I love college sports and am a fan of my alma mater, Michigan State University. I still watch an occasional pro baseball or football game, but the enthusiasm for pro sports has faded in recent years. Maybe getting older lessens the thrill of the game but, in large part, I believe it’s the money.
This week the Texas Rangers signed a shortstop I have never heard of to a $325 million, 10-year contract. Wow!! In college, kids play for the love of the game; they seem to have a commitment and a loyalty no longer found in the pros.
But wait. College sports is big business, too. Mel Tucker, head football coach at Michigan State University, just signed a $95 million, 10-year contract to continue coaching the Spartans.
When Mark Dantonio retired in 2019, after 13 seasons and the most coaching wins in MSU football history, MSU hired the 48-year-old Tucker. Tucker had exactly twelve games of college head-coaching experience, leading the Colorado Buffalos to a 5-7 record in one season in Boulder.
Tucker said he was not interested in leaving Colorado. He was earning $2.4 million and liked it there. But MSU needed a new coach and offered Tucker $33 million for six years. Tucker’s loyalty quickly moved to East Lansing.
This year, Tucker suddenly became a hot property again. Louisiana State University came calling during Tucker’s unexpectedly successful second Spartan season. The LSU overtures compelled two wealthy MSU backers to pony up the money to entice Tucker to stay in East Lansing for the next 10 years. Tucker decided to stay.
LSU settled for Brian Kelly, hired this week. Kelly coached Notre Dame for the past 12 years, but willingly moved his loyalty to Baton Rouge for $95 million over 10 years – that salary could make even Louisiana appealing.
But is a 12-7 record at MSU (17-14 overall) worth $95 million? Granted, Tucker’s team did beat Michigan both years, and that may be worth a million or two to Spartan alumni. But let us put Tucker’s contract into perspective.
It’s a given that any employee should be free to shop for the best job he can get. And we understand that donors provided the funds to keep Tucker, so there is less monetary impact to the university. But…
Dantonio got to the college football championship and beat Michigan eight out of 13 tries. He beat Ohio State only three times, but that is better than any other Big Ten team during that timeframe. In his final year, he was paid half of what Tucker is making now. It will take 3-4 more years to assess Tucker’s level of greatness.
In fact, Tucker now gets 97% of what Nick Saban earns at Alabama, where Saban has won six national championships. The list of college coaches making more than Tucker is short: Nick Saban.
And consider fellow MSU coach Tom Izzo. Izzo has coached MSU basketball for 27 years, has 648 wins, more Big Ten championships than any other team and a national championship. He makes $4.2 million, a good salary, but…
According to USA Today’s salary database, faculties (full-time instructional staffs) at Michigan State University teach for an average salary of $106,315.
Tucker makes $182,692 PER WEEK, a 1,300 percent increase from Nick Saban’s second year at MSU in 1999. The Bureau of Labor Statistics pegs the annual inflation rate since 1999 at 2.33 percent.
If Tucker’s contract money were available for academics, MSU could hire 89 full-time faculty at current salaries.
It’s terrific that Tucker got a great contract, and it was generous for donors to produce the funds he needed to stay loyal to MSU. But have sports become so big, so all-important, that our priorities have become skewed? After all, it is just a game.
Perhaps loyalty should not incur such a high cost. Maybe we need another physics professor. Go Green!
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater and publishes columns here on the first and third Saturdays each month. Send comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Reporter: Opinion
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