With college football approaching a $2B industry, Forbes has dug into compensation and performance to try to determine the best (and worst) coaching values. The formula they used is pretty straight-forward (though the bonus points for BCS wins isn't exactly spelled out):
To measure bang for the buck, we developed a metric that compares a coach’s 2007 salary with his team’s performance over the past three years. Bonus points were awarded for winning any of the five prestigious Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games. A score of 120 means that the coach achieved 20% more victories per dollar of pay than the average coach.
Despite the two big game losses, Tressel still came out on top of their rankings -- mostly due to the fact that he's only the 9th-highest paid coach in BCS football:
Good coach, bad coachBut the best bargain was Ohio State’s Jim Tressel, who scored a 122. Tressel has led the Buckeyes to the last two national championship games (losing to Florida in 2007 and Louisiana State in 2008) and was paid $2.6 million last season, less than eight of his peers.
The worst coach for the buck, according to Forbes, is also a Big Ten coach (and rightfully one that's on the hottest seat in the conference):
The most overpaid coach is Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, who made $3.4 million last year despite lackluster results on the field, for a score of 71. Just how lopsided is Ferentz’s deal? During the last three years he’s pocketed $10 million, including a record $4.7 million in 2006, but has led the Hawkeyes to just a 19-18 record.
Mike Riley, Jim Grobe, Pete Carroll and Frank Beamer round out the top five, while Greg Robinson of Syracuse, Charlie Weis, Ralph Friedgen and Al Groh round out their bottom five.
Comments
Ohio State has the money... They need to give JT some more cash. This is essentially the premier program in the nation and eight other coaches made more than him last year? Ridiculous.
I think OSU has stepped up with more money on the table for Tressel, but Tressel diverts much of those funds to his assistant coaches. I have no facts on this, just rumor I've picked up. It sounds very Tressel-esque though.
Tressel's assistants are very, very well-paid and cared for, in comparison to some other D-I assistants. The rumors Brotherbuck's heard are true.
Brotherbuck, that is true.
Tressel is following the lead of Woody Hayes, who constantly refused pay raises, instead demanding that the money be spent on his assistant coaches and the facilities.
Man, that Charlie Weis is a douchebag. A genius with a decided schematic advantage, but a douchebag nonetheless.
Tressel does have the opportunity to renegotiate his deal if (when) he wins a national championship again.