confess that I remain a big fan of college basketball and college football. I’m
not turned off enough to stop being a fan. Perhaps things won’t change until we
fans get more turned off.
Personally,
I am not the fanatic I used to be. As a college student at the University of
Kentucky decades ago, sometimes I camped out overnight to get quality tickets
to men’s basketball games of my beloved Kentucky Wildcats. I also followed the
UK football team and the women’s basketball team closely.
I
may always remain a fan of college athletics. But the huge spending on coaches’
salaries, buyouts to coaches’ who are fired for not winning enough games, NIL
payments to players that make some student athletes millionaires during their
college days, etc., seems to be wasteful, perhaps almost ludicrous.
After
all, the main goals of universities are educating students, doing research, and
engaging in other beneficial and educational programs. Right?
Most student athletes at least in theory are primarily in college to get an education. Only a small percentage of college athletes go on to play pro ball, as noted by an NCAA article[1] that estimates the percentage for various sports.
Furthermore, only in the major college sports
such as basketball and football do the pros pay huge salaries and bonuses to large
numbers of athletes.
Coaches’
Salaries and Buyouts
An October 28, 2025, ESPN article[2] reported that for this 2025 football season $167.7 million are owed in buyouts to fired college football coaches. LSU’s fired coach Brian Kelly alone was scheduled to get $54 million according to various sources, including the ESPN article.
However, many contracts do contain
clauses that reduce the payouts if the coach lands a job elsewhere. Some do
not.
It’s common for major college football and basketball coaches to have big buyouts in their contracts.
A March 2025 USA Today article[3] lists the highest paid men’s
college basketball coaches and the amount the college would have to pay the coach
if fired without just cause. Losing games is not considered a just cause for termination
in such contracts, at least none that I’m aware of. But it is often the top
cause for firing. Kansas’ Bill Self is considered the highest paid coach. Connecticut
men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley has the highest buyout, scheduled to be paid
over $42 million if he is fired without just cause.
It
seems outrageous to me that college coaches are paid so much more than college
professors or even college presidents. It’s even more ridiculous that fired
coaches can get paid so many millions of dollars.
Perhaps
this reflects the fact that college athletics is a big business. Tens of
thousands of persons attend individual football games at many schools, thousands
attend basketball games, and other sports are increasing in popularity.
Millions of dollars in donations pour into the programs too. A January 2024 Sportico article[4] is one of many that report
on some of these donations.
Gambling
Scandals
Gambling
adds to the problem. Some college athletes have been charged with providing
inside information, faking injuries, etc., to enable gamblers to make money. On
November 7, 2025, the NCAA[5] reported that six college
basketball athletes were involved in betting-related abuses.
It
reminds me of reading about the 1950s gambling scandal that enveloped my beloved
Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, as well as other teams. Numerous websites
report on this. I’d hate to see a repeat of this scandal at any school.
Kentucky
Basketball’s Big Blue Machine,
a book written by Russell Rice, includes a chapter about the 1950s scandal and
Kentucky’s role in it. Below is a photo of that book and some of my other sports
books.
Fans
at Fault? What to Do?
We
fans likely deserve the blame for the excesses of college sports. In addition
to buying tickets and attending games, lots of fans donate huge sums of money
to athletics programs.
What
needs to be done? Perhaps the best thing would be for us fans to devote our
time and money to other things than college athletics. But as a fan, I know
doing this isn’t easy.
Though I haven’t bought a ticket to a sporting event in years, and I’ve never donated funds to an athletics program, I do remain a fan. I devote much more time to watching sports highlights, listening to them, and reading about them than I do to the academic programs now that I’m an alumnus.
And I am writing this as an alumnus
who does love to read, enjoys visiting libraries, writing, attending seminars
and lectures, and pursuing other educational endeavors.
As we fans seek to put college athletics in its proper perspective as a form of entertainment that is a sideline of our lives, not the center piece, it can help. We can devote more emphasis to productive careers, families, friends, etc., and less to sports events.
However, I confess that as I write this I am excited
about the upcoming Southeastern Conference basketball seasons for the University
of Kentucky men’s and women’s teams. Go Big Blue!
ENDNOTES:
[1] “Estimated
probability of competing in professional athletics’; NCAA; last updated April
1, 2024; webpage accessed December 29, 2025; https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2015/3/6/estimated-probability-of-competing-in-professional-athletics.aspx
[2] Lavigne, Paula; “$168M in buyouts owed to fired FBS head football coaches”; ESPN; October 28, 2025; webpage accessed December 29, 2025; https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46756301/168m-dead-money-buyouts-owed-fired-fbs-head-football-coaches-2025
[3] “Men’s Basketball Head Coach Salaries”; USA Today; March 13, 2025; webpage accessed December 29, 2025; https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/mens-basketball/coach
[4] Akabas, Lev; Novy-Williams, Eben; “Athletic Department Donations Up Despite Rise of NIL Collectives”; Sportico; January 23, 2024; webpage accessed December 29, 2025; https://www.sportico.com/leagues/college-sports/2024/college-sports-donations-nil-money-1234763721/
[5] Wright, Meghan Durham; “6 former men’s basketball student-athletes committed NCAA violations involving betting-related game manipulation”; NCAA; November 7, 2025; webpage accessed December 29,2025; https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/11/7/media-center-6-former-mens-basketball-student-athletes-committed-ncaa-violations-involving-betting-related-game-manipulation.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment