Strike One: Way back in April of 1979, the University of Colorado, looking for a new football coach after the firing of Bill Mallory, successfully lured New England Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks – who had been the very successful head coach at Oklahoma – back to college football. CU’s pursuit of Fairbanks had begun at the end of the previous season, but it took a lot of legal wrangling – and a contract buy-out for a reported $200 large, courtesy of the Flatirons Club – to finally seal the deal. In three seasons as CU head coach, Fairbanks went 7-26. Not much ROI there for Buff fans.
Fairbanks salary was a modest (at the time) $45K per season, but he also got a “large piece of a real estate deal near a golf resort” from the late Jack Vickers, according to reports. At the time, Fairbanks also demanded renovation of his office and other facilities at CU. All this during a time when athletic budgets were very very tight.
In fact, a year later, Colorado was forced to cut seven non-revenue producing sports, including baseball and wrestling (none have ever been reinstated.) Fairbanks left after three seasons, having “bankrupted the Colorado athletic budget,” according to a CU related web site.
Four decades later, it’s coaches’ salaries, not perks or facility upgrades, that are cause for financial concern.
The cancellation of the NCAA basketball tournaments and the prospect of a far less than normal college football $eason have brought financial concerns for a whole lot of college athletic programs to the forefront. There have been furloughs and pay cuts at many Power Five schools, and in many places, non-revenue sports are being eliminated, even before the final verdict is in on the upcoming football season: Soccer at the University of Cincinnati, baseball at Furman, wrestling at Old Dominion, track at Central Michigan…the list keeps growing.
When times are good – as they have been for the past decade – we tend to not think about the worst case scenarios. The common perception was that the NCAA has been awash in cash, leading many to ask why student athletes aren’t sharing in the wealth. Now that we’re seeing that’s not the case, that most NCAA member institutions operate in year-to-year mode money-wise, we’re seeing that the astronomical amounts of money being paid to college football and basketball coaches is pretty far out of line with financial reality.
There are currently 10 college football coaches – led by Clemson’s Dabo Swinney (9.3 mil) and Alabama’s Nick Saban ($8.8 mil) – who make more than $6 million per season. In 2019, there were 25 football coaches that made over $4 mil per season. There are six college basketball coaches – led by Kentucky’s John Calapari at $8 mil per year – that are paid better than $4 mil a season.
If he’s coaching the Buffs in 2025 at the end of his current five-year contract, CU head football coach Karl Dorrell will reach that $4 mil figure. At the moment, he isn’t among that Top 25, checking in at $3.2 mil for the upcoming season, his first in Boulder. On his resume is a 35-27 record in five seasons at UCLA, his only previous head coaching gig. Still, someone at CU believes he’s worth the investment. (CU’s excellent men’s basketball coach Tad Boyle makes $1.8 mil per season, btw.)
Looking at these figures, and then looking at the truly fragile financial state of college athletics, it becomes apparent that maybe one of the changes that could come out of his pandemic is the advent of some financial safety measures that can protect the non-revenue sports from extinction?
One of those safety measures could be a salary cap on coaches’ salaries. I’m not discounting the quality of their work. I’m suggesting that if these salaries aren’t reigned in, there may not be college teams to coach much longer.
Strike Two: Something else that’s in danger of elimination? A bunch of minor league baseball teams. That started even before the coronavirus.
Lost in the chaos caused by the pandemic is the on-going saga of Major League Baseball v Minor League Baseball. Before Spring Training was suspended in March, it was the hot topic: Which Minor League franchises were going to be cut out of the new working agreement between MLB and MiLB. The last time they negotiated in mid-April, the word that got out was that there would be “some 40 current MiLB teams that would “no longer be part of affiliated ball after this season” according to The Sporting News.
Both of Colorado’s minor league franchises, the Grand Junction Rockies and the Colorado Springs Vibes, have shown up on various cut lists, although no list has been made final. Oddly enough, the only franchise that’s shown up on any list that’s owned by a Major League owner is Grand Junction, co-owned by Dick Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies. It puts Mr. Monfort in a difficult position to be sure.
The situation is complicated by the fact that there isn’t going to be any minor league baseball played this summer, so none of the franchises have a chance to show why they shouldn’t be axed. For example, knowing they could lose their spot as a Rockies affiliate could have given the great baseball fans of Grand Junction – the long time home of the Junior College World Series – a chance to turn out in record numbers and impress the big league decision makers. The virus shut down that opportunity.
To be honest, there ARE too many minor league baseball teams. Cutting down to 120 total – the stated goal of MLB – would still leave each big league club with four full time affiliates, which is plenty of roster space for legitimate prospects. It would also allow them to pay fewer players a better salary, which has also been a point of contention in recent years.
And a bit of irony should Grand Junction lose it’s place in professional baseball: Fewer minor league teams should mean more borderline high school prospects are forced to play college – or junior college – baseball instead of signing a pro contract out of high school, thus improving the quality of the game at the collegiate level. That is, if there IS college baseball in the future (see Strike One…)
Strike Three: If and when sports resume, we’ll stop collectively talking about things like social distancing and funky rule changes and start focusing on wins and losses again. That means the pressure will be back on players and coaches – some who are stepping into new key roles.
For example: Chris Harris Jr. was an undrafted free agent who played nine seasons at cornerback like a first round draft pick. The four-time Pro Bowler and All-Pro selection was a key part of the 2015 Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos. In 2020 he’ll be suiting up for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Those are very big cleats to fill. The Broncos are planning on A.J. Bouye filling them.
Bouye is just a year younger than Harris, having played eight seasons and making one Pro Bowl during his NFL career. He doesn’t have Harris’ resume, but the Broncos are banking on him still being in his prime (they apparently didn’t feel like Harris was) and being a good fit for Vic Fangio and Ed Donatell’s defense.
Broncos GM John Elway was happy to get Bouye for a fourth round draft pick. “He’s a great fit in Vic’s system with his instincts, ball skills, toughness and ability to play in a defense that mixes coverages.
“In addition to having the size on the outside to match up against larger receivers, A.J. is an excellent tackler. He’s a complete cornerback who gives us what we need in both pass coverage and against the run.”
The odd thing about this move is that when a team lets a player like Harris walk away as a free agent, it’s normally so they can “get younger” (i.e. less expensive) at the position. That’s not the case here. Along with a slight age and experience difference, Bouye also comes with a sizeable amount of money left on his current contract: $13.4 mil in 2020 and $13.5 mil in 2021.
This is a gamble on Elway’s part to be sure. Bouye has big cleats to fill, but it’s Elway who’s out on an island on this one.