Commentary

Championship head coaches should be worth more than football assistants

Arkansas celebrates winning the women's team title at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, June 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)
Arkansas celebrates winning the women's team title at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., Saturday, June 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

If Chris Bucknam and Lance Harter don’t have agents, they may need to hire them.

I was intrigued, as I am sure many of you were, by the recent list on this this website that ranked the top 25 salaries of University of Arkansas athletic employees. Several figures stood out, but two of the most surprising came from Harter, the women’s track coach, and Bucknam, who leads the men.

Both coaches have won national championships in the past three years (Harter has won two) and swept their three SEC meets the past year, but are paid less than several coaches and administrators.

Bucknam is paid nearly a $208,000 base salary, and checks in at No. 18. Harter makes $202,700 and is No. 19.

It is important to point out that this figure is just a base salary. The two coaches have perks like courtesy vehicles and club memberships, and may have supplemental income from individual apparel or equipment contracts.

The pair is hardly just scraping by, but that’s not really the point.

Their successes are immense. Bucknam, who has headed the track and cross country programs since 2008, has done well taking over for legendary Coach John McDonnell.

Bucknam is a 12-time SEC coach of the year combined in cross country and outdoor and indoor track & field, and was the 2013 national coach of the year.

Harter, who just finished his 26th season, is a four-time national coach of the year, 24-time SEC coach of the year and member of the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. It’s hard to imagine too many other collegiate coaches with better track records, pun intended.

However, there are several coaches that make substantially more than the ultra-successful track coaches, including women’s basketball coach Jimmy Dykes ($500,000). The same Dykes who had never coached a women’s collegiate game two years ago and whose team finished with a losing record this year.

A $300,000 disparity is a lot, even if women’s basketball earns more revenue.

However, at least Dykes is a head coach. All of the football assistant position coaches make at least $100,000 more than Harter and Bucknam. There isn’t a better job in college athletics than major-college assistant football coach. It pays a six-figure salary, includes a vehicle, club membership, only requires supervision of a handful of players and is typically void of much criticism.

The quarterback coach is most visible, but there isn’t much notoriety in being a running backs coach or linebackers coach, and many assistants have coached multiple positions. Most fans wouldn’t recognize a football position coach if they passed them in Walmart.

I understand the negatives. Many hours in the office and more hours traveling on the recruiting trail. An assistant isn’t at home much, and that may not be ideal for a coach who has a family.

But the large paycheck and all of the perks and amenities that come with the job make it more than worth it. It's appealing for a coach to never aspire to take a coordinator or head-coaching position.

Meanwhile, Bucknam and Harter have the responsibility of running three programs apiece. That includes, but is not limited to, scheduling, recruiting, on-track coaching, media requests, monitoring academics and more. They put in as much or more time as staff that are charged with coaching a handful of players and handing off the game-day pressure to coordinators and the head coach.

Plus, they win.

The track coaches have watched as a carousel of football assistants have made weighty demands before arriving on-campus, only to leave for more money a year or two later.

Track and other non-revenue coaches are a victim of the SEC football machine. Football rules here, and so assistant coaches on a mediocre team make more than championship track coaches because well … football.

Football makes millions. It takes good assistant coaches to appease a quality head coach and demanding fan base. That creates a hefty payroll.

Even revenue sports are shortchanged in comparison to football. Men’s basketball, the university’s No. 2-revenue producer, has only one assistant - associate head coach Melvin Watkins ($373,481) - making more than some football position coaches. Assistant T.J. Cleveland checks in at No. 20 just behind the track coaches at $200,814.

Newly-promoted Scotty Thurman is not on the list.

Other schools pay their track coaches more competitively. There are three schools in Texas (Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Texas) that pay their track coaches more than Bucknam, although it's important to note all three coach the men and women.

Arkansas should have the highest-paid track coaches in the nation. Arkansas has prestige and Bucknam and Harter are carrying on the legacy.

It’s bad enough they are aren’t the highest-paid track coaches in the country. It’s even worse they rank behind less successful coaches at their own university.

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