With the Sooners’ win in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, OU football coach Bob Stoops earned more than $4.5 million this year — making him the third-highest paid football coach in the NCAA.
According to his contract, Stoops earned $110,000 in performance bonuses for participating in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl and another $82,500 for finishing in the top 10 of the final BCS rankings, along with an automatic $200,000 raise on Jan. 1. His total compensation package for the year was $4,767,500.
Information regarding the revenue generated by the OU football program has not been released this year, but the US Department of Education reported the OU football program generated $58,295,888 in revenue in 2009.
Stoops’ contract is simply representative of his contribution to OU, said Kenny Mossman, senior associate athletics director of communications.
“While the university, and President Boren specifically, has been on record lamenting the salary structure of collegiate athletics, we understand the marketplace economics and strive to be competitive in all areas of university compensation to ensure the university attracts the best and brightest in all areas,” Mossman said.
Stoops was compensated in accordance with his peer group; his programs have consistently placed in the top five during the past decade and his compensation reflects that level of performance, Mossman said.
Stoops was the first head football coach to break the $3 million per year mark in guaranteed pay with his 2008 contract, USA Today reported.
“The team’s successes over the past decade have provided the university with immeasurable free publicity and exposure, having a profound impact on the university’s recruitment of top academic students,” Mossman continued. “His program’s success has had a direct impact on the university’s fundraising, improving the university experience for students by contributing to capital projects for student facilities and scholarships.”
The Athletics Department also claims it is one of the few completely self-sustaining programs in the country, not only operating without any money from either state appropriations or student tuition and fees, but also remitting over $7 million in excess revenue to support the institution’s academic mission. Mossman attributed this in large part to the success of the football program.
The minutes of the Faculty Senate indicate OU Athletic Director Joe Castiglione was questioned about coaching salaries when he addressed the Senate on May 11, 2009. He responded that the compensation was commiserate with the market, their performance and how their teams do overall – noting the salaries come from radio and television, corporate sponsorship, and licensing revenue, which would not be available without their success.
However, Stoops received only about 4 percent of his total compensation package from performance-based bonuses. According to his contract, Stoops must be paid before any other position, item or expense for the football program is funded. In the event he is terminated, the university must pay him $3 million for each year remaining under his contract unless he is fired for misconduct.
Castiglione addressed the Faculty Senate again on May 10, 2010 and declined to answer any questions on the subject — saying he was not at liberty to discuss coaching salaries.
Current Faculty Senate President LeRoy Blank declined to comment. However, former Faculty Senate Chair Aimee L. Franklin said, “Compensation is an important issue and certainly one that gets people’s attention in tight economic times.” She noted faculty had raised questions about the compensation structure of the athletics department at Faculty Senate meetings in the past.
The Daily contacted UOSA President Franz Zenteno, UOSA Vice President Cory Lloyd and UOSA Student Congress Chair Brett Stidham. However, all of these officers declined to comment. Speaking on behalf of UOSA as a whole, Stidham said, “UOSA is primarily concerned with serving students of the OU-Norman campus.”
Although UOSA Graduate Student Senate Chair Derrell Cox emphasized he could not speak officially for either UOSA or the Graduate Student Senate, he noted these were “significant and important questions.”
“Stoops has inculcated respect and excellence in his coaching staff and football players during his tenure at OU,” Cox said. “He has consistently led OU football to championship seasons, which is a direct reflection of his and his staff’s ability to attract and train good players from high schools and junior colleges. I think the case can be easily made that Stoops deserves the rewards he received.”
However, Grant DeLozier, political science and geographic information science junior with Students for Democratic Society, offered a different perspective, “The athletics budget shouldn’t be sacred in light of the fact that there are over 700 full-time workers making less than a living wage.”
Based on last year’s university budget, he estimated every full-time worker could be paid a living wage of $13 per hour for about $3.8 million.
Cox also noted the pay may be inequitable because many OU employees were paid below the living wage. However, he thought it was a problem that had to be addressed at the national level. Cox said reducing their pay would only result in them leaving to seek higher paying jobs elsewhere – impacting the quality and revenue-generating capacity of the athletics department.
