LA media reports that

[Jim Franklin]

BSU Coach Peterson has been contacted about the UCLA coaching position but Coach "Pete" says it never happened. Having taken journalism it is always amazing to me how some so called news items get generated and by whom.

[Ryan Scott]

No one of substance is going to UCLA to coach football until UCLA is willing to pay like the other big programs. It's insane to expect USC production on a quarter of the USC budget.

[Jim Poteet]

BSU Coach Peterson has been contacted about the UCLA coaching position but Coach "Pete" says it never happened. Having taken journalism it is always amazing to me how some so called news items get generated and by whom.

Let me help you understand. UCLA has contacted Coach Peterson's agent. He does all the preliminary negotiations with the school. Obviously, the agent is in constant contact with the coach and reports all that is happening. However, coach Peterson is at "arms length" and can truthfully say that he has never been contacted by UCLA. You can rest assured that Coach "Pete" is involved at a distance in the UCLA coaching search. Don't always assume the media stories are wrong. :basic03

[Bruce Carriker]

Thanks, Jim. I've noticed this more and more in recent years. Coaches are now multi-millionaires and they all have agents. This allows them to lie to the press and lie to their players, all the while negotiating through their agent to bail out on their present school. Of course, "technically" they aren't lying. As you say, THEY (personally) have never said a word to a representative from any other school.

As for Ryan's comment about UCLA being cheap, that's a relative term. Even on the cheap, I'll bet UCLA pays considerably better than Boise State. I could be wrong, as BSU is really trying to establish themselves as a big-time program, but if Colorado can buy a BSU coach, then I'm betting UCLA can buy one, too, if they want.

[Ryan Scott]

I'm not doubting UCLA pays more than Boise State, but not enough more for the coach of Boise State to leave. My point about being cheap was that UCLA doesn't provide the coach the kind of budget he needs to hire the right staff and recruit to the level of success the school expects. The salary might be a little higher (although I doubt it's significantly more), but the job itself is not as good.

I don't think UCLA is going to find a better coach that Dorrell for the money they put into the program. It was a mistake to let him go.

[Bruce Carriker]

You're right, Ryan. According to this website, Dorrell was making $881,000 while Peterson was being paid $640,000. Now, while you and I, peons that we are, might think $170,000 is a lot of money, to these guys it's not that big a difference. Factor in the cost of living in LA versus the cost of living in Boise, and Peterson's paltry $640K might be pretty equivalent.

Of course, give the size of their respective TV markets, I'm sure that Dorrell's tv and radio coaches shows, as well as his endorsements, probably widen the gap considerably; even if he was coaching the #2 team in his market.

Looking at the list and what other guys are already making, even at lousy programs, I'd probably try and get Chuck Long from San Diego State.


http://www.dopke.com/Archives_Pages/Coaching_Changes/DIACoachesComp2006.htm

[Jim Poteet]

I'm not doubting UCLA pays more than Boise State, but not enough more for the coach of Boise State to leave. My point about being cheap was that UCLA doesn't provide the coach the kind of budget he needs to hire the right staff and recruit to the level of success the school expects. The salary might be a little higher (although I doubt it's significantly more), but the job itself is not as good.

I don't think UCLA is going to find a better coach that Dorrell for the money they put into the program. It was a mistake to let him go.

I suspect that UCLA budgets and pay for coaches are equal to the rest of the Pac 10. The UCLA football coaching position is a good job. I think you are overemphasizing the problems.

[Jim Franklin]

Today's USA Today has an update on college football coaches salaries. Check it out. Peterson $881,000 to Dorell's $850,000. Average is over $1 million for NCAA football coaches with Saban over $4 million. It gives rankings of how much was paid/season wins. Minnesota paid $ 1 million and got 1 win.

[Ryan Scott]

I suspect that UCLA budgets and pay for coaches are equal to the rest of the Pac 10. The UCLA football coaching position is a good job. I think you are overemphasizing the problems.


I didn't do my research; I'm just trusting that Mike Tirico did his. I'll admit, I stole that one from his radio show last week.

I don't disagree that you could probably equate UCLA's budget to Oregon State or Arizona, but expectations for football are far higher for UCLA than those other programs.

Jim's post shows that the salary isn't great competitively (I'd happily take a tenth of that for whatever it is I'm doing).