08-25-2025, 05:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-25-2025, 05:24 PM by Maple Leaf.)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6567247...g-buyouts/
Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby is quoted.
In 2004, on the heels of his football program’s third consecutive top-10 finish and second shared Big Ten title, Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby reluctantly chose to make Kirk Ferentz one of college football’s highest-paid coaches rather than lose him to a traditional power or the NFL.
“I don’t know that a football coach should be making five times what a university president makes,” Bowlsby, who later served as Big 12 commissioner for 11 years, said at the time. “But the only thing worse than being in the arms race is not being in the arms race.”
Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby is quoted.
In 2004, on the heels of his football program’s third consecutive top-10 finish and second shared Big Ten title, Iowa athletic director Bob Bowlsby reluctantly chose to make Kirk Ferentz one of college football’s highest-paid coaches rather than lose him to a traditional power or the NFL.
“I don’t know that a football coach should be making five times what a university president makes,” Bowlsby, who later served as Big 12 commissioner for 11 years, said at the time. “But the only thing worse than being in the arms race is not being in the arms race.”

