By Bruce Campbell Commentary

How times have changed in college football.

In December 1965, Oklahoma offered a six-year, $32,000-a-year contract to Texas coach Darrell Royal to take over the Sooners program.

That, according to then OU president Dr. George Cross in his book “Presidents Can’t Punt,” was more (in base salary) than the Sooners had paid a coach before, including the legendary Bud Wilkinson.

Recently, Nick Saban accepted an eight-year, $4 million-a-year contract from Alabama.

On the surface, it’s easy to let out an uproar about a coach at a public university receiving such a contract.

Then again, a coach is a public employee in name only.

Big-time college football is as much a business as the NFL.

Compare the stadiums at OU and Oklahoma State to where they were when $32,000 was a big base salary for a coach.

Luxury boxes have to be filled. Football, for the most part, has to fund the rest of the athletic department, except for maybe men’s basketball.

A ticket to the OU at OSU game was $100.

Remember, these salaries aren’t coming out of taxpayers funds. The athletic department at OU is an auxiliary enterprise and must support itself.

The money for football coaches comes mostly from outside sources.

For example, Bob Stoops’ base salary at OU is $200,000. With outside income, he was guaranteed $2.6 million in 2005.

The outside income includes two television shows, his weekly radio shows and various incentives such as winning a conference championship. Don’t forget the income he can make in football camps.

He would have received a $250,000 bonus if OU had won the national championship this season.

He receives two courtesy cars, thanks to the generosity of boosters, as well as 35 hours of private airplane use, membership at a Norman-area golf course and 20 football tickets.

If he stays through the 2008 season, he will receive a $3 million bonus. That would be his 10th season with the Sooners.

Do the math on how much football brings in on a Saturday afternoon. OU can make enough in one afternoon to cover Stoops’ salary.

Cross will be forever known for his statement to a state legislative committee when asked why OU needed more funding.

“I want to build a university the football team can be proud of,” Cross said.

He was joking, of course, to make a point, but the university depends heavily on football as a tool for alumni financial support. OU can use football as a tool to sell the university’s other assets.

The salaries of football coaches, though, have long been a controversial topic.

In 1956, Royal was hired by the University of Washington as its football coach at a salary of $17,500. More than 80 percent of the university faculty, according to one survey, thought the salary was too high.



Campbell is a News & Eagle sports writer.