The Business

In covering the UCLA/Big Ten issue and the related NIL (name, image, likeness) Supreme Court decision, we have been skirting around the main issue. College sports - at least football and basketball - is a Big Business, as the pay levels for everyone except the players make clear. In their discussions so far of the UCLA/Big Ten deal, the Regents have also skirted around that issue. Perhaps at their September meeting, when the topic will again be on the agenda, the Regents might better use their limited time focusing on the degree to which they want to be in that business, rather than debating the consequences of being in that business.

From the Los Angeles Times: UCLA’s football coaches will make a record $10,172,500 in salary and bonuses this year..., a 3.2% increase over the previous year. More than half of the new total is consumed by coach Chip Kelly’s $5.6 million in salary that includes a $1-million retention bonus payable Dec. 15. New defensive coordinator Bill McGovern is Kelly’s highest-paid assistant, pocketing $900,000 in each of the two years on his contract. Offensive line coach Tim Drevno will make $560,000 this year, followed by assistant head coach, defensive backs coach and defensive passing game coordinator Brian Norwood ($535,000); inside linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. ($437,500); quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson ($410,000); outside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator Ikaika Malloe ($390,000); running backs coach DeShaun Foster ($385,000); defensive line coach Chad Kauha’aha’a ($335,000); and tight ends coach Jeff Faris and wide receivers coach Jerry Neuheisel ($310,000 apiece).

The increase in salaries comes amid massive turnover on Kelly’s staff, including six new coaches this season. Kelly was awarded a new four-year, $22-million contract in January that included only modest raises. Raises and bonuses will bump the total for the coaching staff to $10,357,500 for the second years of their contracts. Each assistant could make an additional $100,000 in performance bonuses per year. All the assistants have two-year contracts with clauses calling for them to be paid their base salaries and talent fees in full should UCLA terminate them without cause. The coaches would have to pay the school differing amounts should they depart prior to the end of their contracts...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2022-08-31/ucla-bruins-football-assistant-coaches-contracts-salary.

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https://ia601402.us.archive.org/25/items/big-ten/business.mp3