A Grip on Sports: Inflation seems to hit everywhere these days and should be even more prominent in college football budgets in the coming years

A GRIP ON SPORTS • There is a worry among economic forecasters that the United States’ economy could descend into a period of what they term stagflation. It’s a rare period of high inflation and unemployment, something we haven’t seen since the late 1970s. And it’s a condition that may just hit college athletics over the next year.
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• Not football, of course. Or hoops. Little chance of the unemployment part there. No matter how red the books are at Division I schools, those programs are pretty darn insulated from the unemployment part.
But the inflation aspect? Huge, if you are referring to staff positions, the second-biggest driver of the rising expenses, just behind those related to key employee – read, athletes – pay and retention.
It actually might be No. 1, considering the House settlement includes a cap on the latter, starting at $20.5 million in the upcoming “academic” year. There doesn’t seem to be much of cap on football staff salaries (or employees) anywhere.
Want a simple illustration? We dug around our office files to find you one this morning. What we found was a book we kept from our time in Pullman covering Washington State back in the day.
As in 16 years ago. The 2009 football media guide, the only one I kept from my time as The Spokesman-Review’s beat reporter. I pulled up the staff directory. Counted the number of people employed directly by Paul Wulff’s program. Not including the student assistants, there are 14 names listed. Add in the two people from the weights and conditioning staff dedicated to the sport and that adds up to … wait, I want to get the math correct … 16 folks.
Seven years later, a count of the same listing gave me 25 names, starting with Mike Leach at the top. Neither listing included the support personnel, from nutrition to academics, from training to secretarial, numbers that had grown quite a bit by then as well – and has continued to grow since. How do I know?
This morning I accessed the football staff directory on the WSU athletic website. There are 35 names listed. The number of folks working for new coach Jimmy Rogers is more than double the staff listed under Wulff’s name 16 years ago.
That is a pretty large inflation rate. Even more than the one associated with a gallon of gasoline. Or a Ford F150 pickup to put it in.
OK, I’ll give eggs have more than quintupled in price since 2009, but that is probably comparable to the jump in football-related salaries. Heck, Rogers will make $1.57 million this season. In 2009, Wulff made $600,000. His entire staff of on-field assistants did not make as much combined as Rogers will be paid. And, if you want to point at return on investment, that’s fair – but immaterial.
We get it. It’s the way of the (football) world. And basketball, though not to the same degree. The WSU men’s team in 2009 had six employees. This season? There will be seven.
There will be belt-tightening in other places. Has to be. Every college and university in the nation is dealing with financial stresses. Washington State isn’t any different. The school’s Regents last week adopted a 2026 budget that including a 4.1% reduction in spending, though athletic director Anne McCoy, which saw her department’s budget trimmed by more than triple that percentage in 2025, announced the 2026 budget will be pretty much unchanged at $74.4 million.
However, with the department already carrying a more-than $100 million debt, finding the needed House player-payment money – no matter how much WSU intends to spend – means something probably has to give.
And it doesn’t seem to be the football staff. It can’t be, not unless the school wants to invite a stagflation of sorts within the program just as the newly reconstructed Pac-12 begins to ramp up.
Inflation has hit us all. And college athletics is no different.
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WSU: What triggered our delving into the budget this morning? Well, this Greg Woods’ story on an addition to the basketball coaching staff was part of it. Not that Orlando Johnson’s hiring added to the number of employees in David Riley’s program – one had already left – but his general manager title is new. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner not only passes along the usual weekly football recruiting roundup, his Mercury News mailbag covers a lot of Pac-12 issues as well. … The House settlement will hit each of the Northwest’s four Pac-12 legacy schools differently. Christian Caple outlines how it will impact Washington. … A Colorado running back is looking forward to helping the Buffs. … Not sure to make of Colorado State’s recent recruiting, but the Rams have been active. … Oregon added a highly sought-after receiver. … We’ve been covering the NCAA track and field championships in Eugene pretty heavily. USC tied for the men’s title. Other Pac-12 legacy schools in the news included Oregon and a champion from Washington. … In basketball news, Colorado added an alum to the staff. … In baseball news, Oregon State gave away a sure win against Louisville yesterday. Then walked off the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth. It’s what the Beavers do. … Arizona wasn’t as resilient after squandering a lead and multiple chances to expand it. The Wildcats were done in by a looping, chalk-hitting double and a three-run eighth for Coastal Carolina. … UCLA begins its Omaha title quest today, facing America’s darling Murray State.
Gonzaga: Around the WCC, USF has benefitted this offseason in that one of its better men’s basketball players decided not to transfer for more money.
EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, one conference athlete made noise at the NCAA track and field championships Friday. A Montana State distance runner. … Small towns can produce big-time football players. Always. Montana thinks it just added one from the state’s hinterlands of Belgrade.
Chiefs: Berkly Catton is the Canadian Hockey League Sportsman of the Year. That honor was announced Friday. Dave Nichols has that story covered.
Indians: Dave isn’t in Vancouver. But he does have this coverage of Spokane’s most recent Friday defeat. This one was over early as the red-hot Canadians blasted the Indians 15-0.
Storm: Another Seattle player has a found a home.
Reign: Seattle is in Chicago today for a Soldier Field battle with the Stars.
Mariners: When the M’s are playing well, they are following a simple formula. Solid starting pitching. Timely hitting. That’s what happened last night at T-Mobile and it resulted in a homestand-starting 7-2 victory over Cleveland. … The starting pitching will be bolstered soon by the return of Logan Gilbert.
Seahawks: Bob Condotta’s Seattle Times story on the offensive line ran on the S-R’s website today. … Could Seattle hit the free agent market for a coveted cornerback? … Grey Zabel was once a dominating left-handed pitcher.
Kraken: The first four games of this NHL finals rematch have been so good and so even, this series is already one of the best we’ve seen in a while.
Sonics: Oklahoma City took a gander at what the Pacers had been doing late in games and decided what was good for Indiana was good for them. And now the Pacers’ goose may be cooked. OKC rallied late behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s offense and Chet Holmgren’s rim-denying defense to earn a 111-104 road victory. The series is tied at two-games apiece with the Thunder back to holding homecourt advantage.
Sounders: The Club World Cup begins today, though it doesn’t start in Seattle until Sunday. We can pass along a series of Times’ stories that outline what it means to the Sounders, the city and the area’s soccer fans.
Golf: Anyone who had Sam Burns being the one to tame Oakmont in the U.S. Open’s first couple days should take a bow. They were right. … Phil Mickelson missed the cut. Is his quest for his first U.S. Open win over as well? This may have been his last appearance. … As we name-checked a few of the lesser-known golfers competing in the U.S. Open yesterday morning, it is our responsibility to update everyone on how their tournament ended. Former CCS golfer Brady Calkins did not have his best day Friday, shooting an 85 and finishing at 27-over par. But we did see him hit one outstanding shot on NBC. Justin Hicks, who started so poorly both days? He shot an 83 to also finish 27-over. Will Chandler was much better after we last looked in at him, finishing just 2-over down the stretch and the day at plus-22. Finally, the last-place finisher turned out to be George Duangmanee. His 89 on Friday included no birdies, eight bogies and five double bogies – or worse. If you wonder how much you might shoot on a course like this, consider Duangmanee would probably be the club champion at wherever you play.
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• Our plan was to hardly write at all today. To rest a bit. Another plan shot to heck. Until later …