Waiting on Reaction, Careful About Thoughts, Salary Cuts are Very Personal!
I read Bill Haisten's column in The Tulsa World on Friday, read it very carefully and even spoke with Bill about it. I had someone that works in the athletic department tell me they couldn't find anything in his story that they didn't think was true.
Meanwhile, by the end of the day Friday, a sizeable group of Oklahoma State coaches had issued a release or letter claiming their attitude's were good and they praised the role athletic director Mike Holder has had in communicating with them and navigating Oklahoma State athletics through the Twilight Zone reality of COVID-19. As someone that covers Oklahoma State athletics I realized I couldn't stick my head in the sand, which is always a first inclination when the discussion is about budgets, pandemic deficits and potential salary cuts or I could voice my thoughts.
I cover recruiting, more specifically football recruiting. I was once told by Allen Wallace, one of the originators of covering college football recruiting and publisher of SuperPrep magazine, that when you cover college football recruiting you are covering the process by which many men (assistant football coaches) primarily make their living. Wallace told me that if you step over covering the process and become involved in it, then you are potentially taking food off the table of a coach's family. In caveman days, violators were killed for that. I always took that to heart.
Talk about cutting someone's salary is a very personal thing. It doesn't matter how much one makes, when you reach the zenith or the upper stage of your chosen career, then you look forward to being rewarded for that success. The thought of a pandemic never crosses one's mind. It never did mine and by the looks of how we were prepared as a nation, I'm pretty confident that I wasn't alone.
There is no doubt that Mike Holder took money from the Oklahoma State athletics surplus account and moved it to pay off a loan on the construction of O'Brate Stadium. I have no research or knowledge of the pledge by Cecil O'Brate to help with the building of the stadium that bares his name. I do know, as I have heard from many, that those millions of dollars would come in very handy right now in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. I also know that when Mike Holder executed that payment that neither he nor I had any idea that college sports would come to a standstill on Thursday, March 12 and that Oklahoma State and all major college athletic departments would be facing financial strife never seen before.
I know times like that call for sacrifice. I have seen it spreading throughout the Big 12. I've seen layoffs and furloughs at other schools. Utah is furloughing their entire athletic department. Of course, they are a Pac-12 school that is not playing football this fall.
In the Big 12, I have seen salary cuts ranging from two percent for those that have lesser salaries to 14 percent for those with the highest paychecks. I have not been privy to any meetings or minutes of those meetings between Mike Holder and his staff or Holder and the Oklahoma State coaches. I read Haisten's column and I've heard comments from people in the athletic department and coaches. I would have to think that if no other Big 12 school has taken beyond 14 percent of an individual's salary that I would find it hard to believe an Oklahoma State employee or coach would be asked to do more.
There are many ways to try to keep up with the shortfalls financially in a pandemic. I know that I am contributing to the Posse (Athletic Department) Relief Fund and I encourage others capable of doing so to do it. Helping athletics weather this storm is important to many of us.
Now, I said this on my radio show on Friday, this upcoming football season is one that I believe could be epic, generational, maybe even a potential best ever. There is talent and work has been put in to maximize on that talent all gathered in orange and black at one time. My selfish request and it extends to all the Oklahoma State fans that have been around for many years, is that this football season be allowed to move forward without any internal strife or interference. It would be for everyone's greater good if this football team plays out their fortune with positive attitudes and good will.
