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Jan 22, 2007 | 4:32PM | report this
The meter is running in Chicago and the McCaskey family, owners of the Bears, faces a major decision. Their leader, Lovie Smith, is the lowest-paid head coach in the NFL. He has one year left on his contract, one that pays him $1.35 million this season.
A good raise in the corporate world says you double Smith’s salary, but $2.7 million a year is what defensive coordinators Dom Capers and Gregg Williams earn in Miami and Washington, respectively.
And what happens if Smith and the Bears win the Super Bowl? How much is a championship coach worth? The magic number seems to be $5 million a season. Even at that number, there are nine nine coaches earning at least that much or more, starting with Seattle’s Mike Holmgren, whose team lost twice to Chicago this season.
Chicago is one of those old flagship NFL franchises, like the family-owned Giants and Steelers, that never seems to be in a race to follow the Joneses, you know Jerry Jones in Dallas and Daniel Snyder in Washington, the league’s biggest spender.
Smith may be deserving of more than tripling his salary if his team beats Peyton Manning and the Colts, but I say the Bears won’t break the bank to retain him. If that happens, Smith probably will play out his contract, much like a player awaiting free agency, if he doesn’t get the big bucks. He knows that some wealthy owner will reward him with a $5 million-plus salary should he be available without compensation for the 2008 season.
It totally makes sense because Smith is a solid coach, plus he’s a good man and he’s also black. I hate to bring up the race card, but for a proven championship coach it’s an important factor in a league in which the players are almost 70 percent African-American.
Many believe that ex-Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher, when he returns as a full-time coach, could earn upwards of $8 million a season, maybe more.
On a smaller scale, Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera’s contract is up. He’s earning $500,000 this season. For the past two years, Rivera has interviewed for head-caoching vacancies and lost out. But who’s to say some team won’t come after him and offer to double his salary when the season ends simply to steal him away as a coordinator?
Chicago is going to have to start paying someone, and Ted Phillips probably will start with Rivera. My guess is that the McCaskeys will start by trying to figure out what GM Jerry Angelo is worth first, knowing that he also will have future options should the Bears win Super Bowl 41.
LINK
The meter is running in Chicago and the McCaskey family, owners of the Bears, faces a major decision. Their leader, Lovie Smith, is the lowest-paid head coach in the NFL. He has one year left on his contract, one that pays him $1.35 million this season.
A good raise in the corporate world says you double Smith’s salary, but $2.7 million a year is what defensive coordinators Dom Capers and Gregg Williams earn in Miami and Washington, respectively.
And what happens if Smith and the Bears win the Super Bowl? How much is a championship coach worth? The magic number seems to be $5 million a season. Even at that number, there are nine nine coaches earning at least that much or more, starting with Seattle’s Mike Holmgren, whose team lost twice to Chicago this season.
Chicago is one of those old flagship NFL franchises, like the family-owned Giants and Steelers, that never seems to be in a race to follow the Joneses, you know Jerry Jones in Dallas and Daniel Snyder in Washington, the league’s biggest spender.
Smith may be deserving of more than tripling his salary if his team beats Peyton Manning and the Colts, but I say the Bears won’t break the bank to retain him. If that happens, Smith probably will play out his contract, much like a player awaiting free agency, if he doesn’t get the big bucks. He knows that some wealthy owner will reward him with a $5 million-plus salary should he be available without compensation for the 2008 season.
It totally makes sense because Smith is a solid coach, plus he’s a good man and he’s also black. I hate to bring up the race card, but for a proven championship coach it’s an important factor in a league in which the players are almost 70 percent African-American.
Many believe that ex-Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher, when he returns as a full-time coach, could earn upwards of $8 million a season, maybe more.
On a smaller scale, Bears defensive coordinator Ron Rivera’s contract is up. He’s earning $500,000 this season. For the past two years, Rivera has interviewed for head-caoching vacancies and lost out. But who’s to say some team won’t come after him and offer to double his salary when the season ends simply to steal him away as a coordinator?
Chicago is going to have to start paying someone, and Ted Phillips probably will start with Rivera. My guess is that the McCaskeys will start by trying to figure out what GM Jerry Angelo is worth first, knowing that he also will have future options should the Bears win Super Bowl 41.
LINK
