Thank goodness for Baylor. If it weren't for the Bad News Bears, Kansas would be the worst football team in the Big 12 Conference right now.
But who knows? After the Kansas-Baylor game on Nov. 6 at Memorial Stadium, maybe the two tail-enders will do a flip-flop.
If Kansas does finish with the worst record in the Big 12, you probably shouldn't be surprised " at least if you believe you get what you pay for.
Salaries of the KU coaches rank at or near the bottom of the Big 12.
According to figures supplied by the Big 12 Conference office based on the 1998-99 school year, Kansas had the lowest-paid head coach and lowest-paid offensive and defensive coordinators in the league.
Head coach Terry Allen's base salary of $118,404 last year ranked 12th in the league. Sure, Allen had supplemental income -- all major-college coaches do -- but his total package surely ranked in the lower strata as well.
The highest-paid football coach in the Big 12 last year earned a base salary of $225,000.
It should be noted the Big 12 is not specific. The league ranks salaries in order, but not by name. In other words, each school knows its own salaries so it can determine where it ranks, but it can only guess at the recipients of the other 11 salary numbers.
Bill Salmon and Ardell Wiegandt, KU's offensive and defensive coordinators respectively, each earned about $75,000 last year. Again, dead last in the league. The Big 12's highest-paid coordinators were paid $115,000 last season.
Also, seven Big 12 schools have an aide who is designated as the assistant head coach. Kansas is one of them. Darrell Wyatt wears that hat at KU and, like Salmon and Wiegandt, he makes about $75,000 a year.
Where did Wyatt's salary rank? Fifth among the seven. The highest-paid assistant head coach in the Big 12 made $94,000.
Like every other NCAA Division I-A school, Kansas has nine full-time assistant football coaches. Their combined salaries in 1998-99 came to $594,000. In that category, Kansas ranked No. 11 in the league. The highest-paid staff was paid $798,000.
Figures for this year aren't yet available -- last year's report was released in November -- but it isn't likely Kansas gained much ground.
Allen, for instance, will earn around $122,000 this year, an increase of only around $4,000 from last year. Quite likely, his assistant coaches will show minimal increases as well.
By the way, KU was paying Glen Mason, Allen's predecessor, about $104,000 before Mason left for Minnesota after the 1996 season for a reported $500,000 year.
Each Big 12 Conference school receives basically the same disbursement from the league office, so the disparity in salaries can be linked in most cases to attendance.
The schools that draw the largest crowds -- Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M -- are assuredly paying the highest salaries, while the schools with the smallest crowds -- Iowa State, Baylor and Kansas -- are shelling out the least.
NCAA figures reported after the 1998 season had Iowa State, Baylor and Kansas ranking 10th, 11th and 12th in Big 12 football attendance respectively.
Kansas reported an average crowd of 32,367 for its six home games and ranked No. 63 among the 112 NCAA Div. I-A schools and was sandwiched between Navy and East Carolina.
The Haves of Big 12 Conference football lure 70,000 and more fans every time they open they gates. The Have-Nots of the Big 12 lure less than 35,000 a game. Put another way, the Haves are making twice as much money from football as the Have-Nots.
It's the old vicious circle. You can't pay them the money if you don't win, and you can't win if you don't show them the money.
-- Chuck Woodling's phone message number is 832-7147. His e-mail address is cwoodling@ljworld.com.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.