UMass Amherst prides itself on the excellence of its programs, and rightly so. Many of its academic departments are among the best in the nation. Regular reviews ensure that the high quality of research and instruction is maintained. And then there’s the UMass football team. It’s currently ranked last (136/136) in college teams. It has lost every game it played this season, but that’s not too surprising as the last few seasons have been similar.
Despite this, the university continues to pour money into the program. The head coach is the third highest paid state employee, making over $1.1 million last year. He earns more than the university’s president who oversees the system’s five campuses and more than all the chancellors of those campuses. If that seems a trifle excessive, it should come as no surprise that there are also more than a dozen assistant coaches, increasing the overall taxpayer-funded football staff payroll to over $2.7 million per year.
At the same time, the university struggles to find money to invest in academic programs. Every year, department heads request funding to replace faculty who have retired, died or left the university. Only a small fraction of those requests are approved by the provost. Here are just a few examples with which I am most familiar. No doubt there are other examples right across the academic sector — the core sector — of the university.
The School of Earth and Sustainability struggles along on a bare bones budget that is a mere shadow of the investments being made in this critical field at peer institutions. The Climate System Research Center has been shuttered as no new faculty have been hired for years. Repeated requests to hire a faculty member specializing in strategic minerals — a clear national priority — have been rebuffed by the provost for several years. This reflects a complete lack of vision about critical topics that are of national and international significance yet money continues to pour into the football program which has failed year after year.
There is absolutely no relationship between the amount spent on salaries for football coaches and the team’s success. No academic program would survive if it had such a persistent record of failure. It’s long past time to acknowledge that and re-invest the funds being poured into the football program to support academic departments, which are at the core of the university’s mission. There’s no need to eliminate the football program entirely, just hire a far less expensive head coach and far fewer assistants. Cut the budget in half. The football team may still end up last in the nation, but it won’t cost as much to get there. Redeploy the savings to benefit all UMass students. Invest in faculty, technicians and support staff, which will lead to more research funding and more opportunities for the next generation of UMass students.
Raymond Bradley lives in Leverett.