College scholarship athletes "face thousands in out-of-pocket costs while coaches' salaries -- and revenue from college sports -- continue to rise dramatically," according financial reportes cited by Peter & Berkowitz of USA TODAY. The reports show that the players in this year's NCAA men's basketball Final Four "attend schools where the gap between their scholarships and the total cost of attendance is about $2,300 to $5,400 a year." Yet the coaches -- Kentucky's John Calipari, Florida's Billy Donovan, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan and Connecticut's Kevin Ollie -- are "collecting an average" of $3.1M from their schools for this season. They also have "racked up a combined $850,000 in bonuses this year." UCLA coach Steve Alford's move to the school from New Mexico last year netted him $1.4M, the "largest pay increase ... of any public university basketball coach who appeared in the tournament both years." His compensation still "leaves him well short" of the nation's highest-paid coach, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Meanwhile, among the 55 public schools in the major conferences, generated revenue amounted to $4.5B in '12-13, an increase of $734M, or 19%, in "just four years." But the total pay for coaches in all sports "grew even faster," rising 26% in the major conferences over the same period. While "more and more basketball coaches are landing huge deals, they still trail their football counterparts," 50 of whom made at least $2M for the '13 season (USA TODAY, 4/3).
