(Op-ed by Peter Children)
I ran across a article in today’s Globe Gazette on the sports page. I rarely read that section but something there caught my eye and I lingered long enough to read it then become upset.
It said the highest paid employee in this state is the football coach at the University of Iowa who is paid 3.8 million to teach young men to run up and down a field with a ball in their hands and reach a goal post. I don’t know how many of you realize it but that comes to $10,410. 95 cents a day seven days a week. This is a time when the elderly are facing cutbacks in health care coverage, food stamp usage is escalating in this state, food banks do not have enough on their shelves to feed the needy and the cost of groceries is up considerably over last year.
The protesters are camped out in parks all over the world concerned about Wall Street; what about some guy who is paid $110,000,000.00 to play basketball for five years……$60,273.97 a day for five years. Communities are building billion dollar sport complexes and school teachers and police and firemen are being laid off from work in these same cities. If you want to worry about distribution of wealth, then give some thought to that. This coach in Iowa City is paid with state funds, how many school teachers could go back into the classroom if the coach drew $50,000.00 a year and the remaining $3,750,000.00 were divided between teachers and possibly some needed class room equipment? How many more drug dealers could be caught if more police were on the street? I wonder what the assistant coach makes. (Note) Of late I am informed much of the 3.8 salary is from private sources. Although the article which appeared in the paper does not indicate as such. My thought, should this be true remains the same…there are better places to donate money than to someone who teaches you how to catch.
Peter Children
