I LOVE "Football Coach Firing/Hiring Season". It may just be more fun than the football season. There is all the rumor and intrigue. He is going there. No, he is not going there; he is going to blank University. That coach swears his undying love to where he is and then is introduced two days later at the new place. Can you imagine the emotional whiplash? Today, you are working at Blank University and day after tomorrow you are working at another school.
I love Football Coach Announcement Press Conferences! There is an energy in the room. There are all kind of big money people mingling around. Everybody knows we are going undefeated next year! The coach has on his tie that matches the school colors and at the end of his speech he puts on the school cap and the room goes nuts! Plus, we have read on line that he is getting XXXXXmoney to come!
My school is in what is called the Group of Five. That means we play on the edges of the really big time. Our coach "only" makes $800,000 a year.....that is besides all the free stuff thrown in like country club membership, a car for you and one for your wife, etc. Now, that sounds big, but I can't relate it to much. Until, I divided it out monthly. The coach makes $66,000 a month!!! How does that compare to the monthly College Minister check? Mine didn't compare real well. When I moved to Arkansas State I got a $5 a month raise. I only had to work harder, longer and take abuse from the current students.
I read yesterday that an Assistant Coach....an Assistant...got fired and he is getting $5 Million to leave. If a College Minister gets fired, they are lucky if someone will help them load their U-Haul.
I read when Nick Saban went to Alabama that he immediately went around the Football Complex telling them what all he wanted changed. "Take this down; move that." Many times College Ministers are told or just feel they need to try to maintain the status quo and work with the situation as it is for a year. My first year at ASU, the upper class students would come into my office and tell me they wished I was not there. Can you imagine some of the football players going into Coach Saban's office when he got there telling him they wished he was not there? I would like to see that scene!
Football Coaches can say, "I have not talked to that school." Of course, they have not. It was their Agent. That's it. College Ministers need agents! We need someone in there negotiating for us on our "deal". He or she gets an "extra $10 a month on their travel, If average attendance goes up by 10 and they get a $100 bonus. If the local preacher that has been mad for the last five years likes the College Minister...."they get an extra two days off at Christmas if...." We need "incentives" like that in our contract. I may become a "College Minister's Agent". I hear they get a percentage of the deals they negotiate. How much is 15% of not very much?
Speaking of Saban, I read he is 69 years old. No one is telling him he is too old to work with college students. I think even worse than College Ministers lack of "bonus incentives in their contracts" is the belief that a College Minister has to be young. Some are too old at 30 and others are just getting warmed up at a much older age and doing their best work ever. Old guys that are still feeling called, loving it, and seeing some of the best results ever....KEEP ON.
Yep...it is a different world out there. What's the point of this article that will help do college ministry better? None! But, it is Christmas and I thought I could write what I wanted to write!! Merry Christmas to All!!!
"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11
Arliss Dickerson's new book, ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT COLLEGE MINISTRY, is available at amazon.com.
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