Money Talks and BS Walks

At this point in time which of these two would you rather pay big bucks to coach your team? I know it's a dumb question. Just thought I'd ask.

In our WTF moment of the day, USA Today published a list of the highest paid college basketball coaches in the country based on university pay, non-university pay and bonuses. The university pay is the actually contractual salary that each coach receives. The non-university pay is the money a coach receives from doing endorsements, television spots, etc... And the bonus money comes from tournament appearances, winning your conference, academic performance, blah, blah, blah.

The highest paid coach in the country is...drum roll...Rick Pitino. And THUD.

 Ricky Three stacks is making more money than Coach K, John Calipari, Roy Williams, Bill Self and Billy Donovan. Out of these six coaches Rick Pitino has had the least amount of success most recently and has had the least amount of success overall if you look at the amount of time he has been at the University of Louisville.

Think about it. Rick Pitino has been at Louisville since 2001. He has been to one Final Four, two Elite Eights, two NITs and he has exited out of the first round of the NCAA three times, and two of those back to back this year and last year.

Now let's look at the other coaches and their accomplishments at their current jobs:

• Coach K: He has been at Duke since 1980 (yeah, I was shocked too). He has 4 titles, 2 final fours, 1 Elite Eight and only 2 NIT appearances.
• Roy Williams: He has been at North Carolina since 2003. He has 2 national titles, 1 Final Four, 2 Elite Eights and 1 NIT appearance.
• Bill Self: He has been at Kansas since 2003. He has 1 national title, 3 Elite Eights, 0 NIT appearances.
• Billy Donovan: He has been at Florida since 1996. He has 2 national titles, 1 runner up, 1 Elite 8 and 3 NIT appearances.
• John Calipari: He has been at Kentucky since 2009. He has 1 Final Four, 1 Elite Eight, and 0 NITs. He is still coaching his team in that Final Four and has a chance to win a title in only his second year.

Besides Donovan and Coach K, all of the other coaches I have listed have been at their current jobs less time than Rick Pitino and have accomplished more or just as much as he has in a shorter amount of time.

So answer me this: How in the hell does Rick Pitino justify being the highest paid coach in the country? What exactly has he done in his 10 years at Louisville? You can't tell me that he is worth more money than Roy Williams, Coach K and Billy Donovan. Self has only one title but Kansas is in position to win it all just about every year. And Calipari is on the verge of getting his NCAA tournament trophy.

NITs, back to back first round oustings, Karen Sypher, awful Rally's commercials, bad recruiting and a butt whopping at the hands of Kentucky does not justify $7 million dollars. I understand that a lot of his money comes from non-university funding (awful Rally's commercials). Pitino also received a $3 million dollar bonus this year due to a "loyalty" clause in his contract. I guess he didn't get his "ethics" clause bonus or he would be making even more money.

I guess Louisville fans are content with what Coach P is doing. They make it to the tournament and even get out of the first round from time to time. That's all Little Brother asks for. A chance to sit at the Big Boy's table every once in a while. Too bad they are spending everything in their piggy banks for the privilege.