Just when you think college sports can't get any worse.
The University of Miami is prepared to nearly double Mario Cristobal’s salary, according to The Athletic, to get the former Hurricanes offensive lineman to leave Oregon and coach at his alma mater.
To do so, Miami will also pay a $9 million buyout to get Cristobal out of his deal with the Ducks and pay out a substantial portion of the $8 million or so left on Manny Diaz’s deal.
In addition, the university appears to have made some promises to Cristobal regarding new facilities and other football-related spending, endeavoring to catch up with the Joneses in the arms race.
Where’s all this capital coming from? I’ll let my colleague Charles McDonald explain:
That’s right. According to The Athletic, the school feels emboldened to invest in football because …. its medical system made more than $400 million in profits last year.
This would be a heinous re-direction of funds even if we weren’t in the midst of a global pandemic. A few years ago, Florida had about 2.7 million people — 13 percent of the state — living without health insurance. The coronavirus pandemic appears to have spurred new enrollments through government programs, but we’re still looking at millions of people who don’t have coverage with many of them saying it simply costs too much.
Of course, more than 61,000 Florida residents have died of coronavirus and the state ranks 10th on the list of deaths per 100,000 residents. Clearly the citizens of the state need more help. The people working in hospitals, from doctors on down to the people who push wheelchairs around, are no doubt overworked and stressed, too.
So, I don’t know, maybe put those profits back toward subsidizing treatment for the uninsured? Get them better treatment earlier — routine checkups! — and spend less later. Silly stuff. Also, use those funds, maybe, to make life better for the nurses and janitors keeping everything running at the hospitals?
Or let’s take yet another stab at bringing back the Glory of The U!
College sports has been a corrupt morass overseen by morally broken people for a very long time. It feels like just as we’re on the cusp of change — thanks to improved rights for student-athletes and a growing push to let them unionize and negotiate for better treatment — the system is convulsing and finding new ways to cover itself in shame.
I won’t keep railing on this. The internet did it for me:
