938 people attended.
My guess is that the Northeastern coach makes north of $250,000 a year, perhaps significantly so.
Why?
Because men's basketball is a revenue sport?
Really?
Could it be that ticket sales and revenues from the concession stands didn't pay for the cost of running the game? I would bet that's the case.
So the justification for a big-time DI program with scholarships and highly paid coaches is exactly what?
A chance to win a low-ranked conference and go to the NCAA Tournament, for the opportunity for a school like Kentucky or Kansas to pound you into the hoops equivalent of dust?
Really?
Remember my adage -- that I don't want my kids to go to any college where a coach makes more than the university president. That still holds, unless, of course, it can be proven beyond a doubt that any coach is worth it.
Bread and circus?
One thing is for sure -- Northeastern's circus doesn't generate enough bread to pay for the program.
4 comments:
I didn't count everyone in the building, but 938 is a very generous attendance number.
With the court in the center of a hockey-first arena and the cheerleaders wearing Patriots jerseys, basketball didn't look to be either of the top two sports priorities on Sunday.
I wonder if you are missing the point.You aren't paying the coach according to what he is bringing in, but according to what others are paying their coaches. If you aren't competitive in what you are paying you will not be competitive on the floor. At least not for long because a coach who can make significantly more money elsewhere will generally move on pretty quickly. It's madness but that's the way it is everywhere above the high school level.
Thanks, Jon. Much appreciated.
As for the second comment, I probably did not make my point clear enough. I suppose my point is this: why have a DI program at all if you have to pay a ton of money for a coach when the team doesn't bring in sufficient revenue and can't come close to winning a championship? Wouldn't that money be better spent elsewhere, such as training more students to get better job skills to compete in the workforce, as opposed to spending a ton of money on ten scholarship kids, some of whom probably could care less whether they go to class or not because of -- probably at Northeastern -- some far-fetched dream that they can play for money somewhere? Sorry to sound like a killjoy, but isn't it time for someone out there to stand in front of the freight train that is big-time NCAA sports and, at least in venues like this, ask the question as to why paying that salary makes any sense at all? The "everyone else does it" argument fails when it's hard to see the reasoning for doing it at all.
coaching is as good as any other profession and deserve good pay
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