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The Dagger

Sun Feb 22, 2009 5:50 am EST

Watch as Jim Calhoun emasculates an activist reporter

By MJD

A fellow named Ken Krayeske, a freelance journalist and student at UConn law school, got into Jim Calhoun's postgame press conference after UConn defeated South Florida yesterday. But Ken didn't want to talk basketball, he wanted to talk about Jim Calhoun's salary and how it related to the state of Connecticut's budgetary problems.

Ken got to ask his question, but from there, things didn't go too well for him. Here's the exchange:

And I believe the judges are going to have to score that as a TKO for Mr. Calhoun.

Of course, Ken sees things differently, as you can read about on his website.

I guess it's not a ridiculous question to ask. Sports are, in the grand scheme of things, a trivial and meaningless enterprise, and like the man said, Calhoun is the highest-paid state employee in Connecticut. With Connecticut projected to have a $944 million deficit this year, it's fair to ask him about his huge salary. 

And it's fair for Calhoun to respond exactly as he did, too. No one likes to be told they're not worth the money they're making, and I can't imagine that many would respond favorably to the implication that they're being greedy or selfish. There's also the small matter of Calhoun being absolutely right.

The University of Connecticut benefits financially from having a good basketball team. It's Jim Calhoun's job to make sure that happens, and he does this job extremely well. Jim Calhoun makes UConn money. He's not bleeding anyone dry. Quite the opposite, in fact. He pumps money into the university. Believe me, if it wasn't worth it financially for the University of Connecticut to pay Jim Calhoun $1.6 million a year, they wouldn't do it.

If you don't like it, don't blame Calhoun, blame capitalism. That's how it goes. Frivolous things like sports often generate massive revenue, and when they do, someone's going to get paid. In this case, it's Calhoun. He makes a lot because he brings in a lot.

The money generated by the UConn basketball program helps to support a ton of other things at the university, particularly the non-revenue generating sports, like golf, softball, volleyball, rowing, or women's ice hockey. Those things can exist in part because Jim Calhoun does what he does. A "thank you" might be more appropriate than a condescending question.

Related: Big East Basketball, College Basketball Media

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  1. zach p
    1. Posted by zach p Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:04 pm EDT

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    Come on, your commentary is pretty short sighted. Its a serious question, that deserves a serious response. And I'm not sure I buy the 12 million dollar hype. I'm not familiar with the organizational structure at the University of Connecticut. But at the University of Tennessee, almost all of the athletic proceeds must go to the athletic department and not the university. The university this week announced plans to layoff hundreds of full time employees, and yet at the same time athletic department found over a million dollars a year to pay an assistant coach. (monte kiffin)
    Sure, disagree with the reporter's tactics, but the conversation about big time money and college athletics is extremely appropriate in this economic climate.
  2. zach p
    2. Posted by zach p Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:04 pm EDT

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    I would also argue that the reporter was extremely successful. I doubt he expected to Calhoun to offer a thoughtful response. Rather, I imagine his hope would be to spark a national conversation by provoking Calhoun, which he did extremely successfully. Not to be too dramatic, but thats how activism works. If you just look at the photos of the water hoses in Birmingham in 1963, it looks like the water hoses TKO'd the "activists." But in the long view, I don't think that would be the consensus.
  3. john r
    3. Posted by john r Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:42 pm EDT

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    big jim whined after a loss to pitt also-maybe its time to get out of the game-coaches are suppose to set the tone for the rest of the game-so does that say ucon is putting a bunch of whiners into the world
  4. ec_anarchy
    4. Posted by ec_anarchy Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

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    There's no excuse for being an egotistical jerk -- regardless of how much money you make for yourself or "the University". A 1.6 million dollar man _should_ know how to deal with a question he doesn't like.
    If he wanted to make a point he could have offered to take up the discussion later. If he wanted to avoid the question he could have simply said he wasn't discussing it. Instead, he launched on a tirade showing the world he's an overpaid and arrogant boob.
    The whole program brings in 12.5 mil... not one man. Just like a Wall Street CEO, he's lost sight of how many good people it takes to get the job done. He earns 1.6 million apparently on luck. He certainly lacks the leadership and communication skills most 20 year olds at the school are required to leave with.
  5. Tim
    5. Posted by Tim Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:51 pm EDT

