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I was flabbergasted to learn Nick Saban from University of Alabama makes $9.3 million annually(2019)[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban https://

I was flabbergasted to learn Nick Saban from University of Alabama makes $9.3 million annually(2019)[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban

listenallyall 5y ago
too much or too little?
- munk-a 5y ago
  Too much - universities obviously benefit a lot from the revenue that sports bring in but it'd be nice to see that benefit spread a bit more evenly across professors.
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    > universities obviously benefit a lot from the revenue that sports bring in but it'd be nice to see that benefit spread a bit more evenly across professors Professors can't do what he does: bring in big-ticket spending, sponsorships and donations.
    - munk-a 5y ago
      This is true - but professors provide the real value that students retain over time - so admissions fees should pretty much all be funneled to them. This is a problem with how hard to market the value professors provide is - a lot of admissions care more about a good sports team than a good set of professors even though the later factor will be much more important to them two years in. Basically, people don't act rationally so the market is irrational.
      - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
        > professors provide the real value that students retain over time - so admissions fees should pretty much all be funneled to them I wouldn't so quickly ignore the additional tuition revenue athletics departments bring in at non-Tier 1 schools. University athletics are a weird thing. But if the pay bothers you, think of it as a commission. Going cheap on that will likely cost more than it saves.
hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
I think the broader point for the HN crowd is this is a great example of why you want to be part of a profit center instead of a cost center in a business. If it's easy for management to try a direct line from incoming revenue to the work you do (like a sales person or, in this case, a football coach), you are in a great negotiating position. If you are in a cost center, management will do everything possible to reduce your salary, even if it the grand scheme of things that cost center is critical to running the business.
- dwaltrip 5y ago
  One can also try to work for companies that properly appreciate the value of all necessary components of the business, even if one can't directly tally their contribution. Most important factors to success are not easily measurable.
- cycomanic 5y ago
  The irony is that the people who do the central work for the business, academics at the University, engineers designing the next products, even factory workers often are often cost centres. This leads to the somewhat perverse insentive to remove more and more of your central workers to hire managers and administrators.

I was flabbergasted to learn Nick Saban from University of Alabama makes $9.3 million annually(2019)[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban

listenallyall 5y ago

too much or too little?

munk-a 5y ago
Too much - universities obviously benefit a lot from the revenue that sports bring in but it'd be nice to see that benefit spread a bit more evenly across professors.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > universities obviously benefit a lot from the revenue that sports bring in but it'd be nice to see that benefit spread a bit more evenly across professors Professors can't do what he does: bring in big-ticket spending, sponsorships and donations.
  - munk-a 5y ago
    This is true - but professors provide the real value that students retain over time - so admissions fees should pretty much all be funneled to them. This is a problem with how hard to market the value professors provide is - a lot of admissions care more about a good sports team than a good set of professors even though the later factor will be much more important to them two years in. Basically, people don't act rationally so the market is irrational.
    - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
      > professors provide the real value that students retain over time - so admissions fees should pretty much all be funneled to them I wouldn't so quickly ignore the additional tuition revenue athletics departments bring in at non-Tier 1 schools. University athletics are a weird thing. But if the pay bothers you, think of it as a commission. Going cheap on that will likely cost more than it saves.

hn_throwaway_99 5y ago

I think the broader point for the HN crowd is this is a great example of why you want to be part of a profit center instead of a cost center in a business. If it's easy for management to try a direct line from incoming revenue to the work you do (like a sales person or, in this case, a football coach), you are in a great negotiating position. If you are in a cost center, management will do everything possible to reduce your salary, even if it the grand scheme of things that cost center is critical to running the business.

dwaltrip 5y ago
One can also try to work for companies that properly appreciate the value of all necessary components of the business, even if one can't directly tally their contribution. Most important factors to success are not easily measurable.
cycomanic 5y ago
The irony is that the people who do the central work for the business, academics at the University, engineers designing the next products, even factory workers often are often cost centres. This leads to the somewhat perverse insentive to remove more and more of your central workers to hire managers and administrators.