The NCAA, Amorality, and the Disincentivization of College Athletics

Randy R. Grant, John C. Leadley, and Zenon X. Zygmont (2013) hold a position along the lines of Piquero (2012) but from a coaches’ perspective.  They are concluding that with coaches’ salaries being so great, the incentive is there for them to cheat.  Nick Saban, University of Alabama football head coach, is the highest paid coach at $5.2 million.  The average salary for a Division I football head coach is $1.36 million (2013, p. 61).

Academic goals are not incentivized on the same scale as winning.  For example, University of Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops receives a bonus of $10,000 for a 70% graduation rate but receives $150,000 for winning the national championship (Grant et al., 2013, p.63).  The priorities seem pretty clear when quantified in dollars and cents.  “Rhetoric about academic goals does not hold up to close scrutiny.” (Grant et al., 2013, p. 63)  Tyrone Willingham, a well-liked coach at Notre Dame that received praise from his boss, Athletic Director Kevin White, for running a clean program but was subsequently fired for lack of wins (overall record of 19-12).  White states that, “from Sunday through Friday our football program has exceeded all expectations, in every way.  We have not madethe progress on the field that we need to make.”