Keith,
Do you think ND would worry about the economy? I bet they would jump at any opening. I do agree that Meyer might offer to take a reasonable pay cut, especially if any of his base salary comes from the university. Jerry From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 5:03 AM To: gatortalk googlegroups Subject: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: Machen: Meyer deserves raise I agree that Meyer is the best. I agree that we need to whatever we can to keep Meyer. However, if Meyer accepts more pay in bad economic times like this - when the university is making cuts - it does not look good. Meyer should come out and say thanks - but lets wait for the economy to turn around before raising my pay. If Meyer wanted to go over the top - he should come out and want a 5% pay cut - or whatever is in line with the other pay cuts at UF. The economy is already turning around - he won't have to wait long to get a bigger raise. But if he accepts a bigger salary now - that could start a firestorm. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Machen: Meyer deserves raise From: "Shane Ford" <[email protected]> Date: Fri, May 29, 2009 10:06 pm To: [email protected] (GatorNEWS) Machen: Meyer deserves raise Tricia Coyne/Staff photographer Buy photo <http://reprints.gainesville.com/cgi-bin/fotobroker.cgi?c=latest.htm&a=&op_by_line=contains&by_line=Coyne&b=photo_db&s=&t=&show=3-4> Florida coach Urban Meyer signed a new long-term contract two years ago that pays him about $3.25 million a year. By Robbie Andreu Gainesville SUN Staff writer Published: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 5:03 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 5:03 p.m. SANDESTIN — After leading Florida to its second football national championship in three years, Urban Meyer is due a raise. That was the word from UF President Bernie Machen on Friday at the conclusion of the SEC's annual spring meetings. Machen said UF has to "redo a couple of coaches' contracts" in the next few months, and that Meyer deserved a raise. When asked if he expected Meyer to become the highest-paid coach in the SEC, Machen said, "I hope. I don't do that. (Athletic director) Jeremy Foley does. He should be. He's the best." Foley said Friday it's a little too early to start focusing on a new contract for Meyer. "We're still trying to put the budget together," Foley said. "At some point in time. ... I've always said when the time is right, we'll take a look at that. Right now is not the time." Meyer signed a new long-term contract two years ago that pays him about $3.25 million a year. He is currently making less than LSU coach Les Miles and Alabama coach Nick Saban. Miles renegotiated a new contract a little more than a year ago that includes a clause that assures he will always be the highest-paid coach in the league. When Machen was asked if Meyer deserved to be the highest-paid coach in the nation, he said, "I don't know. That's not my market to figure out." Despite these difficult economic times, Machen said UF is going to do what it takes financially to secure Meyer and its many other successful coaches. "If you don't take care of your people, then things will come back to hit you in the head later on," Machen said. Machen said he isn't concerned about public perception. "That's OK," he said. "No. 1, we've got the best athletic programs in the country. And they're run very responsibly. We're not doing frivolous and irresponsible things. People will give me the credit for watching over that." One thing is obvious. Florida and the other 11 SEC schools are doing fine financially, based on the 2008-09 league revenue distribution that was released by the SEC on Friday. Only a few days after saying the SEC is not recession-proof, commissioner Mike Slive announced that the league distributed a record $132.5 million to its 12 schools, a 4.0 percent increase from a year ago. The average amount distributed to each school was $11.1 million. The payoff for each school figures to be millions higher next year, when the SEC's new television contracts with CBS and ESPN kick in. Slive declined to speculate on what the figure might be a year from now. "I want you to come back (to the meetings) next year," Slive said. "We'll know then." Broken down by categories, the $132.5 million was derived from $52 million from football television, $25.4 million from bowls, $14.3 million from the SEC Football Championship Game, $13.6 million from basketball television, $4.1 million from the men's conference basketball tournament and $23.1 million from NCAA Championships. Not included in the $132.5 million was $11.6 million retained by schools participating in bowls and $744,000 divided among all 12 schools by the NCAA for academic enhancement. Even though the league continues to prosper in this recession, the SEC is backing cost-cutting legislation that has been proposed by the NCAA, including the elimination of media guides in all sports, doing away with the NCAA regional track meets, limiting travel in some sports to ground transportation, and reducing the number of some contests. The SEC passed one significant piece of legislation concerning football recruiting, limiting schools to signing no more than 28 players to letters-of-intent per recruiting season. Over the past several years, some schools have signed more than 30 prospects, with the thought that some would not qualify academically. The NCAA limit is 25 per year (after attrition). --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
