<p>I guess my question is how much difference a single coach can make. A college coach at some of the Big 10 can make $500,000 or a million dollars. Is it appropriate? Should the coach instead make what a good professor makes and the program be scaled back a little? Is it really necessary for athletes (who are theoretically also students) to travel hundreds of miles to compete? Would they reap the same benefits with less strain if they competed in more regional competitions? Why does the University of Washington play against Notre Dame–at the huge expense of traveling 2000 miles?</p>
<p>Is college athletics about college or about commercial athletics? And if it’s about commercial athletics,why? </p>
<p>Disclaimer: I think big-time college sports are a bastardization of what college and sports should be; I want colleges to be about college, not about money mills for TV or whatever. Our school district spends 1 1/2 million on sports every year–and has class sizes of 32. It’s nuts.</p>