Ben Howland Agrees With Us: College Football is King

by Nestor on Oct 29, 2011 12:53 PM PDT

Pac-12 had its Media Day yesterday. If you have not done it yet here is DC Bruins' roundup. While the day reaffirmed BN's UCLA basketball expectations of winning back the conference, it were the football related comments from officials, coaches including Ben Howland that stood out:

"Clearly, football is driving the train right now," Scott said.

"Football is in control," UCLA basketball Coach Ben Howland said. "So much money is involved in running football programs and they generate just as much money."

California Coach Mike Montgomery used one word to describe the difference between football and basketball.

"Kansas," Montgomery said.

Then he elaborated: "All the talk about who was going where from the Big 12 and you never heard mention of Kansas basketball and its great tradition."

Thanks again to Coaches Howland and Montgomery for agreeing with us: football is king.

GO BRUINS.

PS: Our best wishes to Coach Montgomery who is recovering from a surgery. Sounds like it all went well for him which is great news. Also, another loop worth closing on conference expansion - despite the efforts of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, West Virginia has been officially invited to the Big-12 (even though Big East is pathetically trying to hang on to the Mountaineers). We will see how all that folds. As Scott mention it's football that is driving this train.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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I love Coach Howland

I’m glad to hear he understands how important football is to our entire AD. We need to pay top $$ for a football head coach which necessarily means that he needs to be paid more than Howland. CBH’s salary is in the top 10 among basketball coaches and I hope he understands if (when?!) the football coach is given a higher salary.

by truebluebruin on Oct 29, 2011 2:46 PM PDT reply actions

I am pretty sure Howland will understand

If a top flight football coach is paid a higher salary than him because of market rates. If he is not cool with that, he shouldn’t be coaching at UCLA.

by Nestor on Oct 29, 2011 2:52 PM PDT up reply actions

I really doubt Howland would care about people being paid more than him

I think he’d be more annoyed if he was told he couldn’t go out and get high quality assistants for the basketball team because the football coach had spent the whole athletic budget bringing in a run-game coordinator, a pass-game coordinator, a trick-play coordinator, a sliding coordinator and a meaningless talking points coordinator.

Howland is a very good coach, and has his dream job. We should pay him commensurately. Pretty sure he won’t play hardball on contracts if the school treats him fairly – and fairly is by comparison with other basketball coaches of similar caliber at comparable institutions. If he elevates himself from very good to elite level with a championship, we should probably pay him a bit more. But the football comparison shouldn’t be an issue at all.

by VeniceBruin on Oct 29, 2011 3:10 PM PDT up reply actions

I dunno,

meaningless talking point coordinators can come in really handy at times.

by captainqtp on Oct 29, 2011 10:18 PM PDT up reply actions

Totally agree

as much as I love CBH, I would rather we get a top flight football coach and have CBH leave if he doesn’t understand than continue with our current pathetic football results and keep Howland. Of course, I also hope that you’re right and CBH understands and stays with us to win an NCAA title.

by truebluebruin on Oct 29, 2011 3:11 PM PDT up reply actions

factor of 5

Football is king based on the sheer magnitude and complexity of the sport. A BB team of 10+ BB players versus 60+ in FB. 11 on the field versus 5 on the court. seating for 12,500 versus 90,000.

Having said that, RN is in over his head.

by BC_Bruin on Oct 31, 2011 8:17 PM PDT up reply actions

I doubt Howland is petty and egotistical enough

To be offended by a football coach having a higher salary. This is Morgan Center mentality, and it doesn’t extend to intelligent, truly competitive people. I know Howland haters try to portray him as this greedy ogre, but it takes a serious level of stupidity to be a communist in this manner, and I truly doubt Howland suffers from that. He knows football, he knows basic economics. The rest is adversarial supposition.

FWIW, I think Howland is probably worth about $3m at the current market. If he makes another final four it will be easy to raise his salary accordingly.

by bluebland on Oct 30, 2011 12:46 AM PDT reply actions

It benefits Howland for football to do well

A rising tide lifts his boat perhaps highest of all sports besides football itself. Increased revenue from a winning football team eliminates the money excuse for better facilities, which makes his recruiting job that much easier. Increased overall student interest in athletics means he doesn’t have to personally campaign on frat row to fill Pauley. Even if he were a greedy ogre, he’d have to be a stupid greedy ogre to not see how investment in football is good for him.

by Tydides on Oct 30, 2011 8:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Furthermore

Football coaches have a bigger staff, more players and basically head up the sport that brings in most of the revenue for athletics. In any corporation, that person would be getting paid more.

But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.

by tasser10 on Oct 30, 2011 10:32 AM PDT up reply actions