I heard about this Bradley Scout article from Mazr via Billy’s blog. The article is mainly about how Joanne Glasser is one of the highest-paid college presidents in Illinois, but both Mazr and Billy picked up on Bradley Basketball coach Jim Les’s jaw-dropping salary of $419,414 (including benefits) for the 2007-08 school year. That’s just $1,586 shy of the college president’s salary.
What really floored me, though, was this: “Two years earlier, Les earned $262,905.” That means Les’s salary increased $156,509, or nearly 60%, in just two years. This raise coincides with Bradley’s NCAA appearance in 2006, when they made it to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1955. I presume the NCAA berth and his salary bump are connected.
It sounds like a lot of money to me, and I find it strange that the basketball coach would be on equal salary terms with the college president. It gives the impression that athletics and academics are of equal value. However, Les’s salary was actually quite low compared to other NCAA Division I coaches, according to this USA Today report from 2006. Before his salary bump, Les was one of the 20 lowest-paid coaches. At that time, 17 coaches made over $1 million, and 33 made over a half million.
I can’t find a recent salary comparison, but I would assume Les is making a respectable average salary among coaches in his division now. Is he worth it? I’ll let those who follow basketball more than I answer that question.
Even worse would be the comparison of the salary of Bradley professors to Les’s salary. Athletics brings money to the Hilltop–evidently, no one believes that the students drawn to Bradley bring their money there because of the education that Bradley offers. I don’t believe the situation is much different from that of District 150. Teachers and what they do are simply not valued–or their value is not translated into dollars as is the value of those who entertain us (athletes, Hollywood, etc.).
I understand how people can be upset at his salary, however, what people fail to realize is that it includes other benefits (car, phone, camps, etc). Also many coaches have production incentives built into their salary packages (i.e. post season play, graduation rates, etc). Therefore he does have a job that is watched critically and sometimes is based on production. Many of us do not have that critical watch over us and keep in mind if he is let go as Coach it has a boomerang effect on a lot of people (i.e. assistants).
His salary may seem extreme to us regular folk, but in his profession it is very low. In regards to pay that professors receive ALL Bradley employees (minus Les and Glasser) are underpaid. Everyone from clerical, faculty, and staff are underpaid at that University.
My question would be; Does the basketball program make money for the university? If so, his pay is justified.
Taking that further, how many additional donor dollars are brought into Bradley when the team has a winning season? How many scholarships does that money represent? How much national exposure does Bradley receive from a winning team? Can that exposure even be adequately measured?
Mdd: The men’s program creates more opportunity for money then the other sports. Is it a money pit right now no, but the opportunities for revenue could be higher if the team made NCAA post season play every year. The donor dollars that are donated help to benefit other sports and generate scholarships for athlete and non-athlete students.
Simple things such as applications for admission go up when the team has a winning season.
I believe that if you were to look at the vast majority of NCAA schools the men’s basketball and football coaches (I know this article is not about football) are my far the highest paid employees not only of the schools but in the case of State funded institutions, the State. At a lot of the larger schools, the athletic departments are not funded by the university and are responsible for all of their own costs including scholarships, facility renovations, etc. Last week (December 24 2009) Forbes published a report about the most valuable college athletic programs earn and it is amazing – for example the University of Texas earned $59 million from athletics last year.
My question: How are the profits from the sports programs used at Bradley? Does the university itself, or just the sports programs, benefit from the money? I understand the “big” money to coaches at the professional level; I’m not so sure I understand it for college coaches. When “big” money for coaches and players began to be the norm, I lost faith in athletics as a character-builder (professional and non-professional). Now I see high school students willing to do anything to get to the big time and big money–wrong motivation for character building.
Sharon: “Profits” (not that there is a lot) goes to athletic scholarships, facilities, uniforms, shoes, staff salaries, travel, and student-athlete support programs. Primarily the sports programs benefit from the money that they bring in, however, the student body as a whole does benefit somewhat in reduce ticket prices, etc.
Who cares where the proceeds go. Any proceeds from the athletic department should go back into the athletic department. The department should be viewed as an extension of the university marketing department. I guarantee a ncaa championship in basketball would make bradley 100% more visible than any marketing program they could come up with (except maybe free tuition).
Coaching is a high risk high reward prospect as well. Les could be fired tomorrow for no real reason. If he was a district 150 or college tenure professor, it would take an act of congress.
What does he do then? Pick up his family and move cross country. Most coaches have done that numerous times, a lot of times working for little or no pay as an assistant.
