December 08, 2010

College Coach Takes $300,000 Pay Cut: Fifteen-season Fresno State head football coach Pat Hill has agreed to a more than $300,000 cut in guaranteed pay in 2011, dropping his salary to $650,000 as the school moves to a more performance-based approach. "I've never been a monetary guy," he said.

posted by rcade to football at 01:23 PM - 10 comments

This is a new one.

posted by BornIcon at 01:25 PM on December 08, 2010

In other news: The head coach of Fresno State's football team was making about a million freaking dollars a year. Really? Fresno State?

posted by NoMich at 01:41 PM on December 08, 2010

Fresno State has been a pretty decent team for quite a while now. Granted, it's a WAC school, but they are willing to step up and play the big boys (which does bring in some money), and had a couple of years where they were beating those teams regularly. (They beat Illinois just last week, for that matter.) They also produced a top NFL draft pick, even though he was more or less an NFL bust (David Carr).

Relative to what other coaches have been making, I'm not surprised Pat Hill was making what he was. (It is actually below the national average, according to the article.) And he took the pay cut to help the school, sogood for him...it's not like it was a "take a pay cut or be fired situation".

posted by TheQatarian at 01:56 PM on December 08, 2010

And he took the pay cut to help the school, sogood for him...it's not like it was a "take a pay cut or be fired situation".

Oh, absolutely awesome for him doing that. I was just taken aback a bit to see that he was earning that much to begin with. But yeah, very cool of him to voluntarily take that pretty massive pay cut.

posted by NoMich at 02:52 PM on December 08, 2010

Given the money problem California state universities are having right now this doesn't surprise me. He's been there 15 years, clearly he is happy at the school (he must have had at least a few decent offers over the years) and this is his way of chipping in. Bravo for Coach Hill.

posted by billsaysthis at 04:09 PM on December 08, 2010

They also produced a top NFL draft pick, even though he was more or less an NFL bust (David Carr).

...and another 1st round pick who has turned out pretty well. Logan Mankins was drafted #32 overall in 2005, and he is considered by many to be one of the premier offensive guards in the NFL.

posted by Howard_T at 04:43 PM on December 08, 2010

Kudos to Coach Hill, as I see it. Wish some of our politicians and CEO's thought the same way.

posted by outonleave at 08:04 PM on December 08, 2010

"I've never been a monetary guy," he said.

Clearly.

posted by owlhouse at 12:17 AM on December 09, 2010

...as the school moves to a more performance-based approach.

With one WAC title in 13 years (and no signs of getting significantly better in preparation for going to the MWC), a pay cut may be warranted.

Then again, he's gotten them to 11 bowl games now, is a consistent winner, and brings the program a lot of visibility. Fresno State seems to be saying, unlike a lot of the programs now a days, that being pretty good is good enough, and in that, I would applaud them for making that decision, and pulling back from the FBS coaching arms race.

posted by Bonkers at 03:05 AM on December 09, 2010

The athletic director should agree to an incentive-based contract. If they have had to settle multiple lawsuits and have had NCAA investigations, I think his contract would be right around minimum wage.

posted by bperk at 07:26 AM on December 09, 2010

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