The paper estimates the key determinants of compensation for head football coaches in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision (the former D-IA) during the years 20062010. Coaching compensation is regressed on variables capturing a coach's personal characteristics, productivity, and institutional characteristics. The results yield seven important explanatory variables. Four are coach specific: BCS ranking, recruiting success, lifetime winning percentage, and years of experience. The remaining three are institutional: football revenue, enrollment, and graduation rate. No estimate of a compensation function for a head football coach has appeared previously in the literature.
ClementR., & McCormickR. (1989). Coaching team production.Economic Inquiry, 27, 287–304.
7.
FarmerA., & PecorinoP. (2010). Is the coach paid too much? Coaching salaries and the NCAA cartel.Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 19, 841–862.
FizelJ., & d'ItriM. (1996). Estimating managerial efficiency: The case of college basketball coaches.Journal of Sport Management, 10, 435–445.
10.
FizelJ., & d'ItriM. (1997). Managerial efficiency, managerial succession, and organization performance.Managerial and Decision Economics, 18, 295–308.
11.
FizelJ., & d'ItriM. (2004). Managerial efficiency, managerial succession, and organization performance. In J. Fizel & R. Fort (Eds.), Economics of college sports (pp. 175–194). Westport, CT: Praeger.
12.
FleisherA.III, GoffB., & TollisonR. (1992). The National Collegiate Atletic Association: A study in cartel behavior. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
13.
FortR. (2010). Economics of college sports: A topical reading list.Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 3, 151–162.
14.
FrankR. (2004). Challenging the myth: A review of the links among college athletic success, student quality, and donations. Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
15.
GrantR., LeadleyJ., & ZygmontZ. (2008). The economics of intercollegiate sports. Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific.
16.
HolmesP. (2011). Win or go home: Why college football coaches get fired.Journal of Sports Economics, 12, 157–178.
17.
HumphreysB. (2000). Equal pay on the hardwood: The earnings gap between male and female NCAA Division I basketball coaches.Journal of Sports Economics, 1, 299–307.
18.
HumphreysB., & MondelloM. (2007). Intercollegiate athletic success and donations at NCAA Division I institutions.Journal of Sport Management, 21, 265–280.
19.
KahnL. (2006). The economics of college sports: cartel behavior vs. amateurism. Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany.Working paper No. IZA DP 2186.
OrszagJ., & IsraelM. (2009). The empirical effects of collegiate athletics: An update based on 2004–07 Data. Compass Lexicon Consulting.
22.
SperberM. (1990). College sports inc.: The athletic department vs. the university. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
23.
StinsonJ., & HowardD. (2007). Athletic success and private giving to athletic and academic programs at NCAA institutions.Journal of Sport Management, 21, 235–264.
24.
TollisonR. (1982). Rent seeking: A survey.Kyklos, 35, 575–602.
25.
YostM. (2010). Varsity green: A behind the scenes look at culture and corruption in college athletics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
26.
ZimbalistA. (1999). Unpaid professionals: Commercialism and conflict in big-time college sports. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
27.
ZimbalistA. (2010). Dollar dilemmas during the downturn: A financial crossroads for college sports.Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 3, 111–124.
