You know my thoughts on our Governments at all levels, but this one boggles the mind:
Joe Paterno will get a pension from the State of Pennsylvania of $500,000 per year!! If that doesn't upset you with our Governments, nothing will. Read the article. THINK ABOUT IT: $500,000 per year in pension!! We often don't comprehend the size of numbers any longer.
Let me put it this way: if he were working a 40 hour a week job that would be $240 per hour!!!
Or maybe you think that is appropriate due to all his great coaching?
Bottom lime, I do think this is ridiculous. I'd say that ideally public universities should not be spending so much money on football coaches (though I suspect they believe that in the end it's worth it to enhance desireability of the school, etc.)
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I think this is a result of very twisted market dynamics. Major college football is a mix of public institutions and private institutions - and the pay for all college coaches has been on a very inflationary path for a long time. Every college wants a good team, and that seems to require a good coach, and the 'name' coaches can name their price - low supply, high demand (not sure how many pay packages include pensions-for-life - I wouldn't be surprised if JoePa got an especially generous deal).
From this USA Today report (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2011-11-17/cover-college-football-coaches-salaries-rise/51242232/1):
The average compensation in 2011 is $1.47 million, a jump of nearly 55% in six seasons.
In the six conferences with automatic Bowl Championship Series bids, the average salary rose from $1.4 million in 2006 to $2.125 million in 2011. That's a jump of about 52% — meaning salaries at schools in the other five major conferences are going up at roughly the same rate as they are at higher-profile schools.
"The hell with gold," higher education lawyer Sheldon Steinbach says. "I want to buy futures in coaches' contracts."