There is no way we can compete in this arms race. A large portion of the faculty is upset about the current rate of Ohio coaches salaries. They probably can't fathom some of the salaries not only being paid by the big boys, but even at some non-Power 5 conference schools. Somthing has got to give.

I wish Coach Albin success, but IF he's not kept after next year, Derek Mason is on my list for the job. It's not easy to imagine if he'd be interested if his salary were to be cut by two thirds.

Love, you are so right. I worked in higher education for a public institution in the state of Ohio for 30 years. I can remember the days when a college president could not make more than the governor. The whole growth in faculty and administrative salaries is out-of-control and ridiculous. The same is true with football coaches. But you know as the saying goes “it’s the system“. Sad thing is at places like OU the students are the ones paying the bill for all this crap.

Agreed, Billy. Also agree with Kevin that MAC schools, especially Ohio, need to jack up the prices for "P" games. Kent usually gets a million plus from Bama but it's mostly due to the Saban connection. But as I recall we got only about 2/3 of Albin's salary from NWern this year. Half a million should be the base price for any MAC team vs any "P" team. $750,000 should be the average. These guys have money to throw around for coaches, lavish facilities, and overseas trips (ND is scheduled to play Navy in Ireland in 2023). A few extra hundred thou for a home game vs a MAC team shouldn't be unreasonable.

This would involve the G5 schools actually getting off their asses and coordinating a real plan to get a seat at the table and make more money. They have proven unwilling to do so, because each of these AD's in the G5 wants a P5 job and doesn't want to rock the boat. I'm telling you, everything about Higher Education stinks to high heaven right now. It's a pathetic, rotting corpse of an industry. We haven't even touched on the Student Loan situation. We are really talking about bottom of the barrel talent dearth when it comes to Higher Education Administration. Sad.

We just need to hire a coach that CAN'T win, so it would only be logical to play the schools with the best paydays.

Very true Higher Ed's ineptness has been a problem for a long time. I don't know about our beloved Alma mater but in talking with an Ohio 5 administrator, she told me that the number of administrators have doubled in the last 20 years, plenty of politically correct titles that go along with their hefty paychecks. Also, the number of counselors and health care officals have skyrockted as well. She told me the majority having to do with students who feel stressed. It is as if stress never existed before 2000. I am not trying to downplay the need for proper health care, but between that and all of these administrators who have fancy titles with little work actually meaningful work to do, we are facing a serious problem in Higher Ed.

Add to that the fear that many faculty members have about being downsized and or sent to the adjunct faculty lot, they are fearful and take it out on athletics rather than the administrators who will truly decide their fate. Sort of like a mini Stockholm Syndrome. Yet, the writing is clearly on the wall, Commissioner Sankey of the SEC and his fellow Power 5 colleagues are certainly desiring to relegate the non-power 5 to the old I-AA status. Sankey apparently is a big fan of the relegation system in European soccer, which means we are sent down to the second or third division. Gone will be the hefty scheduling paydays and other perks we got playing them. This is the reality that is staring us in the face.

So, you're saying Ohio should pay its coaches in line with deans? Had no idea you felt this way.

I don't think Billy was insinuating that boosters would pay for big salaries at Ohio. I think he actually meant the opposite. That ain't gonna happen so a big % of athletics salaries at schools like Ohio comes from student fees. That makes opposition within the university community more challenging to deal with.

I think the future for schools like Ohio is in a division lower than P5. But I'm not seeing that means an end to pay out games.

The MAC just has to stay above FCS conferences in salary to make it work. FCS has no athletic revenue so they aren't pushing the envelope on salaries.

Judging by Akron bringing in the OC of Oregon for only 500k a year to be a HC in the MAC the model still works. The kids aren't signing of on playing where the coach makes the most they are signing off on the campus, facilities and the ability to win.

What does paying a coach 1M have to do with out of classroom experience? For those that advocate for high coaching salaries, what do you think will change with our athletic program?

It used to be MAC teams and fans had to worry about a head football/basketball coach putting together a few good years and then leaving for a head coaching position elsewhere due to a much higher salary. That hasn't happened with OUr Bobcats in football but it has twice in basketball since I've been a fan - Danny Nee to Nebraska and John Groce to Illinois.

Fast forward to the 2020s and I can now see MAC head coaches jumping ship not for another head coaching position but for an assistant coaching position at a P5 school for the same reasons - doubling, tripling or even quadrupling their salaries.

The gap between the haves and the have nots keeps getting wider.