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Find more Kappan articles in the An Athletic Arms Race Maybe it's time to take a hard look at the costs of big-time college athletics. And, Mr. Budig warns, we'd better start looking at secondary athletics, too, because the excesses seem to be trickling down to high school programs and their fan bases. MYLES Brand, a fellow former university president, is a friend of mine. He is, I believe, a person of unquestioned integrity and high principle. But as president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), he has been asked to fend off an unruly mob with a switch. In the present environment for collegiate sports, his chances for success are slight, at best. What Brand and the NCAA face today is a very real arms race, one fueled by an insatiable appetite on the part of students, alumni, and the general public for college athletic success. Fiscal restraint is not frequently in evidence. New, multimillion-dollar facilities now seem to be the rule, rather than the exception. As Brand has told me, "Institutions hold mortgages on burgeoning facility expansion that represents on average 20% of intercollegiate athletics spending." Too few understand that only a handful of major intercollegiate athletic programs actually make money (fewer than 15 at last count). Meanwhile, the rest struggle to break even. Despite television income, growing ticket revenues, and contributions from supporters, big-time college athletics is a high-risk business. Let us not forget that marquee football and basketball coaches are paid millions of dollars a year, many times over what is allotted to outstanding faculty members and administrators. Not too many years ago, the million-dollar coach was a rarity. That is no longer the case, with at least 50 of the "Football Bowl Subdivision" of NCAA Division I (formerly Division I-A) head coaches annually earning $1 million or more. There were five in 1999. Coaches at the Bowl Subdivision schools are making an average of more than $950,000 a year. Brand has said that the salaries of million-dollar coaches have averaged 3.1% of the schools' football budgets. The University of Alabama paid Nick Saban $4 million a year to return the Crimson Tide to the glory days of legendary coach Bear Bryant. Saban is being paid 9% of the Alabama football budget. Too many athletic departments rely on some form of university subsidy, a sore point with faculty members and elected state officials. A growing number of elected federal officials believe that athletic departments have more influence than they should and need to be reined in. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee are threatening to take action, because they believe college athletic programs have moved too far away from their original and intended purposes and in many instances are undercutting institutional missions. The threat is real. Some members of Congress see today's major college football and basketball programs as professional-like in nature and substance and resent their tax-exempt status. Former University of Michigan President James Duderstadt has said repeatedly, "The simplest way to characterize the problem with college sports is to recognize that it is a very profitable commercial entertainment business that is moving farther and farther away from the original academic purposes of the university." Any congressional intrusion is certain to be actively discouraged by college presidents and their trustees, who will argue that they are best able to regulate collegiate sports. And I believe a clear majority of the House and Senate members will be careful to end up on the right political side of the issue, because they realize the immense and growing popularity of college football and basketball with the voters. True, Brand and the NCAA college presidents have brought about a number of needed reforms in academic standards for athletes, and they deserve high praise. These recent academic reforms will have an immediate and favorable impact on high school athletes, as well, for they will learn the importance of satisfactory classroom performance if they aspire to a career in athletics at the collegiate level. But immediate attention needs to be given to the bottom line and to what the budget numbers portend. It will be an arduous process for many on and off the campus. Many critics, especially from the media, believe that athletic directors and successful coaches have more sway than their college presidents. I disagree. But I do believe that university presidents have the right to expect strong trustee support when they set out to right some of the apparent wrongs. One needs to understand that, while college presidents do have the power to cut excesses, their presidential lives are, on average, short -- only about five years. What's more, they assumed their positions for academic reasons, not in order to preside over athletic programs, and they are often ill prepared to do so. At the same time, many board members who happen to love winning sports teams have longer tenure than presidents. Successful football and basketball programs can build enormous loyalty among alumni and fans in general. But what happens to the universities if the popularity of college sports wanes? And more and more informed observers believe that will indeed happen, because athletic events are overexposed now that they are on so many networks and cable stations. Many of these same issues now trouble high school athletics, and a growing number of officials from public secondary schools fear that a modified version of the arms race is beginning to take hold in their communities. They note that: • Nothing is more popular than Friday night high school football. • High school athletic programs have become a principal source of community pride and competitiveness. • Athletic programs are central to the modern secondary school. • Communities do not seem reluctant to build new and improved facilities for football and basketball programs. • Crowds for sporting events have never been larger. • High school football and basketball coaches have become real celebrities in their communities. • More and more local and regional radio and television stations are covering high school football and basketball on a daily basis. Modern-day athletic programs are complex and defy simplistic remedies. In truth, they are a combination of academics, business, and sports, and they always stir emotions on many sides, from the most zealous fans to the most cerebral professors. Those entrusted with secondary education must be vigilant and learn from the athletic excesses of colleges and universities.
GENE A. BUDIG, a former member of the Kappan Board of Editorial Consultants, was president or chancellor of Illinois State University, the University of West Virginia, and the University of Kansas. He is a past president of Major League Baseball's American League and a member of the College Board's Center for Innovative Thought, New York, N.Y.
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