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    How many viruses can one website have? Take his page down.
  6. jeff6683
    6. Posted by jeff6683 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:31 pm EDT

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    If you don't like how much money a coach makes, stop watching sports. The reason they make more money than a teacher or a fire fighter or a policeman is because millions of people all over the country want to pay money to watch them perform. I don't care if the economy is in bad shape, consumers are interested in sports, they have money, they want to spend it, and they want to spend it on sports. Advertisers, TV networks, professional leagues, and even the NCAA know this and that's why coaches get paid $1+ million dollars and ads at the Super Bowl are $2 million for 30 seconds or whatever it happens to be. This is a business, and employees in any business get paid based on how well they perform and how important they are to the company. If Jim Calhoun can win another NCAA title this season, he deserves to get paid even more, that's just the way it is.
  7. jeff6683
    7. Posted by jeff6683 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:31 pm EDT

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    if you don't like how much money a coach makes, stop watching sports. the reason they make more money than a teacher or a fire fighter or a policeman is because millions of people all over the country want to pay money to watch them perform. i don't care if the economy is in bad shape, consumers are interested in sports, they have money, they want to spend it, and they want to spend it on sports. advertisers, tv networks, professional leagues, and even the ncaa know this and that's why coaches get paid $1 million dollars and ads at the super bowl are $2 million for 30 seconds or whatever it happens to be. this is a business, and employees in any business get paid based on how well they perform and how important they are to the company. if jim calhoun can win another ncaa title this season, he deserves to get paid even more, that's just the way it is.
  8. Go CU Tigers
    8. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    I'm pretty sure this Ken Krayeske tool is receiving taxpayer funded financial aid to do his little "freelance journalism" stunts while he is supposed to be getting a law degree.
    The question we should be asking is; "Why are Connecticut taxpayers being forced to finance law students when lawyers are pretty much the most hated people in the entire world?"
    I think it's funny that Krayeske won't allow comments on his own blog. Way to have a backbone, dude.
    If the so called "students" of Ken Krayeske's generation would concentrate more on learing a skill that would help them get a job, instead of concentrating on "activism", people who pay taxes, people like Jim Calhoun, wouldn't have to be support all their sorry (profane)s on unemployment.
    Get a real job and actually pay some taxes Ken, then you can complain about how poorly their spent.
  9. Bill
    9. Posted by Bill Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:01 pm EDT

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    Like Coach Calhoun stated," Get some facts, then come back and see him." A press conference is supposed to be about basketball, not salaries, income, state deficits, and the like. Those things are best left for an office appointment with the University, its administration, and coaching staff.
  10. Go CU Tigers
    10. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    I think UCONN should be investigating why a guy who was arrested for attacking the State's governor (Krayeske), was given press credentials. Somebody dropped the ball there.
  11. flyer_scum
    11. Posted by flyer_scum Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    @ec_anarchy - I think he handled it excatly how it should have been handled. And what was egotistical about his response? You accuse him of acting like HE ALONE generated the revenue, yet except for responding to the jabs about his salary' Calhoun never used the word "I".....he said 'we' generated $12.5 million for the school.
  12. heelfanatic
    12. Posted by heelfanatic Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:28 pm EDT

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    shouldn't the same question have been asked to some of our representatives,congressmen, senators? Its a basketball post-game press conference! idiots.
  13. bing x
    13. Posted by bing x Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:53 pm EDT

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    Calhoun makes a very good point, I go to UConn; and it is obvious from a revenue point that the men's program is generating ticket revenue by the millions. Calhoun is the only reason that this program is where it is right now. I'm not gonna lie, the man had spent the last 22 years with this program; I personally wouldn't have blamed him even if he said I generated all this revenue for the school. cuz without him, Thabeet is just another really tall guy from Houston when he came in; and players like Price or Gay, 5 star recruits would never have given UConn as a consideration.
  14. Just Me
    14. Posted by Just Me Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    5. jim calhoun and his staff have generated 12.5 million dollars for the university of connecticut. they use the money to pay the coaches and staff, put money into the endowment, give scholarships, and improve the university. you need the shut your mouth. why don't you address the same questions to other coaches in other sports. you obviously have an axe to grind and need to put your two cents into the conversation. he never said "i" but "we". and he is certainly not being egotistical. that was the wrong comment to say to any coach.
  15. Nothing
    15. Posted by Nothing Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:22 pm EDT

