Is Bill Self earning his big bucks?

selfbill1The Wall Street Journal tried to calculate whether millionaire college basketball coaches are earning their money. It ranked each coach based on his salary compared with his school’s Ratings Percentage Index — or the team’s winning percentage against the difficulty of its schedule. The paper arbitrarily based its Elite Coach Value Score on how much the coaches are being paid for each point their schools’ RPI is above 50. The University of Kansas had a three-year RPI index of 65.2, the fourth highest. But coach Bill Self’s $3 million guaranteed salary gave him a coach-value ranking of 20th. The coach with the highest value ranking was Bruce Pearl of Tennessee. North Carolina coach Roy Williams was No. 8.

13 Comments

  1. Maggotpunk
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 6:04 am | Permalink

    Thank goodness we have Self. In these economic times it’s important we invest resources into developing basketball players. If it wasn’t for basketball players, and the useful skills they provide, our economy would fall into a Depression and the Chinese would totally out compete us in basketball. *rolls eyes*

  2. JMWalker
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 6:51 am | Permalink

    H.E.L.L yes, he’s earning his money! Especially during times like these. College basketball, in my opinion, is way better than pro. It gives the state something to be proud of, and the Jayhawks are indeed a team to be proud of. National champions . . . the best in the country. And Bill Self led them there.

    GO JAYHAWKS!!!

  3. Monkeyhawk
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 6:59 am | Permalink

    I dunno.

    It’s a silly diversion with hot dogs and hoops replacing bread and circuses.

    But the fact remains Kansas Jayhawks Basketball is about the only big league operation we have left.

    We used the be Pizza Hut. We used to be aircraft. Sprint sorta was big league for a while, albeit sort of like the Detroit Lions are a big league football team.

    I joke a lot about Nebraska, but at its best, it was a big league franchise. Memphis, with FedEx, has a big league franchise both locals and the world can look to and know.

    A generation ago Wichita was Coleman and Learjet instead of a bunch of branch managers pushing paper. There used to be entrepreneurs; now there’s just wage slaves. On the big league level, anyway.

    Sports become a highly visible symbol of a city, state, or region. Every time the Jayhawks play on national TV it’s a counter-balance to the Kansas State School Board.

    Is it worth it?

    For me it’s a tough call.

  4. george
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 7:22 am | Permalink

    Tax him big Obama and take away his bonus if he has any. We can’t have somebody getting ahead to far in this socialist world. Go for all the gusto you can while you can Bill Self.

  5. outlander
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 7:36 am | Permalink

    Is Bill Self earning his big bucks?

    That’s a dumb question. He just brought a national championship to KU, and is at the pinnacle of his sport. How could he do any better?

  6. Raptor
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 7:50 am | Permalink

    out–and just what benefit did Kansas get for the that multimillion dollar salary? a ‘national championship’ is valuable for exactly what? did it increase employment? Lower taxes? Improve highways? Decrease crime? Did KU experience a huge influx of new students? Did it get new government grants/funding for medical research?

    None of the above. It gave a bunch of fist pumping, beer swilling ‘fans’ a chance to scream, yell and be all pumped up about a bunch of strangers from other states and countries who throw a ball into a hoop.

    whooopeee.

  7. outlander
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 7:57 am | Permalink

    Whether college coaches are paid too much is a completely different question Raptor. Some are.

    But let’s look at that question. I understand your point, but I think it is missing the big picture. KU basketball creates enormous economic activity and brings in tons of money for the school. It is big business. The better the team, the more revenue and economic activity created and the school and this state benefit.

  8. Regular
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 9:14 am | Permalink

    Great,

    Besides, the coach’s name is really easy to spell.

  9. YellowdogLiberal
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 9:31 am | Permalink

    Nice lament, Moneyhawk. The city has changed during my years here, but change will happen no matter what. Downtown isn’t a slum anymore, but I’m not sure building on all available farm land within 20 miles is a good idea. So I guess, I’ll just ride with the tide, obviously I don’t have the power to adjust it.

    Dennis

  10. BlueJay
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 9:39 am | Permalink

    No.

  11. YellowdogLiberal
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 10:29 am | Permalink

    Monkeyhawk. Sorry.

    Dennis

  12. Phantom
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 11:47 am | Permalink

    Heck yes tax it back, then you’ll just be left with coaches that really love the sport, and aren’t in it to get wealthy.

  13. TomPaine
    Posted March 20, 2009 at 4:02 pm | Permalink

    Outlander, I think part of raptors point is that it it true that Basketball brings in huge amounts of cash to KU but very little of that actually gets reinvested into the school, it all goes back into the Athletic department, so while they can afford to pay Mr Self and his asst. coaches Millions of Dollars in salaries and remodel Allen Fieldhouse the rest of the school is neglected and the school is forced go begging to the legislature for funds for things like building maintenance, or upgrading facilities and since the state is cutting funding the Universities raise tuition on everybody but the football and basketball players