Quote:Top university coaches in an era of broadcast revenue will continue to demand multimillion-dollar contracts, an arrangement that shouldn’t bother anyone so long as athletics departments continue to pay their own bills.

That was the message Tuesday as three top members of the Clemson University athletics department visited the February meeting of the Clemson faculty senate. They came by faculty invitation to answer questions about the interplay of money, sports and education at the school.

Katie Hill, chief financial officer for Clemson athletics, said sports at the university make ends meet without state or education funding.

“Generally, we subscribe to the philosophy of we eat what we kill,” Hill said.

Quote:Athletics also collects about $1.6 million in student activity fees from the university’s 15,500 undergraduates ­— about 2.6 percent of the department’s $61 million annual budget.

Students get the equivalent of a season pass to all games under the arrangement. The $103 fee, Hill said, is the lowest in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia charges $657 and raises $13 million from its student activity fee.

Quote:IPTAY, the nonprofit fundraising arm of Clemson athletics, donated $1.5 million to the university’s capital campaign this past fall for need-based scholarships.

Phillips said he understood the faculty’s discomfort with the dichotomy in pay between the football team’s top coaches and the rest of the university’s staff and faculty. He said the same dichotomy exists within athletics, where coaching salaries for most sports are a fraction of those seen in revenue sports.

“It can be an awful thing to work with,” Phillips said. “We have to be sound financially, which we are. And we have nothing to hide with regard to any business practices.”

The department also pays the university a 6 percent fee based on the amount of revenue it earns in any given year.

“Are you saying the athletic department is fully paying it’s entire expenses, including salaries, and the university is not contributing?” asked chemistry professor Dvora Perahia.

“We are part of the university,” Hill said. “We are what is called an auxiliary enterprise, which by definition produces its own revenue and pays its expenses.”

Hill said reports on how self-sustaining athletics departments are will vary depending on accounting definitions. Clemson, for instance, grants in-state tuition to athletes so that the scholarship dollars stretch further — a savings of about $2.5 million to the athletics department. This and the student fee, though it provides tickets to students, are considered subsidies in some reports.

Quote:Clemson’s Chad Morris became one of the highest-paid offensive coordinators in college football when he received a $1.3 million contract in December. At the time, three other universities wanted Morris, Phillips said.

Phillips said his agreement with head football coach Dabo Swinney was simple.

“If we do this with the assistants, then that means the head coach doesn’t make as much,” Phillips said, adding that Swinney’s base salary of $1.75 million is between 42nd and 47th in the nation.

(02-15-2012 03:32 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  I like Katie!

It's not just athletics though. Is it fair for an actor to make $40 million a year while his kids teacher makes $24k?

(02-15-2012 03:41 PM)AtlanticLeague Wrote:  

(02-15-2012 03:32 PM)Wolfman Wrote:  I like Katie!

It's not just athletics though. Is it fair for an actor to make $40 million a year while his kids teacher makes $24k?

I generally agree that Athletic departments should be able to spend whatever they bring in. But I also think that there should be a contribution back to the school that provides the athletic department with players, alumni, and a student section.

Quote:IPTAY, the nonprofit fundraising arm of Clemson athletics, donated $1.5 million to the university’s capital campaign this past fall for need-based scholarships.

Quote:The department also pays the university a 6 percent fee based on the amount of revenue it earns in any given year.