Federal Bill Could Change College Sports in Michigan As We Know It

The days of exceptionally well-paid college football and basketball coaches could be nearing their end. At least, if one newly-introduced federal bill has anything to say about it.

There's no doubt that the structure of college athletics today is widely criticized. Whether the topic is NIL, College Football Playoffs, conference alignment or transgender participation, every fan of college sports has some opinion about what should be changed for the health of one of America's favorite traditions.

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Say Goodbye to Tom Izzo, Sherrone Moore and Others if This Federal Bill Passes

The bill, known as the Restore College Sports Act, was filed by Rep. Michael Baumgartner, a Republican from Washington. The bill would create the American College Sports Association, an entity that would replace the NCAA as the overseerer of college athletics with an active commissioner.

While the bill would also look to fairly disperse NIL revenue, improve conference realignment geographically and make some other fairly understandable changes, one of the biggest hang-ups is how it affects elite football and basketball coaches.

The bill would implement a salary cap for public university employees, preventing them from earning more than 10 times the total cost of attendance at the school they work for.

Looking at Michigan and Michigan State, it's easy to see why this would not be favorable to coaches like Sherrone Moore and Tom Izzo.

Moore makes $5.5 million per year. Michigan's cost of attendance for the 2024-25 academic year is between $36.9K and $39.1K. Under this bill, Moore's annual compensation would be capped at $391K per year.

Izzo makes $6.2 million per year. Michigan State's cost of attendance for the 2024-25 academic year is $35.6K for first-year students. Izzo would be capped at $356K per year.

Sure, those are solid salaries for you and me, but no one will ever be excited to take a multi-million-dollar pay cut because the government said so.

Naturally, if this bill were to be passed with these conditions, college sports in Michigan would look drastically different. Sure, athletes may still attend the prestigious universities to pursue their personal goals, but the coaching staff would be hard-pressed to live up to the standards laid before them over the past 150 years. Coaches like Sherrone Moore would be better off moving to the NFL ranks to make the kind of money they're accustomed to while coaches like Izzo would be better off retiring.

Thankfully, this bill is just a proposal, and one that doesn't seem likely to pass in its current state.