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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March > 06
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Big-time pay for a big-time job
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First, a disclaimer. The idea of ANYONE being paid more than $2 million to coach college football is crazy.
But in big-time athletics these days, it’s also reality.
So is the fact that people rank EVERYTHING in college football nowadays, including how much your coach makes. And it all counts in how seriously your program is taken.
Given all that, the idea of Mark Richt being in seventh place in the SEC in compensation, as he was before today’s vote by the UGA athletics board, is also crazy. Richt quite obviously is among the elite coaches in the country, as well as the conference, and based on what the other guys are making, the raise he’s being given up to $2.8 million a year makes good sense.
Even after the raise, he’s only the fifth-highest paid SEC coach. But the guys ahead of him have either won a national championship or gone undefeated.
All that having been said, it is indeed possible to pay a college coach too much. Notre Dame quite obviously isn’t getting their money’s worth out of their $4 million man. And the verdict’s still out on St. Nick at Bama.
But the bottom line is: Richt deserved the raise.
