I had been following the courtship of Kansas Men’s Basketball coach, Bill Self by his alma mater, Oklahoma State. I think the man really needs a reality check. The man makes over a million dollars a year and has a contract that lasts another three years. Why was he tempted to leave a storied basketball program to go to another one? Loyalty to his former school? The chance to coach at a prestigious program? The chance to build a program from the ground up? None of these. The answer in his own words: "Why would I say I'm positively (staying) when I don't know if they are even going to extend me?" he said. "What I'd like to have, like everybody else likes to have, is have some security. ... When I say security, I mean years." Security. He means years. He will make over 6 million dollars if no one changes his contract one bit over the next three seasons. That is more money than 98% of the people of the world will see in their lifetimes. And he wants security? I guess he needs to feed his family and put shoes on his kids and all of that nonsense. The people in the big time world of athletics have no idea what life is like for the fans that support their teams.
I wonder how I honor God with all of the time I waste following people who think like this. The aptly named Bill Self is hardly the only figure in the sports world that thinks like this and has this skewed sense of reality.
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4 comments:
I understand what you're saying, and certainly there's a huge gap between what college or pro coaches and pro athletes make versus what the average Joe makes. In my entire adult life I won't make anything close to six million dollars.
But when Self was talking about security, what he meant was job security. He wanted to know that the school was committed to him and wanted him around for the long haul. I think this quote gives a better understanding of what he meant in regards to security:
“Security is obviously important for anybody in this crazy profession,” Self said. “It’s a nutty profession. If we lose to Davidson, I don’t think there’d be too many Kansas fans concerned whether Self was back. I understand that."
If Self was truly wanting financial security, then there was a much larger price tag waiting for him at OSU. Do you find fault with him wanting to know KU is committed to keeping him around for a long time?
No, not at all, but this all came out after the National Championship. If Bill Self does not get an extension from KU and gets fired after another first round exit, the line forms to the left with the ADs who will want to give him millions of dollars. I understand what you are saying, but I think security is not the proper term in these days.
What if you got offered 6 figures to go to another region to do the same thing? Then again, you could put in your 2 week's notice.
Not the same.
Go to another region or to another religion? I would have to think hard about both of them if I got offered 6 figures, but it would have to be high 6 figures.
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