“It is my understanding that the OU athletic program is one of a few programs across the U.S. which turns a profit, and in OU’s case, actually subsidizes the university,” Cox said. “This is a testament to generous donors and loyal fans, as well as a well-managed program, which attracts high quality coaches, training, staff and student athletes who combine to deliver consistent performance.”
LINK:
• Click to download a copy of football coach Bob Stoops' employment contract
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SoonerNation 1 year, 4 months ago
Great, well-researched article.
While I am an OU football fan, this level of pay seems excessive. Arguments about competitive pay for coaches make sense maybe for a professional football team, but not for a collegiate athletics program at a public institution. 4 1/2 million is more than most coaches get in the pros.
The University should be an academic institution first and foremost.
dmann84ng 1 year, 4 months ago
i know this is the university newspaper so i can only comment on the way i feel as a spectator. whether we like it or not the football program at ou generates the majority of the money that the other sports use i.e. soccer, Baseball, basketball mens and womens, volleyball, track, wrestling, gymnastics, softball. now dont get me wrong i am not putting these sports down and in some sports like gymnastics and softball and womens basketball ou is considered among the elite in the country so they contibute to the pot also but lets be realistic 85,000 people dont show up for a basketball game or a gym meet. so this being said i dont think that stoops salary is to high considering we are one of the top programs in the country. dont take my word for it look it up! all the info is online. so people can talk about stoops being over paid but look at what he has done for the university since his arrival. he has helped everyone not just football, why because i am sure if you look some of the money the school gets goes into the general scholarship fund so that the artist or the chess player can also attend school.
Okie3L 1 year, 4 months ago
Hey, SDS, shut the hell up. Stoops is worth every penny he earns.
localsooner 1 year, 4 months ago
SoonerNation, Stoop's pay should exceed most coaches in the pros, so that we don't lose him to a pro team.
scrtagnt25 1 year, 4 months ago
Mack Brown made $1,100,000 for every win last season...so let's consider Bob a bargain at $4.7 million.
SoonerNation 1 year, 4 months ago
@localsooner
It means something that the University was founded in part by the state and taxpayer funds. Without the investment being made by the public more generally there would have been no OU and thus no football program.
If the market-oriented view holds so much sway with you, consider the money generated by athletics as the just returns made on an investment, not the charitable giving of the program.
We are corrupting both the mission of the university and collegiate athletics with all of this money. If we are so worried about being competitive, the next logical step is to start paying college athletes under the table, as that is already being done by our buddies in the SEC.
bowhs1 1 year, 4 months ago
While this exceeds most salaries anywhere in the nation, it is correct when compared to other top college/professionals in his field. Bob Stoops continues to lead the Sooner Nation Football program to an unprecedented high level of return for the University as a whole. Seeing that Sooner Football funds nearly everything else at OU, Bob is earning his way. To work under these demands is highly stressful, he must produce a clean, winning program, all the time. However, I would give most anything to be in his place and I would do so much more cheaply than he. The only problem would be that without the incredible skillset, recruiting ability, record of success, recruiting networks, ability to get best talent and train them, motivate, hire best coaches, etc. I might fail. Until we can find someone of his caliber, with irreputible integrity and proven success, better stick with Bob. His coaching record will compare with anyone in the nation during his 12 years. He'll keep the program clean, generating revenue, and always near the top.
In closing, I have loved OU Football for many years and am thankful for all the entertainment. However, in the realm of importance, it is not life or death. (and that is a lot of green backs, moolah, money, salary, etc. Wish I had become a football coach.)
recruiter 1 year, 4 months ago
Commiserate?
Uh, no. That would be commensurate.
Anyone editing this story?
ardmore_sooner 1 year, 4 months ago
It amazes me that the University pays him that much when 95% of University employees have not had a pay increase in 4 years.
mythman 1 year, 4 months ago
Every time I hear about tuition going up, or departments cutting their budgets, or staff going yet another year without cost-of-living increases, I will ask why the Athletic Department can use OU's name without sharing the profits.