College coaches are probably paid too much, especially when you consider how much—nothing—players make. John Calipari just got a deal for $36.5 million. Jim Calhoun resents being asked about why he's the highest-paid state employee of Connecticut.
So there's a fuzz of karmic retribution in recent news that a whole bunch of college coaches, including Texas Tech's Billy Gillispie and former Arizona coach Lute Olson, may have lost their small fortunes invested with David Salinas, a Texas businessman who killed himself in the midst of an SEC investigation on Sunday.
More than a dozen current and former college coaches — including Texas Tech's Billy Gillispie, Arizona's Lute Olson, Baylor's Scott Drew and Gonzaga's Mark Few — are believed to have lost investments most recently valued at over $7.8 million combined with the late Houston-area businessman and AAU basketball operator J. David Salinas, sources close to the matter tell SI.com.
According to documents reviewed by SI.com, the value of Gillispie's investment alone was purported to be $2.3 million; Olson's, $1.17 million; Drew's, $621,000; Few's, $353,000.
Well, look there, that's a large amount of money. But wait! Gillispie will make $800,000 yearly at Texas Tech. Lute Olson was making $1.4 million, factoring in endorsements. Few made over half a million yearly six years ago.
We imagine they'll weather the storm.
More than dozen college coaches involved in possible Ponzi scheme [SI]