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    Four thoughts about this issue:
    1. "That's how it goes" is a terrible argument - really, it's not an argument at all, but instead indicates the refusal to argue. To say "that's how it goes" is simply to say that the facts are the way they are, but the activist's purpose was precisely to question whether that's how it SHOULD go. To say that something OUGHT to be the case just because it IS the case is a logical fallacy.
    2. ec_anarchy makes a good point: Calhoun doesn't rake in 12 mil by himself; he's a cog in the machine, and at his age, he ought to be self-aware enough to recognize that fact. Replace him with almost any other NCAA division I head coach and it stands to reason that UConn basketball would still rake in the money. It's irrational, therefore, for anyone to suggest that Calhoun deserves his massive salary because of his earning power.
    3. Furthermore, as zach p rightly suggests, the money earned by a major university's flagship sports programs doesn't exactly flow directly into scholarships for math students. If UConn is anything like the major universities with which I've been associated, there's the university and then there's the university, if you get my drift: you'll notice Calhoun didn't let us know exactly where that 12 mil goes, but you can bet UConn's athletes won't ever have to go without brand-name, brand-new uniforms, equipment, or facilities.
    4. Finally, even if you believe that Calhoun himself is directly responsible for earning 12 million dollars and you believe that the money goes entirely into needy academic and/or social programs, it STILL doesn't follow that Calhoun deserves to make as much money as he does. Why wouldn't 500k/yr. be enough? Why not 100k? Distinguished professors frequently make less than 200k/yr., and it's easily arguable that those professors do more for the futures of their students than does the head basketball coach. My point: even if Calhoun is doing something completely honorable and rewarding for UConn, that fact doesn't entitle him to earn an obscene amount of money, especially during a statewide and nationwide economic crisis.
    Thanks for reading!
  16. Drew F
    16. Posted by Drew F Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:50 pm EDT

