Who is more valuable to Oregon State, Mike Riley or Pat Casey? Pat Casey might be the obvious answer, which begs the question: Why is Pat Casey paid nearly one-eighth the salary of an unproven football coach?
Even the gods of common sense, reason and logic don’t understand why. Speaking of which, someone in the front office should lob a phone call to Spock about Casey’s salary. Maybe he can show the logic behind Pat Casey getting a meager $100,000 a year. Even Chris Coffin thinks Casey is getting screwed.
Shout out to Oregon State as a whole: I know it’s tough
to balance a budget, but don’t you think you could squeeze out an extra hundred-thousand or so to a guy who just brought the school its first national championship since the 60s? And if you can handle that, why not an extra 20-grand to Coffin, arguably the most dedicated professor on campus? I haven’t seen a guy work that hard at his job since David Stern took up the “job” of fining Mark Cuban for a living.
But really, did Pat Casey get anything more than a high-five upon his return to Corvallis? I know I was ready to give him all the money in my pockets after watching him coach his players to the greatest thing I’ve seen since Randy Johnson tore that dove away from the fabric of existence.
The fact remains that Casey has won the Pac-10 two years in a row, returned to the College World Series, and brought home a national championship. He deserves a raise. I’m sure I’m not alone when I propose that a coach get a raise after winning a national championship. Just ask Mac Brown.
What has coach Mike Riley brought the Beavers? Nothing. Fine, we had a few bowl games. Pardon me for not rejoicing and bowing to his greatness. How many Top 25 finishes has Riley brought home? None. How many double-digit winning seasons? None. No wins at Autzen and no more than eight wins on the road in his career. Riley has put together a 28-30 record over his five-year OSU career, which is a .482 winning percentage. The only bragging rights he has to his name are to an eight-win season, some first-round draft picks and few players of the year. If all you people want to see is a bunch of great players on the field and a coach that can’t win we should change our name to the Detroit Lions.
By they way, if an eight-win season is enough to garnish respect out of you people, think about this. If he wins eight games, Oregon State is dropping $100,000 on each win. Is that worth it to you? Last year we won five games, paying Riley $160,000 per win. That means Riley made more from each win than Pat Casey did all year.
Casey has had the Beaver baseball team in the Top 25 for two-years running. In his 12 years as head coach, he has a 392-253-4 record, which is a .604 winning percentage. He has also had a grip of draft picks, multiple winning seasons and postseason appearances, and a national championship.
I know all of you people screaming, “The real issue is revenue!” And even though the Beavers made it to Omaha, and walked away with the championship, the average attendance isn’t even 2,000 people. This does not shine bright in the eyes of the alumni and budget makers, which is why Riley makes more money. He and his bad football team still bring in more money to the school. Apparently 28,000 people want to see us lose, and only 2,000 want to see us win.
The real reason that Pat Casey isn’t making upwards of $300,000 a year is because the revenue from baseball is minuscule in comparison to football and basketball. This needs to change.
If you win a national championship, you should get a bonus, a raise and more than a just a pat on the back and a plaque. Does Riley deserve $800,000? Debatable. Does Casey deserve $800,000? I know one thing – he definitely deserves it more than Riley.
Pat Casey has proved himself to Corvallis, to Oregon, and now to the country by bringing home the national championship to Oregon State.
If the adage is true that “If you build it [they] will come,” then people will be pouring into the stadium next year. Casey has built a national championship team, he has built a foundation for the future, and now he deserves a little monetary reimbursement for his work. This year was not a fluke. It was the beginning of something great. But, in order for greatness to continue Casey deserves the salary he is worth.
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