When asked how he felt about college football coaches’ salaries, Gallogly said he wished they were less, but that’s simply not happening in the marketplace.
The fact is OU doesn’t set the market value for coaches, the American public does. Big-time college football programs generate millions through licensing fees (Nike’s Jordan brand pays to be on OU’s uniforms), television broadcast fees, ticket sales, donations and more. It’s big business on campus.
Ryan Brewer, an associate professor of finance at Indiana University–Purdue University-Columbus, produces a yearly report that attempts to value college football programs. In his most recent report, Brewer ranked OU’s football program seventh, at a value of $886 million. (The top program was Texas, at $1.1 billion.)
In an email, Brewer said that at a program like Oklahoma, “the head coach is more important when he has proven the ability to win national championships, or at least contend for them consistently.”
That describes Riley, and Gallogly said the national recognition helps OU’s reputation beyond the football field.
“I think it helps us with recruiting not just student-athletes, but students,” Gallogly said. “I think it’s a positive image for our brand …”
