3 NCAA matchups between haves and have-nots
One of the allures of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is the prospect of a powerhouse being sent home by the college sports equivalent of a local electrical cooperative.
But it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of just how great the disparities can be between the athletics programs that often collide in the tournament. Just take a look at some of the matchups in this year’s first round:
Salaries database: How much each coach makes
• Is Virginia’s Tony Bennett more than 13 times the coach that UMBC’s Ryan Odom is? He’s getting paid more than 13 times as much as Odom is.
• Can Michigan really be spending almost $4 million more on athletic scholarships than Montana spends on its entire athletics program? Yes.
• Does Ohio State have an assistant coach whose annual base salary is the same as South Dakota State head coach T.J. Otzelberger’s $325,000? Yes, and it has another one making $70,000 more.
Here’s a look at more of the finances of three first-round matchups between public schools, based on documents and information obtained from the schools by Paste BN Sports in partnership with Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications:
Virginia vs. UMBC
Virginia
Coach Tony Bennett compensation: $3 million
Total revenue: $92.9 million
Total expense: $100.3 million
UMBC
Coach Ryan Odom compensation: $225,000
Total revenue: $17.2 million
Total expense: $16.8 million
Texas vs. Nevada
Texas
Coach Shaka Smart compensation: $3.1 million
Total revenue: $214.8 million
Total expense: $207 million
Nevada
Coach Eric Musselman compensation: $1 million
Total revenue: $37 million
Total expense: $39 million
Michigan vs. Montana
Michigan
Coach John Beilein compensation: $3.4 million
Total revenue: $185.2 million
Total expense: $175.4 million
Montana
Coach Travis DeCuire compensation: $189,000
Total revenue: $27.2 million
Total expense: $21.2 million
Note: Compensation amounts are based on coaches' basic pay from the school for contract year covering the 2017-18 season. Revenue and expense amounts are annual operating totals for schools' 2017 fiscal years, according to reports the schools filed with the NCAA.