selfish teams

When you make million-dollar salaries and win six- or seven-figure bonuses for winning the big game, you probably have some spare change left over to share with the little guy (or, at least, to write-down your tax liabilities).

So, as the holiday spirit (and tax-deduction season) clears into the past… we decided to search around to see what kind of charities (if any) are promoted publicly by coaches for the AP’s final Top 25 list for the 2007-08 campaign.

Here’s what we’ve found (so far):

1. LSU, Les Miles: There doesn’t appear to be a “signature” charitable target for Coach Miles; instead, his public contributions seem to primarily take the shape of personal appearances, autographed-material for fundraisers, ….
2. University of Georgia, Mark Richt: personal appearances, ….
3. USC, Pete Carroll: serves as a founding member of the Board of Directors for “A Better L.A.“
4. Missouri, Gary Pinkel: helps to lead fundraising for the Central Missouri Food Bank (and their anti-hunger campaigns).
5. The Ohio State University, Jim Tressel: among the items listed on a webpage that lists a number of familiar charities that he supports, Coach has made large contributions to the football program at Youngstown State (where he used to run the football team).
6. West Virginia, Rich Rodriguez: unclear.
7. Kansas, Mark Mangino: appearances, autographs, ….
8. Oklahoma, Bob Stoops: founded the Bob Stoops’ Champions Fund that reportedly funds organizations for ill or disadvantaged children in the Oklahoma City and Norman areas.
9. Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer: Coach earned a “Humanitarian Award” from the region’s National Conference for Community and Justice in 2004; and, remarkably, in the world of campus politics, Beamer refused a raise in 1990 “until such time that all classified and faculty employees of the university could have the same opportunity for pay raises.” Beamer also, according to his official biography, did not accept a pay increase last year “until his assistant coaches were taken care of first.”
10. Boston College, Jeff Jagodzinski: appearances, ….
11. Texas, Mack Brown: serves as a champion and Director for the Rise School of Austin (TX) for children with developmental disabilities.
12. Tennessee, Phil Fulmer: donated $1 million to the university in 2007; has served on the boards of nonprofits like the Boys and Girls club; and is national spokesperson for The Jason Foundation, which works to prevent suicide.
13. Florida, Urban Meyer: appearances, ….
14. BYU, Bronco Mendenhall: appearances, ….
15. Auburn, Tommy Tuberville: appearances, ….
16. Arizona State, Dennis Erickson: appearances, ….
17. Cincinnati, Mark Dantonio: appearances, ….
18. Michigan, Lloyd Carr: contributed and founded the Carr Cancer Fund; actively participated in campaigns for the United Way and Special Olympics.
19. Hawaii, June Jones: founded the June Jones Foundation to help “needy families of children with life-threatening illnesses.”
20. Illinois, Ron Zook: appearances, ….
21. Clemson, Tommy Bowden: appearances, ….
22. Texas Tech, Mike Leach: appearances, ….
23. Oregon, Mike Bellotti: hosts a charity golf tournament, has supported fundraising for the campus library, ….
24. Wisconsin, Brett Bielema: appearances, ….
25. Oregon State, Mike Riley: appearances, ….

To take a second to digest these findings: it’s clear that coaches who have succeeded and remained loyal to their programs are also the coaches who tend to be the most public sponsors of community charities. At VaTech, Frank Beamer has been there since 1987. At Tennessee, Phil Fulmer has been there for 15 seasons. And, at Penn State (#27 in the final AP poll), Coach Paterno — well-known for his multi-million contributions to the campus — has been there since 1966.

In contrast, the programs that cycle through coaches (even if they’re very well-compensated) have a number of problems. First, the disruption-costs of hiring new head coaches tends to include the dismissal of assistant coaches and the marginalization of players recruited by the departing coach (see the current University of Michigan program and would-have-been starting-quarterback Ryan Mallett). And second, the fly-by-night coaches don’t appear to make the same kind of commitments back to the university, the community, ….

Tags: ap, charity, coaches, football, top 25

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.