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    You said it yourself. The 12 million that UConn basketball apparently (and only supposedly) brings in supports non-revenue sports. It doesn't go back to the students. I'll agree with poster #2: I doubt UConn's athletic dept. is funnelling money back to academics. At Arkanas, we have the Razorback Foundation. It's the financial arm of the athletic dept., and they're entirely self-sufficient and profitable, but the money doesn't make it's way back to the university. The state of coaching salaries in this economic climate is a legitimate concern, especially at state schools. The salaries that people like Calhoun and the entire staff at Tennessee receive are a lot like the cost of Obama's inauguration: Borderline irresponsible.
  17. Jason S
    17. Posted by Jason S Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    I think the real question here is not whether coach Calhoun is worth 1.6 million a year or not. Clearly he is since its up to the university to decide that and they did. The question is whether its economically and ethically appropriate for a coach to not take a salary hit when state employees (of which he is one) are being let go?
    If you are one part of a business organization that is profitable but they entire business is faltering, you can still lose employees on your area, have your wages frozen, etc. If the state of Conneticutt is hurting then the pain should be spread around. Afterall thats coach Calhoun's "team."
    I am pretty sure that if the state of Conneticutt was looking to save money and decided to do so by eliminating only coach Calhoun's assistants to do so, he would be screaming that its unfair. Yet when other people lose their jobs not related to him he gives the "we bring in more than we take argument." Teachers at the school educate future business leaders and tax payers who will bring in far more than 12 million to Conn yet are not paid nowhere near what he is paid. By that logic shouldnt he get a paycut to pay them more?
  18. Go CU Tigers
    18. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    I knew it was only a matter of time before everyone who works hard and earns their way in life were going to be made into villains by all these unemployed deadbeats like Ken Krayeske. If successful people like Jim Calhoun didn't have jobs to pay taxes, all these unemployed losers (that the Prez is now rewarding for being worhless) wouldn't be able to sit around and blog all day. All you unemployed people complaining about other people making too much money - GET A J-O-B or starve to death in the streets. Your choice.
  19. Just Me
    19. Posted by Just Me Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    15 SHUT UP. Jim Calhoun is a respected coach and is worth every penny he gets. He has won two national championships and 551 wins at UConn. He has given back plenty including sponsoring the Coaches-Cancer Challenge ride and the UConn Foundation that gives money towards cancer research at the University of Conn.
    16 Pat Summitt makes 1.125 million a year on an extended 6 year salary. Bruce Pearl get 2.3 million a year until 2014.
  20. Just Me
    20. Posted by Just Me Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    15 SHUT UP. Jim Calhoun is a respected coach and is worth every penny he gets. He has won two national championships and 551 wins at UConn. He has given back plenty including sponsoring the Coaches-Cancer Challenge ride and the UConn Foundation that gives money towards cancer research at the University of Conn.
    16 Pat Summitt makes 1.125 million a year on an extended 6 year salary. Bruce Pearl get 2.3 million a year until 2014.
  21. Jason S
    21. Posted by Jason S Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    One more thing....
    Does anyone really believe UCONN is paying Calhoun that much money because of how much his sport "brings in" to the university OR are they paying him that much because hes had success?? My point is if UCONN had never won a national championship under Calhoun and had never had anything above a .500 season but yet still brought in $12 mil in revenue, does anyone really believe he would be making 1.6 mil a year? Coach Calhoun seems to believe he is paid in direct proportion to how much he brings in for the university. If that were true in a greater sense, then most Div I football coaches would lose their jobs or be paid $0 beacause football is a negative revenue sport at the vast majority of schools. Yet they continue to have programs...hmmm
  22. Justin Z
    22. Posted by Justin Z Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:45 pm EDT

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    $1.5 million for a Hall of Famer, top 7 in all-time division I victories, at one of the biggest NCAA powerhouses in one of the richest states in the country is NOT that much money. Other athletes make so much more than that for just playing the game. I see nothing wrong with his salary.
  23. Chillin
    23. Posted by Chillin Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:37 pm EDT

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    To say that a "thank you" is more appropriate than a "condescending question" betrays weak journalistic integrity. A journalist should always ask tough questions, and never thank the interviewee for anything but answers.
    One reason sports journalism is so bad at the national level is that those reporters/bloggers often lack the guts to ask tough questions, and are sycophantic enough to thank athletes and coaches.
  24. pk
    24. Posted by pk Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:53 pm EDT

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    I don't really have strong feelings for UCONN one way or the other... I do like one of the earlier posted comments:
    "I'm pretty sure this Ken Krayeske tool is receiving taxpayer funded financial aid to do his little "freelance journalism" stunts while he is supposed to be getting a law degree."
    And to echo another person, why not ask the same questions of our congressmen? Ken's questions were out of place. He displayed the biggest ego of anyone, and then also showed false humility in the process, playing the victim and downtrodden one. What a sorry attempt at self-aggrandizement on the side of the reporter.
  25. Jason S
    25. Posted by Jason S Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:29 pm EDT

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    Justin
    Noone is disputing his success. I dont even think too many people would begrudge him a big salary. In relation to other coaches, hes certainly earned it.
    The point about athletes making more than him is really not relevant. We arent discussing athlete's salaries but if we were it would be worth pointing out that NONE of his athletes makes anything for helping him make 1.6 mil and 12mil for the university. They do have a shot at a free education which is worth alot but its certainly not worht 12mil dollar for the average college graduate
    The real question is whether he should take a paycut given the state's economic crunch. Its a fair question since he does work for the state. For him to get all full of self-righteous idignation is a bit over the top. He could have just answered the question. The question wasnt "Coach do you think you bring in enough money for the state to justify your salary?" The question was should he be concerned with how much hes making given the states budget problems? Its a legitimate question although it was asked in a poor manner

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