The important people at colleges in America...

are not professors. They're coaches of sports. Sure, we know that some college football or basketball coaches make big bucks. But now, as college athletics generates more money, you find situation such as:

From 2006 to 2016, pay for Kentucky’s track and field coach climbed from $108,000 to $429,000 (298%); men’s tennis coach pay jumped from $122,000 to $230,000; and gymnastics coach pay rose from $112,000 to $252,000. Every coach made more than the school’s average full professor’s salary of $121,000. The rifle coach made $133,000; not bad for what is really a minor sport.

At the University of Kansas, men’s golf coach pay jumped from $84,000 to $201,000 over the past decade. At the University of Virginia, pay for the women’s volleyball coach rose from $94,000 to $221,000. And at West Virginia University, men’s soccer coach pay jumped from $66,000 to $188,000. 

Kentucky really spends money on athletics. It is building a professional-quality stadium is needed to lure top recruits. The stadium will cost only $49 million baseball stadium and will feature artificial turf, permanent seating for 2,500 and the ability to offer expanded seating for up to 7,000. The new stadium will be part of an “athlete’s village” Kentucky is building that includes a $45 million football training complex (opened in 2016), a new $9.5 million softball stadium (opened in 2013), and a new $7.7 million soccer stadium (opened in 2014).