Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993 TAG: 9312190063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
"We borrowed money from [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt with her new contract," he was saying last September. "Then we started a magazine and ranked her team No. 1."
Summitt, whose annual base pay was raised this year from $70,836 to $110,000, laughed. Ohio State coach Nancy Darsch, who earned a $20,552 bonus after sharing the Big Ten title and leading her team to the national championship game, smiled.
And Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp, whose new black Lexus is shown on the cover of the team's media guide along with last season's national title trophy, nodded her head.
But while these four high-profile coaches occasionally can smile, one thought back to the USC situation puts things in perspective for everyone: The battles fought today are getting bloodier.
Stanley, who took USC to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four years, rejected a three-year contract offer worth $288,000. The next offer, a one-year contract worth $96,000, was also unacceptable.
She filed an $8 million federal sex-discrimination suit against athletic director Mike Garrett and the university, which focused on her request to be paid a salary approximately equal to Southern Cal men's basketball coach George Raveling, estimated at $130,000.
And when Stanley was let go, 12 of the 14 USC players threatened to transfer.
Miller, one of the game's greatest and most visible players, was hired to put the pieces of the program back together. But she has walked into a tense situation.
"We shouldn't schedule them [USC] at all - that should be the national reaction," said Penn State coach Rene Portland. "We should be just as offended by this as we were with Oklahoma [when it planned to drop women's basketball in 1990 but reinstated the sport when threatened with a lawsuit].
"Here, the coach went in and asked for what we all should, and they knocked the stuffing out of the term `gender equity.' We should be saying, `Hey, I can be fired and they can hire a less qualified coach.'
"It's not to attack Cheryl at all," Portland continued. "The fact that [USC senior All-American] Lisa Leslie had a lawyer shows it went to the level kids can't handle, a level we're not aware of."
There are a handful of positive changes for women's coaches such as Summitt's new five-year contract and Howard coach Sanya Tyler's $1.1 million settlement with the university in June. Among the issues in the lawsuit, Tyler claimed her salary of $44,000 was about half of men's basketball coach Butch Beard ($78,000 plus a car), even though they had identical job descriptions.
The decision was the first time a jury awarded monetary relief in a Title IX case involving athletics.
And in a November report compiled by Christine Grant, University of Iowa director of women's athletics, and Mary Curtis, some of the most successful coaches in the country are just starting to earn six figures.
Texas coach Jody Conradt, the all-time winningest Division I coach, receives $105,000 for her dual job of basketball coach and women's athletic director.
At Iowa, women's coach Vivian Stringer received a salary increase last July to $117,872, which is also what men's coach Tom Davis is paid.
Colorado's Ceal Barry will earn $78,000 for 1993-94 and $95,000 the following year, making it equal to the men's coach, Joe Harrington, and Virginia increased coach Debbie Ryan's salary to match Jeff Jones' ($106,000).
Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer receives $130,000. After a $20,000 increase scheduled for this year, she will be at the same level as the Stanford men's coach, Mike Montgomery.
"I think the salaries of male college coaches are out of perspective in general when they're making more than the athletic director or the college president," said Illinois State coach Jill Hutchison. "But in fairness, I think it has to happen: The women's [salaries] have to skyrocket, too."
Coaches like Vanderbilt's Foster, the past president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, thinks the situation will improve with time as more salary information becomes public.
"But the length of contract is still a big issue," he said.
For the last 19 years, Summitt, who had the main road of the university named for her in 1991, worked under a single-year contract. Her new, five-year contract was a breakthrough.
"I was patient, and that tends to be my style, except in basketball," said Summitt, who has won three national titles. "It's key how you communicate your needs and desires to the administration."
by CNB