If I were Florida State Seminole Athletic Director Dave Hart Jr., I would get a hold of my athletic program really fast before someone buys it out from under my nose. FSU boosters are getting more and more aggressive in their attempts to take control of the program.
Back in October, the FSU boosters petitioned the Seminole athletic department into forcing Bobby Bowden into retirement. The heat became too much to ignore, so Jeff Bowden took the bullet for daddy and resigned as offensive coordinator. It was learned shortly after his resignation that the boosters bought out his contract for $537,000. This of course led to the boosters asking themselves, "Hey, why are we just paying coaches to leave? Why don't we pay the coaches we have too?" And so, the FSU boosters will now be paying current assistant coaches with the program on top of their normal salaries.
Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, whose base salary from the university is $215,000, will get $210,000 from the Athletic Development Fund raised by the Seminole Boosters.
The extra money is compensation for additional duties not required to draw his base pay, including fundraising, speeches, radio and television shows and public relations contacts with alumni, supporters and civic and community groups, official said.
Offensive line coach Rick Trickett is getting $200,000 from the university and $100,000 from the booster fund for similar added duties.
This sounds completely horrifying to me. I'm sure coaches get paid for public speaking all the time, but for some reason this sounds different given meddling past of FSU boosters. This sounds more like a regular paycheck. Whenever someone gets two paychecks, there is bound to be a conflict of interest somewhere.
I'm envisioning a smoke filled luxury box in the third quarter of a close game. With Florida State down by a touchdown, a booster picks up his cell phone and calls the offensive coordinator, who he incidently has programmed in the speed dial.
Hey guess what. Darndest thing. You see, it seems there was a conflict next week at our charity fund raiser. Yeah, you were supposed to speak at that, but we double booked it with your offensive line coach. So it seems we may not be able to pay you that "speaking fee".
Oh hey. I see Xavier is strapping his helmet on. Great news! Well, I better let you go. (click)
Unless you're a Florida State Seminole booster, nothing good can come from the coaches getting money on the side. I predict this will lead to the complete implosion of the FSU football program, but God help us all if they have a little bit of success between now and then, because I'm sure other programs will naturally follow suit.