“This is the way.” – The Mandalorian
For the better part of forever, Penn State’s policy has been to only discuss the contract details of the head football coach and athletic director.
Of course, this is only partially true — Joe Paterno’s contract was long a point of contention for transparency advocates, the university shielding itself behind various protections from its position as a state-related institution not subject to the same open records requirements as state-owned entities. While Paterno’s pay was something of a poorly kept secret, the university didn’t officially disclose it until it was compelled to do so by changes to Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law in 2008.
Subsequently, aside from the occasional assistant coach who slips into the top 25 highest-paid university employees — a figure that is required to be disclosed under those limited changes to the Right to Know Law — the salaries of nearly all Penn State coaches and assistants remain locked away.
In fairness to Penn State, the actual numbers are less important for the majority of coaches on campus, but they can be incredibly informative. When the athletic department extended former men’s basketball head coach Patrick Chambers there was no announcement regarding any of the details. In fact, when it was announced, a promise of details being released was mistakenly made, and the department quickly walked back such a claim.
When men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky was extended after the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance there was no announcement of such an agreement and the athletic department only confirmed Gadowsky’s extension a full year after it occurred.
Now it’s wrestling coach Cael Sanderson, whose contract extension only became public when recently retired Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour mentioned it in an interview earlier this month, leading to the university’s official confirmation. Prior to that, most inquiries into the status of the contract were met with little if any information or insight into any aspect of the process — and with no intention of ever even announcing the extension once it was agreed upon.
And this seems like a misstep.
There is, of course, an argument to be made to keep individual salaries private for the sake of personal privacy. That said, it can be valuable information for the public interested in any given program to compare salaries and terms across the sport; say, for example Chambers’ salary compared to other head coaches in the Big Ten. In turn a broader appreciation for competitive salaries makes decisions like Penn State opting to pay even more for new coach Micah Shrewsberry an informative data point.
But even if one opts to agree with the policy that the actual numbers should remain private, there’s very little value in keeping extensions and their broad terms a mystery. Everyone was going to realize that Sanderson was extended the moment he showed up on the side of the mat. Most fans would assume that Gadowsky had been extended by virtue of the fact he still has a job. The same could be said for Chambers during his tenure. You can infer a lot about someone’s contract when they are clearly still employed.
Not announcing Sanderson’s extension is balking at the chance to release good and obvious news. It’s turning down the chance to confirm to hoards of paying customers that their generational coach is returning to helm of a generational program yet again.
There was nothing to be gained by keeping it private. And don’t believe me, just ask Ohio State, which routinely does just about everything better than Penn State – and announced five contract extensions in a single press release in May.
Or Iowa, which announced wrestling coach and Sanderson rival Tom Brands’ extension.
Or MInnesota, which announced men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko’s extension.
Which does bring up the question, who decided that anyway?
According to a spokesperson, the policy is the policy and that policy has been in place forever.
As to why? Well, nobody seems to know.
There is something fittingly Penn State in that answer. That things are just this way because they’ve always been this way. Never mind the fact Penn State has had multiple athletic directors and university presidents over the last decade, things are just done this way.
The real answer as to why is probably a mixture of things. Penn State’s Board of Trustees determines the thumbs up or down for certain employees’ compensation terms — though not the wrestling coach. Whether the board has the final say in who knows what beyond that is slightly less clear but it is likely a mix of the board choosing to keep things private and institutional tradition that no administrator has chosen to challenge.
Why things have been the way they are is less important than what they could be. Penn State has a new president and a new athletic director (again) and that seems like more than enough to make actual change (again).
Because at the end of the day keeping good news a secret, for no particular reason, doesn’t do anybody any favors.
And if that same athletic department is going to ask everyone to open the wallets for all the new bells and whistles it wants, the least it can do is give those wallets some good news from time to time.
