Opportunity knocked, and Dannen answered it

By Ed Daniels, Sports

In all the current whining from the college football establishment about the plight of the game, here comes the contract of new Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen.

You know, Dannen, the AD who left Tulane last fall for the University of Washington.

A reporter watched the entire introductory press conference. Dannen spoke glowingly about the leadership at “U-Dub.” He said he was in complete “alignment” – a popular phrase in college sports these days – with university leadership.

And, then, he was gone.

Dannen jumped ship last week. His new contract at Nebraska is a dandy. He starts out with a base of $1.6 million. And, then, later in the deal, retention bonuses kick in. They start at $200,000 per year, and increase 50 grand for four consecutive years.

My reaction? Good for him.

Troy Dannen, whose roots are Iowa, gets to go back to the Midwest. He’s going home.

When opportunity knocked, Dannen exercised his option to move on, just as Nick Saban did when he signed a new contract with LSU early in 2004, one that made him the highest-paid coach in college football ($2.3 million a season).

By the end of that season, Saban was on his way to the Miami Dolphins.

When Saban retired at the University of Alabama, he was earning more than $11 million a season.

But, there was Saban, earlier this month, on Capitol Hill saying that players should get paid but that there should be revenue sharing.

If anyone should understand the principle that the best get paid, it should be college football coaches.

Which is exactly what “Name, Image and Likeness” (NIL) is.

Recently, a college football assistant, who shall remain anonymous, told a reporter that the starting quarterback at his school earns $1.5 million a season and he gets the use of a jet.

Gone are the days where players get laundry money, books, tuition and the school training table.

Gone are the days where if a player transferred from one Division I school to another, he or she had to sit out a season.

College sports is a whole new game. And, the coaches, perpetual free agents who before were the only ones to cash in, are crying foul.

Oh, well.

When Dannen was hired at Nebraska, head coach Matt Rhule said the following of his new boss: “He knows the issues facing college football. He’s a tremendous guy.”

That’s the same Rhule who used to be the head coach at Baylor.

On Dec. 31, 2019, Rhule faced reporters for the final time before Baylor played Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

When asked about reports that he would leave the school to be the new head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Rhule said it was unfair to his players that they had to hear those questions.

Days later, he was in Carolina, thanking ownership for entrusting him with the future of the franchise.

What else was he supposed to say?

The opportunity was one he couldn’t pass on, and it paid a boatload of cash.

It is called capitalism. It is called the free market.

So, when wealthy capitalists ask for help from Congress, and then call for revenue sharing, I don’t know whether to smirk or outright laugh.

Ed Daniels is sports director of ABC26 WGNO. He can be reached at [email protected].