A Facebook friend shared something from the Social Democrat Party page the other day, and although I was reluctant to click on the link, I did and found that it did make me stop and think that maybe coaches aren't so dumb after all.
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| From http://deadspin.com/infographic-is-your-states-highest-paid-employee-a-co-489635228 |
As you can see, the graphic shows that the highest paid public employees in the United States are most likely to be football or basketball coaches.
The battle between academics and athletics at the university level has been going on for decades, and it looks like from a financial standpoint, the jocks are winning this tug-o-war. Of course, the Social Democrats are having a holy cow over this as an example of a grave injustice.
But is paying these coaches high salaries a bad thing?
If you have a negative feeling about the highly paid coaches, is it because you value other studies higher than sports, or do you feel that sports provide a lower benefit to society, or is just that you were a wuss and could never shag a fly without tripping over your own shoelaces?
I don't know what the Social Dems are upset about. Aren't we supposed to trust our government? Can't they see that this is just another example of what happens when you give your money (tax dollars) to somebody else (government). Does anyone really expect government to spend all that money wisely?
Isn't this just what people want from government, bread and circuses?
I, for one, am second guessing my father's advice that "Brains beat brawn." Judging from the other high paid public employees on the map, I am also questioning his decision to turn down that offer to be an academic Dean.
I think that it is vitally important to educate our football and basketball players to become productive citizens instead of thugs and gangstas, and this is exactly what the best coaches do.
The best coaches are educators as well as role models and leaders. Let them get paid what they are worth, and this leads me to the key question:
"How do you determine someone else's worth?" (see previous post)
Do the Social Democrats get to decide?
Or do market forces get to decide?
Which way is just?
Addendum 06/19/2013:
"How do you determine someone else's worth?" (see previous post)
Do the Social Democrats get to decide?
Or do market forces get to decide?
Which way is just?
Addendum 06/19/2013:
"The three highest-compensated employees on the Pentagon payroll are the Army, Navy and Air Force football coaches, according to a recent report."
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Pewster,
ReplyDeleteMichigan States late football coach Duffy Daugherty once said, "When you are playing for the national championship it's not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that." Coach wisdom 101.
This is yet ANOTHER argument to shut down the professional sports leagues known as the NCAA and NAIA.
ReplyDeleteCollege sports programs, particularly football and basketball, spend inordinate amounts of money. Across the board (including all institutions and sports, including the Title IX mandated women's sports), these programs lose money. They survive financially only by assessing direct athletic fees which can range up to $500 or more per year, and further subsidies from the institutional budgets - both of which ultimately increase student costs, which are largely paid for by student loans.
The programs divert alumni contributions from the institutions' core missions of instruction and research, as well as diverting faculty and senior administration attention from these missions.
The programs bring students onto campus who are academically unprepared and incapable of meeting normal academic standards, resulting in the need for extensive remedial work, academic handholding, and simplified programs -consuming a disproportionate amount of institutional resources and faculty time - and even then they fail to graduate at a significantly higher ratio than the rest of the student body. These students generate a disproportionate level of disciplinary issues ranging from academic dishonesty to felony crime.
And for what? Taxpayer subsidized farm systems for the NBA and NFL, cheap programming for media megacorporations like Disney and Comcast, and excuses for drunken tailgate parties for students and alumni.
The time is more than past for taxpayer funded institutions to get out of the business of intercollegiate athletics as we know them. Shut down the NCAA and NAIA. Shut down the programs at all publicly funded institutions. Eliminate the tax exemption for such programs at private institutions, as well as the tax deductibility of contributions to colleges which are not designated for instruction and research. Let the NBA and NFL run their own developmental leagues. Let interested students organize intramural (and even extramural) sports without institutional involvement, resources, or funds.