When a professor teaches a lecture that draws 11,000 over the course of 20odd dates, I will argue for more equitable pay.
Come on people, he’s clearly not worth 419k a year. He’s a college basketball coach, not a rocket scientist. So other coaches are overpaid too, so what? Oh, and he could be fired? Sorry, he has a contract. Most employees don’t even have that. And what about the players? Oh, most of them get a scholarship, so that makes it OK not to pay them? B.S. They aren’t students. They’re basketball players. They spend most of their time playing, traveling, or practicing. Student athletes my foot. If they are part of the marketing dept., as you say, then pay them for their work and stop pretending they are students. At least give them some benefits. Oh, yea, the NCAA. What a group of clowns that is. OK, OK, long enough rant. It’s over.
Bradley BB performance and alumni contributions are directly correlated. I doubt that Bradley is getting the short end of the deal on this one. And, if it begins to appear it is, Les will be gone.
Thanks for bringing this story to us C.J., it is jaw-dropping.
It’s a sad day when we measure the quality of a school by its athletic program and not its academic one.
Do applications go up when there is a winning sports season? Sadly yes.
Do alumni donations go up when there is a winning sports season? Sadly yes. There tend to be strings attached though, meaning most of the money goes back into athletics.
Do coaches of winning sports teams get paid more than top rated academic scholars, department heads, or even college deans? Sadly yes.
All this is not lost on students of all ages. Mo money equates success to most folks. It’s no accident that admissions and graduates of science related fields have been plummeting for decades.
Coaches should be paid no more than a typical tenured professor, if that. The money saved should be spent improving academics or create opportunities for the less advantaged (ie tuition breaks for poorer folks).
I wish I could find the article from a few years back… but there was a university down south who pulled their athletic programs out of the NCAA, relegating them to extracurricular activities/clubs. Their donations skyrocketed because of that decision. They were not the only university mentioned to have done that, to greater financial success.
I realize that Bradley is an institution of higher learning, and therefore is under more scrutiny than most employers. However, Bradley is a private college, and is a business, that needs to get noticed. Sports are a very good way to advertise for colleges. It attracts good students, quality faculty, and donors. Many sports stars get paid astronomical amounts of money to attract attention to various products, and we accept that. Currently, that is what Les is doing for Bradley, and that’s probably why Bradley feels that he is worth that. If he can get paid that much to do what he loves, more power to him!
Does that work for teachers as well as coaches?–If they get paid that much to do what they love, more power to them? 🙂
All the renovating going on at BU is due to the 2006 run. While much of it is athletic training facilities, some other departments like nursing have benefited.
If I was one of the reasons that $100M was raised, I’d probably look for a bump in pay also. Now Coach Les needs to win more games to keep that salary.
Other perks for Jim Les are scholarships for his kids if they attend Bradley and extra money for his department from fund-raising by the Bradley Chiefs Club. I was in charge of fund-raising the last year of Coach Stowell’s reign and we raised a record high of $80,000. Then came Versace and money came in increasingly record amounts; a few years ago I was told by a Chiefs board member that yearly amounts exceeded $500,000. Most of this money goes to the basketball programs.
Coaches should be judged by the character they build in kids and how they fare against stronger competetion and success in league play. Almost all colleges play weak teams to build up their won loss record (witness Indiana playing Bryant???). Bradley did not even get invited to the NIT last year and made the bottom of the best 100 playing in a third rate tournament and losing at home.
Five and five this year? Salaries and emphasis are out of sight. As an ex-coach who made an extra $300 for coaching because I loved it, I’ve lost interest in all but lower level sports.
The program certainly ain’t the 40s, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s,
the 80s. The $419,414 respesents a travesty for a former player
coaching a 3rd-rate team w/zero ability to recruit real talent
because real bonified NCAA talent doesn’t want to compete for an
utterly misguided and inconsistent program. Unlike ALL his colorful
predecesors, the present coach lacks real enthusiasm and charisma
required of a top-shelf NCAA coach. Apologizing to fans for poor
performance certainly a ticket to a way out and clear indication
he has zero confidence in this team. The entire program needs new
blood from top to bottom or perhaps bring back Versace or even
Stowell. I’d add Stan to that list, may he continue to rehab as
best he can.
People lose jobs every day. The program has suffered long
enough under this utterly misguided guidance. Come on BU,
open up your eyes. It’s all right there in fromt of you.