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When evaluating the financial commitment of college football coaches, consider this: what does a $1,000,000 salary truly bring to your institution? The answer may surprise you — it translates to an additional 2.4 percentage points in male graduation rates. While this figure might seem modest at first glance, it represents a significant off-the-field benefit; data indicates that higher salaries for public college football coaches correlate with improved male graduation outcomes.
Specifically, every increment of $1 million in a coach’s salary is associated with a 2.4 percentage point increase in male graduation rates. As we approach the end of fiscal years across many states, public colleges are once again facing budget constraints. The cost of attending these institutions has been rising at a pace that far outstrips the growth in median incomes. Alarmingly, only a few states have managed to restore funding for public colleges to pre-recession levels.
It may come as a shock to learn that the highest-paid public employee in many states is often a football coach, with salaries skyrocketing by 93 percent between 2006 and 2012. This raises an important question: why would financially strapped schools prioritize spending on coaches over hiring more faculty to enhance graduation rates?
The reality is that investment in coach salaries does yield academic benefits. Each additional million dollars allocated to a coach’s guaranteed salary — which the institution may not fully fund — results in a 2.4 percentage point increase in male graduation rates at public Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Importantly, this expenditure may not come from your hard-earned tax dollars.
How We Conducted Our Research
Since student-athletes do not earn traditional incomes (excluding scholarships), we aimed to assess how they benefit academically from increased coaching salaries. Our research began by collecting data on FBS public college coach compensation through public records and other reliable sources. We analyzed whether higher salaries for coaches correlate with improved academic performance among their players, utilizing NCAA data compiled by ICPSR to compare salaries against student-athletes’ academic eligibility.
The results unequivocally demonstrated that increased salaries for coaches have a tangible impact on the number of athletes who graduate, indicating that the scholarships they receive translate into valuable degrees.
And: Salaries Are Not Dependent on College Endowments
Initially, we questioned whether higher salaries were simply a result of schools with larger endowments. However, data from IPEDS revealed that salary variations and player eligibility are largely independent of institutional funding levels. This insight led to another significant conclusion: both coaches’ salaries and overall graduation rates do not depend on the financial resources of the colleges.
But: Graduation Rates Are Not Independent of Coaches’ Salaries
In conducting our analysis, we controlled for various external factors that might influence players’ academic success. By comparing student-athletes to the broader student body using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, we accounted for financial aid percentages, race, SAT scores, graduation rates, and gender.
Interestingly, we found that manipulating coaches’ salaries also influenced male graduation percentages. For every additional $1 million in a coach’s salary, male six-year graduation rates increased by 2.4 percentage points — a significant figure when considering that the highest-paid coach, Nick Saban, oversees a program where only 41 percent of male students graduate in four years and 62 percent in six years.
To clarify, consider the difference in student loan interest rates: a federal direct loan at 5 percent that increases by 2.5 percentage points to 7.5 percent represents a 50 percent increase. In the schools we surveyed, this translates to approximately 45 additional male graduates each year.
Understanding Coach Pay Structures: A Potentially Better Investment
The structure of coach salaries varies significantly. Here’s a breakdown:
- Base salary typically represents a small fraction of a coach’s total compensation, funded directly by the state’s budget. For example, Illinois coach Tim Beckman’s base salary in 2014 was $400,000.
- Additional compensation arises from fundraising, public appearances, and apparel contracts—essentially a coach’s side income. Bonuses related to team performance in both athletics and academics also contribute to this total.
- Guaranteed money refers to the assured compensation a coach will receive, regardless of external earnings. For instance, Coach Beckman was potentially guaranteed $1.2 million to reach a total salary of $1.6 million.
This distinction is crucial because our study focuses on guaranteed money rather than the base salary funded by state budgets. Thus, the 2.4 percentage point increase for every additional million dollars in salary may not necessarily come from taxpayer dollars, suggesting a high return on investment.
So Is a Coach’s Value Measured by Graduates, Not Wins?
To illustrate this point, consider Tim Beckman from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2014, the same year as our study, Illinois allocated $357.8 million for instruction, $312.4 million for academic support, and $82.1 million for all athletics programs.
College athletic programs, especially football, have come under scrutiny for being financial drains. However, most coaching salaries at major institutions are covered by the revenue generated by the teams.
This is not a secret; NCAA President Mark Emmert remarked during a federal lawsuit regarding players’ licensing earnings, “A very small portion of NCAA institutions are actually generating a profit.”
The Reality Check: Financial Challenges Persist
Despite the revenue generated, these funds are often reinvested back into athletic programs rather than allocated to the general fund.
It’s important to note that student fees — often used to subsidize athletics — have risen at a rate that exceeds tuition increases, as reported by the American Association of University Professors.
According to the Knight Foundation, FBS schools spend, on average, $15,615 per student and $110,964 per athlete, using the Higher Education Price Index as a benchmark.
As media studies Professor Jay Rosenstein stated in a News-Gazette interview regarding Coach Lovie Smith’s guaranteed salary of $1,809,000 per year, “The athletic department is not self-supporting.”
The critical question remains: would the increase in student fees be better utilized for instructional purposes and academic facilities?
“It costs the campus money and it costs students money. Students are the group that has the least amount of money. Let’s give the students a break.”
Despite these challenges, a correlation between coaching salaries and graduation rates exists. Stay tuned; in five years, we’ll revisit whether Coach Smith’s salary increase over Beckman has led to an additional 20 male graduates from the 2016 cohort by 2022.
Author
David Luther was the Content Marketing Editor for the Zippia Advice blog. He developed partnerships with external reporting agencies in addition to generating original research and reporting for the Zippia Career Advice blog. David obtained his BA from UNC Chapel Hill.
