Media should routinely report coaches' bonuses for winning NCAA games

New name for this thread: "I wrote a column for a website and I'd like to generate some hits so please click on my link. Thanks!"

 

Eh, he is the Knight Chair at Penn State. Isn't that the only endowed position for sports journalism in the country? If it isn't the only one, it's certainly one of the few.

Seems like this would be an appropriate place to post and discuss.

 

Salaries from public colleges/universities are often disclosed, so I see how you could dig up the bonuses for that. Eventually.

But what about incentives/bonuses from shoe companies, apparel lines, etc.? How would you get that data? That seems like it would be private. And probably the most lucrative.

 

All compensation is considered public information regardless of whether it comes from the university or another source.

The bigger problem is you'd never be able to put the info in for Duke, Notre Dame, Villanova, Baylor, etc. as they are private universities. So in last year's final, for instance, you'd note how much Bo Ryan didn't win but not how much Coach K did win.

And the bigger problem than that is I'm not sure why a reader would care.

 

Guess I should've been fair and clicked on the link, but the idea that someone teaching sports journalism ignorantly equates game broadcasting with game coverage is discouraging. Broadcasts on all levels are never about journalism; they're about showing the games and selling products. It's more commerce than journalism. He wants to pretend otherwise, but it's ignoring reality that's existed for a long, long time in all sports. And then to implicate other media in ignoring this is just plain factually wrong. These things have been widely reported, and everyone knows coaches are showered in money while players get screwed. This has been a debate for decades. He's adding nothing new to the conversation.

And looking at his credentials, he should know as much.

 

Then there was Bob Burton at Cal State Fullerton a few years ago. The Titans lost in their tournament on Friday. On Sunday, when the AD and other administrators were not available, he accepted a CIT (or whatever it is) invitation, which required a ticket guarantee and earned him a $25K bonus for reaching the postseason. Meanwhile, two of his star players had already hit the bricks. One of them said he wasn't coming back.
CSF fired him as soon as they could.

 

I'm not falling for the clickbait and going to read your story. But suggesting that every coach's bonus should be included in each game story of the NCAA Tournament is fucking stupid.

 

"Kentucky reached its 21st Final Four on Sunday and earned head coach John Calipari a $100,000 bonus with a 75-54 win over Podunk State.

"This is another huge win for our program," Calipari said after cutting down the nets. "But there's a lot of work we have to do. We'll have to study the tapes of our next opponent, and I have to meet with my financial advisors to go over tax shelters and go online to plan my next vacation."

Kentucky was led by star forward Jimmy Chitwood, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds.

"I'm glad we won this, because it's very prestigious to make it to the Final Four, and even better, they'll actually feed us while we're there," Chitwood said. "There's a lot of preparation and work that goes into making a Final Four, and nutrition is an important part of it. If we didn't make it, I don't know if I'd have enough money left on my meal card to eat."

 

This (although Doc put it much better) or a story during the run-up to the team's first game. But in every story? Sounds too much like advocacy journalism.

 

As mentioned, it would make for a pretty cool notebook item. Interesting. But that's about it.

 

No wonder no one reads newspapers. No bonus coverage.

 

Hell of a story. This could be the start of something big.