Your Take: Worth Every Penny

Last August there was outrage in some parts of the media. News broke that University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer was getting a contract extension. The new deal meant that Meyer was going to earn at least $4 million on his new contract, and could make up to $4.5 million with incentives. There was cause for commotion, but it should have been because Meyer was so underpaid. Yes, underpaid. As in a bargain. While those who were critical of Meyer’s new deal talked about the tough economic times and pointed out that Meyer’s own university had earlier announced $42 million in budget cuts and layoffs of nine faculty members and 49 staff employees, if anything those were even more proof of why the coach was such a value. In Meyer’s case, the state-funded school doesn’t actually even pay the head coach’s salary. The University Athletic Association, a separate