Priorities

[DanaC]

They reckon there's generally a 17.5% - 20% differential between male and female wages in the UK (in comparable jobs).

If I make it to my dream job (University tenured history professor) I'll earn about £40k - £60k per annum. I'd consider that an excellent wage.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by monster

Well, it's not more than the professors make. I don't think $90K is huge given the job requirements and expectations. I'm very surprised by the football coach's salary. I think there must be other income in that job.

Don't forget the chart is for "Doctoral-Granting Universities", which means the biggies. Most of those have football programs that are in conferences that draw huge crowds, TV revenues, and support from wealthy alumni, that translates into millions of dollars for those schools.
They pay big bucks for coaches that will(might) win, bringing them bowl games and more $upport.

[monster]

The salaries i fouind were for the University of Michigan. You know, Big 10, second largest statium, largest attendance..... granted they've been on the crappy side recently, but I'd still expect their coach to be taking home more than that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

You're talking about the swimming coach, yes? Only football brings in the big bucks, so I think you'll find football coaches at all the biggies far outstrip any other coaches.

[monster]

the 300K is the football coach

[xoxoxoBruce]

Oh, ok, I missed that.

How does Paterno compare to other coaches? He's actually below the average college football coach salary of $950,000. That's not counting benefits, subsidized housing, incentives or any other perks, according to USAToday.com. In fact, 42 of the 119 Division I-A coaches are earning $1 million or more; Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops earns $3 million annually.

Coaches Jim Tresse (Ohio State) and Mack Brown (Texas) are among nine coaches earning more than $2 million. According to the New York Times, some of the highest paid college football coaches include Alabama's Nick Saban with an eight-year deal worth almost $32 million and Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione with a $2.09 million annual salary. Today, college football means big bucks, for some.

Back in 1958 the University of Alabama lured Bear Bryant with a promise of $18,000 a year, or the rough equivalent of $130,000 today; last year the university handed Nick Saban an eight-year deal worth roughly $32 million. Several dozen college football coaches now earn more than $1 million a year — and that’s before the books, speeches, endorsement deals and who knows what else. Earlier this season the head coach at Texas A&M, Dennis Franchione, was caught topping up his $2.09 million salary by selling to Aggie alums, for $1,200 a pop, his private football-gossip newsletter.

Sounds like becoming a coach might be better than becoming a pro player, considering the length of time you can reasonably expect to do it.

[smoothmoniker]

Originally Posted by classicman

Thats BS, Shaw - there ought to be a salary set and thats what it is male, female, black, white, red, green, blue, R, D, I, L ... whatever.

That's how it works in every university I've ever seen. You have a rank and a step. Every year you move up a step, and you go before a review committee to move up in rank. It doesn't matter who you are, what color, what sex, etc. The salaries are set.

The only exception to this are endowed professorships, where the salary is paid by an outside organizations, or a grant, or is in some other way separate from the general budget. Those are flexible, and can be quite high (the endowed violin professor at USC makes $1m per year, and teaches only 3 students).

My guess, and I don't have any data to back this up, is that there are significantly more endowed positions in fields that generally interest men more than women. The sciences have a very high percentage of endowed positions (funded by industry grants, private / academic partnerships, etc.), and those fields attract more men than women.

It's simplistic to simply look at the final numbers and cry "sexism!" I can tell you from experience that academia bends over backwards avoid any instance or implication of sexism or racism. The committees that control advancement are, if anything, MORE likely to advance a female candidate than a male candidate, given the same level of academic output.

[Shawnee123]

Boy, I was just trying to be funny and act like I didn't notice the big football coach bar.

[Clodfobble]

I think it's been well established that we don't cotton to humor none 'round here.

[Shawnee123]

Er, I mean

[monster]

OK, taking a different approach.....

hey! U of Mich only pays their football coach 25% of the average and their other "academic" staff 150% of the average..... but our stadium is still bigger than yours! ...and Michael Phelps was ours :p

[ZenGum]

I know of a *FEW* professors in the US$250,000+ range.

Very, very few. Generally, some cashed-up US (often, but not always, Ivy League) college wants to raise its profile in some particular area, and decides to poach an entire research program en bloc from somewhere else.
Back in the early '90s, one US college (I think it might have been Bowling Green) offered four Profs. from the Australian National Uni Philosophy program about $250,000 each provided they all came as a group. (They stayed, mostly for family reasons.)

More recently, the Australian government has brought in "Federation Fellowships" which offer salaries around $250,000 and are used for counter-poaching.

Most tenured academics are on less then $100,000; and at the bottom of the pile there are many non-tenured, contract, or even causal workers on mediocre salaries with no job security. Hours depend on enrollments, and these vary year by year.

[Undertoad]

...offered four Profs. from the Australian National Uni Philosophy program about $250,000 each provided they all came as a group...

Four Aussie Philosophy profs! What a coincidence. Were they all named Bruce?

[DanaC]

Hahahahah. very good bruce.

[SteveDallas]

The salaries of college & university professors in the US are so variable, it's almost meaningless to talk about nationwide averages. (Harvard Business School professors make more than Central Middle State University professors? Duh.)


Having said that, some of you may find this breakdown by institution interesting. However, it generally does not include adjunct instructors--those who are hired on a contract-per-course basis. This would bring the averages down significantly. It also doesn't account for pay differences between different disciplines.