That kind of salary

I'm sitting in my office, it's the end of a Monday, and for the life of me I'm contemplating how a coach who makes 2.5 million + a year can go to a bank in Pullman with a straight face sporting a 2-6 record in his 3rd year.


Especially when he makes that kind of salary. 


As we drove the dismal two plus hours home on Saturday night, my friend Steve and I were trying for the life of us to figure out what is missing.  I can't speak for him but I'm trying to compare the career of a hard working coach, to a normal hard working person who has accomplished a lot in the last 30 years, but they don't make near that kind of salary, nor will they ever.


Let's look at a person who has worked for three fortune 500 companies, a strong, top producer at all three, and never made near that kind of salary.  They generate tremendous revenue for the company every day, and they have a record to show for it.  He or she grinds it out every day, does everything that is ever asked of them, qualifies for incentive trips that go to the top producers of the company (similar to the New Mexico Bowl but a lot nicer), but when you compare won-loss records they never went 2-6, ever.


So what was the appeal to Mike Leach?  Was the WSU contingent so impressed with the 9 bowl appearances, and the most impressive being the 11-2 record in 2008 at Texas Tech where they were rated as high as #2 in the country?  Or was it the throw on every down offense?  Anyone who has been following the Pac-8, Pac-10, and now the Pac-12 since 1967 like I have knows you have to run the ball effectively to win championships in this league.


Or was it that he could have success in Lubbock, Texas.  A place where one person referred to it as "Ellensburg without the hype".  I can't remember who that person is, but I sure want to meet them!


With USC coming to town next weekend, it's not looking bright.  The team has fallen on hard times, and listening to the radio on the post game show, star quarterback Connor Halliday is visibly shaken.  When Jim Moore writes something negative about the Cougars, you know something is terribly wrong.


With that kind of salary, I just hope the head coach at Washington State signed up for automatic deposits.