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[Oriole85]

ESPN: Knight Commission's losing battle

http://espn.go.com/c...athletic-reform

[Oriole85]

USA Today: To land Larry Brown, SMU roughly quadrupled its basketball coach pay

 

While SMU president Gerald Turner long has devoted himself to advocating for college sports reform as co-chairman of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, he also has had to consider the interests of his own school.

 

Asked about squaring the huge increase in SMU's basketball coaching pay with the Knight Commission's advocacy of fiscal restraint in athletics, Turner said: "There are sort of two points of view. But the issue is try to meld them as much as possible. So, I think in terms of trying to make sure that we have the financial resources to work with and . . . trying to make those commitments within levels that we could meet, well, then I think we've been consistent with the Knight Commission principles in that regard.

 

"I think all of us, if we could, would have the salaries in ranges that are less than they are. But as I told the board (of trustees for SMU): 'If we want to get a coach right now, the range as far as we could tell is about $2 (million) to $4 (million per year) -- and otherwise, we're going to sort of continue like we are.' So, at some level you face reality, but in the same context of facing reality, you try to do it in a reasonable way."