So Elko, and Jimbo Fisher for that matter, got bought by eATMe. $2M for a coordinator and whatever they are paying Fisher seems like crazy money but they seem to have it.

 

My question is, if they have that kind of money for a coach/assistants; AND they are not as profitable as ND (behind UTexas for that matter); how are they swinging these salaries and why wont ND match?

 

There was a moment there when ND was eager to pay Weis and Friends, but it seems to have passed.

Reports are Elko agreed to a revised contract for $1.5MM after the first approach by TX A&M. When Aranda turned them down at $2MM to stay at LSU for $2.5MM, he became something like the 17th highest paid coach in the country...in other words, the price of winning is getting out of control.

ND apparently raised Elko's comp a little bit in response to the 2nd approach by A&M but obviously reneged on the ND agreement when the money got too high to say no to. These salaries aren't being totally borne by the Universities but rather the apparel cos., boosters etc and with some schools, money is no object and ND, while understanding the landscape, won't allow itself to be put into the position of constant bidding wars for its coaches.

Reports are Elko agreed to a revised contract for $1.5MM after the first approach by TX A&M. When Aranda turned them down at $2MM to stay at LSU for $2.5MM, he became something like the 17th highest paid coach in the country...in other words, the price of winning is getting out of control.

ND apparently raised Elko's comp a little bit in response to the 2nd approach by A&M but obviously reneged on the ND agreement when the money got too high to say no to. These salaries aren't being totally borne by the Universities but rather the apparel cos., boosters etc and with some schools, money is no object and ND, while understanding the landscape, won't allow itself to be put into the position of constant bidding wars for its coaches.

 

Considering the impact that college coaches have on a program's success, I disagree that the cost of winning is getting out of control. If you want to win you pony up. Look at the difference between VanGorder and Elko in one year. Notre Dame's interim defense was better than VanGorder's but I also don't think that was like what we saw from Elko. Effective coaches are probably the most important thing you need to win. If the reason Elko left is because of money alone, there is no excuse here and this is totally on Notre Dame.

Considering the impact that college coaches have on a program's success, I disagree that the cost of winning is getting out of control. If you want to win you pony up. Look at the difference between VanGorder and Elko in one year. Notre Dame's interim defense was better than VanGorder's but I also don't think that was like what we saw from Elko. Effective coaches are probably the most important thing you need to win. If the reason Elko left is because of money alone, there is no excuse here and this is totally on Notre Dame.

 

Wrong. You can't destroy institutional integrity for one coach. A&M and LSU are creating a far different world for Assistants and programs need to make fiduciary decisions which benefit the school overall, not for an individual. It's the same model corporations use to slot salary comps. LSU made a terrible decision to pay Aranda that much money and A&M merely copied the blueprint. Bad for college football and bad for schools. Plus the fact Elko agreed to a new deal with ND, only to renege within days. Guess integrity doesn't matter in your scenario either? Regardless, with his new found fame, thanks in large part to Kelly, Elko would've been gone sooner than later regardless as you can't fault him for financial security but when do you no longer take a man at his word?

Wrong. You can't destroy institutional integrity for one coach. A&M and LSU are creating a far different world for Assistants and programs need to make fiduciary decisions which benefit the school overall, not for an individual. It's the same model corporations use to slot salary comps. LSU made a terrible decision to pay Aranda that much money and A&M merely copied the blueprint. Bad for college football and bad for schools. Plus the fact Elko agreed to a new deal with ND, only to renege within days. Guess integrity doesn't matter in your scenario either? Regardless, with his new found fame, thanks in large part to Kelly, Elko would've been gone sooner than later regardless as you can't fault him for financial security but when do you no longer take a man at his word?

 

The issue now though is that the precedent has been set. What's to stop the next big money school from stepping and poaching our next great assistant coach because they know nd won't match their offer if it gets high enough?

What's to stop the next big money school from stepping and poaching our next great assistant coach because they know nd won't match their offer if it gets high enough?

 

Well, because tom rees is an nd grad and too loyal to be swayed away by a few million bucks.

 

What baffles me is why nd asst coaches are so in demand? Tony alford was a hot name and interviewed for hc jobs. Now he's just a coach at osu. Ed warinner and tim hinton left nd after one year and again remained at osu for years.

A&M and LSU are creating a far different world for Assistants and programs need to make fiduciary decisions which benefit the school overall, not for an individual. It's the same model corporations use to slot salary comps. LSU made a terrible decision to pay Aranda that much money and A&M merely copied the blueprint. Bad for college football and bad for schools.

 

I'll admit I've never understood exactly where the money comes from to pay college coaches in any sport.

Are athletic programs completely separate from academic programs budget-wise?

Do coaches' salaries come from the same money pools as history professors and science professors?

Do the salaries of these coaches in any way affect tuition at the universities?

