By Bill Mattox, JMI Resident Fellow
Here’s a news item I stumbled upon that surely can’t be true . . .TALLAHASSEE – One day after Jimbo Fisher’s spring game debut as the head football coach at Florida State University, the Florida Education Association issued a public statement calling upon all state universities in Florida to start paying college football coaches just like K-12 schoolteachers. “We believe it’s foolish to base any leaders’ pay on the performance of the young people under their tutelage,” a FEA spokesperson said. “So, rather than using measurements like won-loss records to evaluate coaches, we think all coaches at public universities should receive the same pay.”South Florida Bulls coach Skip Holtz immediately objected to the FEA declaration. Holtz said he had accepted the USF job because he anticipated all sorts of career rewards if he could take a group of unheralded USF recruits and “coach them up” to a conference championship.University of Florida coach Urban Meyer also complained, noting that he had led the Gators to two national championships since taking over a lackluster program five years ago. “Does stimulating great progress and success on the field not count for anything?” Meyer asked.When asked about Meyer’s reaction, a FEA spokesperson noted that coaches could still boost their pay by getting an advanced degree or by putting in years of service. “Even if additional training and experience doesn’t translate into a better won-loss record, it will still result in higher pay and greater job security,” the spokesperson noted. “So, tell Urban to enroll in grad school and to quit worrying so much about his team’s performance.”
2010
