News With Commentary by TSL Staff

Monday, August 6, 2001
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

Beamer 15th Highest-Paid Football Coach

Figures printed by the USA Today in last Friday's edition reveal that Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer, with a salary of $1.025 million, is the 15th highest-paid football coach in the NCAA.

The figures were contained in a cover story titled Top Dollar, Top Coaches in the print edition. The on-line version of the article can be viewed by clicking the link.

Beamer is one of 22 NCAA head football coaches who make at least $1 million per year. Of the 22 coaches, two of them (Oregon's Mike Bellotti and Oregon State's Dennis Erickson) make it to the million-dollar club with incentives, but the others do it on salary alone.

Beamer earns an additional $100,000 if the Hokies make it to a non-BCS bowl, and $200,000 if the bowl game is a BCS bowl.

Of the 22 coaches (listed in the table below), 17 are from the USA Today's preseason Top 25 poll, and all 22 are from schools in the six BCS conferences: the ACC, the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the PAC 10, and the SEC. Beamer is the only Big East coach on the million-dollar list. 5 each are from the SEC and Big 12, 4 each are from the Big Ten and PAC 10, and 3 are from the ACC.

The 22 coaches have all reached the million-dollar level since November 1995, when Florida State's Bobby Bowden was the first to crack it. According to the USA Today article, Division 1-A head coaches averaged $466,000 in income last year.

The article addresses the issue of soaring head coaches' salaries in both football and basketball, and examines their impact on non-revenue sports, facilities, and throughout athletic departments in general.

Million-Dollar NCAA Football Coaches
(as of 8/3/2001) - figures from the USA Today

 

Hokies Ranked 9th in Preseason Coaches' Poll

The initial USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll came out on Friday, and the Hokies are ranked #9. Tech was the only top ten team that didn't receive at least one #1 vote.

Florida is #1, followed by Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Florida State. Virginia Tech and Miami are the only two Big East teams in the Top 25. Pittsburgh received 42 points, good enough for a #33 ranking. West Virginia was ranked #53 with 3 points, and Syracuse got 1 point.

TSL has links to the AP and Coaches' polls on the home page (right-hand border) and on the Football Page (left-hand border).

          

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