Good Coach Worth His Weight In Gold Good Investment A Winning Coach Fills University’S Coffers

Fri., Jan. 15, 1999

By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com (509) 319-0354

If new Coach Rick Neuheisel can return the University of Washington to football prominence, he’ll be worth every penny of his $1.5 million annual salary - to women’s athletics, to secondary sports like rowing and cross country, to alumni, faculty, students and fans.

At Washington, football makes the athletic department go round. Its revenue funds the entire department, including nationally ranked female sports programs in softball, basketball and gymnastics - as well as Neuheisel’s salary. UW bowl games mean gender equity and state-of-the-art facilities at no cost to state taxpayers.

Only a purist - or a University of Oregon alum - would begrudge the price UW paid to rejuvenate Huskies football. Or the slight risk Oregon State took in hiring wanderlust Coach Dennis Erickson on the rebound after Seattle fired him.

Neuheisel and Erickson are good for Northwest college football. Their presence on the gridiron will attract crowds, alumni contributions, top athletes and students. That means television exposure and revenue. Imagine the crowd Erickson will draw to Pullman when Oregon State visits Washington State.

Erickson, of course, won’t stay long in Corvallis, despite what he said this week about wanting to end his career at Oregon State. He’s said the same thing everywhere he’s gone. He’ll disappoint fans and players by quitting in a year or so, when the pros call again or a lucrative college job beckons. But he’s certain to leave behind the Beavers’ first winning season in three decades and a quality program, as he did at Idaho and Washington State.

From 1939 until 1982 when Erickson arrived, Idaho produced only four winning football seasons. Since then, it has had 16 winning seasons in 17 years, including three Big Sky titles in four years under Erickson. Before hiring Erickson in 1987, WSU had been invited to only three bowl games. It has been to four since.

Erickson’s a steal at $300,000 annually, for however long he remains at Oregon State. The same can be said of Coach Mike Price, who saw his salary double to $469,000 after he led WSU to the PAC-10 title and Rose Bowl last year. And of Coach Chris Tormey, who deserves a hefty raise from his base salary of $89,500 after guiding Idaho last month to an upset win in the Humanitarian Bowl, the school’s first bowl game ever.

A winning college football coach is worth his weight in gold.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.