 

My biggest concern really is that some large portion of the money comes either from what students/parents pay to go to the school, or from taxpayers for state schools. If money comes from either of these, then it's just not right, in my opinion, to pay coaches such large amounts.

 

If universities can come up with money without affecting how much students pay to go to school or how much tax payers are paying, then go for it. I don't like it, but go ahead and break the bank.

Remember we had two coaches who took good years early in their time here and made bank because the AD thought they'd up and leave for more money elsewhere. We overpaid and extended contracts arguably with probably little threat of them getting offered better jobs. One of them got re-uped a second time with little to show for the reason why, and will be here for years to come.

Wrong. You can't destroy institutional integrity for one coach. A&M and LSU are creating a far different world for Assistants and programs need to make fiduciary decisions which benefit the school overall, not for an individual. It's the same model corporations use to slot salary comps. LSU made a terrible decision to pay Aranda that much money and A&M merely copied the blueprint. Bad for college football and bad for schools. Plus the fact Elko agreed to a new deal with ND, only to renege within days. Guess integrity doesn't matter in your scenario either? Regardless, with his new found fame, thanks in large part to Kelly, Elko would've been gone sooner than later regardless as you can't fault him for financial security but when do you no longer take a man at his word?

 

What "institutional integrity" would be destroyed by paying a coach who is already here market value? Strength coach and assistant coach salaries have been going up for years and to act as if that is moral problem seems odd to me. Why is it bad for college football if assistants make more money? I understand school may spend that money poorly, as ND has in the past, but that hasn't seemed to hurt football as contracts has risen exponentially over the last 20 or so years.

 

It also seems a little more than odd to point out that Elko had already agreed to a deal with Kelly only to leave and to question his morals in that sense when Kelly literally interviewed for a new job days before the national championship game.

 

Now I could see an argument that Elko doesn't deserve that much money because the defense wasn't actually that good this year, but to turn this into a question of morals seems like a reach to me.

What "institutional integrity" would be destroyed by paying a coach who is already here market value? Strength coach and assistant coach salaries have been going up for years and to act as if that is moral problem seems odd to me. Why is it bad for college football if assistants make more money? I understand school may spend that money poorly, as ND has in the past, but that hasn't seemed to hurt football as contracts has risen exponentially over the last 20 or so years.

 

It also seems a little more than odd to point out that Elko had already agreed to a deal with Kelly only to leave and to question his morals in that sense when Kelly literally interviewed for a new job days before the national championship game.

 

Now I could see an argument that Elko doesn't deserve that much money because the defense wasn't actually that good this year, but to turn this into a question of morals seems like a reach to me.

 

I don't think there is an integrity issue in the sense of anything other than pricing smaller schools out of contention. At some point I think that if you want to "level the playing field" so to speak, you end up having to impose some kind of salary cap solution on assistants.

 

But that isn't going to happen and if ND wants to get and keep high level coaching talent they are either going to have to sign ridiculous long term contracts with buyout clauses (because that has worked out super well for us in the past) and pay out truck loads of cash. The popular report on this is that ND got outbid, does that mean that ND was given the chance to match A&Ms offer and declined? Or did Elko verbally agree to that truckload they offered him and end up taking a better offer from A&M with no counter offer?

 

Do we actually know the specifics?

So Elko, and Jimbo Fisher for that matter, got bought by eATMe. $2M for a coordinator and whatever they are paying Fisher seems like crazy money but they seem to have it.

 

My question is, if they have that kind of money for a coach/assistants; AND they are not as profitable as ND (behind UTexas for that matter); how are they swinging these salaries and why wont ND match?

 

There was a moment there when ND was eager to pay Weis and Friends, but it seems to have passed.

 

I can find the article, but A&M has a larger endowment fund than ND..

 

They're both astronomical.

 

Too much creative accounting can show these programs don't make a lot annually, but their university's net worth is substantial, and a lot of that is from athletic income.

Wrong. You can't destroy institutional integrity for one coach. A&M and LSU are creating a far different world for Assistants and programs need to make fiduciary decisions which benefit the school overall, not for an individual. It's the same model corporations use to slot salary comps. LSU made a terrible decision to pay Aranda that much money and A&M merely copied the blueprint. Bad for college football and bad for schools. Plus the fact Elko agreed to a new deal with ND, only to renege within days. Guess integrity doesn't matter in your scenario either? Regardless, with his new found fame, thanks in large part to Kelly, Elko would've been gone sooner than later regardless as you can't fault him for financial security but when do you no longer take a man at his word?

 

There is no "institutional integrity" when it comes to the free market of college football. ND proved that by cutting a separate TV deal from every university in the country.

I can find the article, but A&M has a larger endowment fund than ND..

.

 

2014 numbers:

Texas A&M system: $11.1 billion

ND: $8 billion

https://www.statisticbrain.com/college-endowment-rankings/