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College football and basketball seem mainly to function as publicity for the schools and, when the teams are winning, help them to get the alumni to donate more

College football and basketball seem mainly to function as publicity for the schools and, when the teams are winning, help them to get the alumni to donate more. And serve as entertainment for the non athlete students. It's profoundly weird and completely unrelated to the academic functions of the university. Lots of people confuse schools with good sports teams for schools with strong academics.

taylodl 3y ago
Football and basketball fund all the other sports. That's important because there are still many kids getting their tuition covered with a sports scholarship, which, in turn, is being paid for by the football and basketball programs. All that to say there is some academic good that comes out of all this.
BobaFloutist 3y ago
> when the teams are winning, Trust me, this qualifier is completely unnecessary. See: Cal football's inexplicable perennial popularity. People just like having a team to cheer for, regardless of that team's success.
dgoldstein0 3y ago
Also fun random fact, but at a lot of major US public universities, the highest paid employee would be the men's football or basketball coach.
- dmurray 3y ago
  The highest paid public servant in almost every US state, apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lnir2v/oc_the_highestpaid_public_employee_in_every_state/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lnir2v/oc_the_high...
- trilbyglens 3y ago
  not sure I'd call it fun.
- cafard 3y ago
  A cousin mentioned that the basketball coach was the highest paid employee at her (private) university. I said that he was also likely to be among the easiest to fire. Even an adjunct is likely to have more chances than a coach who doesn't meet expectations.
  - saveferris 3y ago
    They can be fired but if so the school is still on the hook for paying out the rest of their contract....so, maybe easy to do but painful financially. Football coach but the same principles apply: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/12/jimbo-fisher-buyout/ https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/12/jimbo-fisher-buyout/
    - cafard 3y ago
      Fair enough.

taylodl 3y ago

Football and basketball fund all the other sports. That's important because there are still many kids getting their tuition covered with a sports scholarship, which, in turn, is being paid for by the football and basketball programs. All that to say there is some academic good that comes out of all this.

BobaFloutist 3y ago

> when the teams are winning, Trust me, this qualifier is completely unnecessary. See: Cal football's inexplicable perennial popularity. People just like having a team to cheer for, regardless of that team's success.

dgoldstein0 3y ago

Also fun random fact, but at a lot of major US public universities, the highest paid employee would be the men's football or basketball coach.

dmurray 3y ago
The highest paid public servant in almost every US state, apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lnir2v/oc_the_highestpaid_public_employee_in_every_state/ https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/lnir2v/oc_the_high...
trilbyglens 3y ago
not sure I'd call it fun.
cafard 3y ago
A cousin mentioned that the basketball coach was the highest paid employee at her (private) university. I said that he was also likely to be among the easiest to fire. Even an adjunct is likely to have more chances than a coach who doesn't meet expectations.
- saveferris 3y ago
  They can be fired but if so the school is still on the hook for paying out the rest of their contract....so, maybe easy to do but painful financially. Football coach but the same principles apply: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/12/jimbo-fisher-buyout/ https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/12/jimbo-fisher-buyout/
  - cafard 3y ago
    Fair enough.