The Protect College Sports Act is currently up for debate in Congress. Fans, coaches, analysts and everyone in between have their views on it, making it incredibly polarizing.
One aspect that’s contentious is the potential limitation of player salaries via salary cap. While that’s viewed as a necessity by many parties, we’ve not heard the same discussion regarding coach salaries. On Thursday, Brian Kelly spoke against a coach salary cap on SiriusXM’s College Sports Radio, saying the time they’ve devoted to their craft needs to be rewarded.
“It’s apples and oranges… just take my situation. I didn’t make any money at Grand Valley State. My wife and I were trying to balance the budget at Central Michigan,” Kelly said. “That’s 15 years in [to my career], not three or four or five… 19 years in it before I got to Notre Dame… [where] I’m 35 years in it. I don’t think I should be in the same position as an 18-year-old. I did my work, working my way up through the ranks and building equity.”
Kelly added that college football would “lose… those that want to make [coaching] a career” with the salary cap. He said it would be “fair” to “term-limit” coaches, though, in terms of putting a maximum on contract lengths.
There’s a lot up in the air with college sports right now. Beyond the consensus that some legislation is needed, nobody knows the best way to set things straight. Whether coach salaries are something that get thrown into the bill is something we may not know until it’s finalized. Kelly’s comments, though, are ones that coaches should find ease in backing.
