St Louis Post-Dispatch: University of Missouri coach Gary Pinkel’s $650,000 raise comes amid financial stress at school
Two events that took place at the University of Missouri-Columbia on Tuesday seemed to tell different stories about the financial health of the university and the state of the economy at large.
One portrayed a university that’s tightening its belt; the other showed a school showering money on its beloved football coach.
Around noon, Chancellor Brady Deaton held a news briefing to outline how a university saddled with a hiring freeze will decide which critical positions it can afford to fill.
“We are entering this period of economic uncertainty, unprecedented in our lifetimes,” Deaton wrote in an e-mail to faculty and staff. And he told reporters, “We’re going to be doing more with less.”
Then, about two hours later, the Board of Curators met in closed session and approved what amounts to a 35 percent — or $650,000 — raise for Gary Pinkel, the campus’ successful football coach. Pinkel’s new $2.5 million compensation package makes him the third-highest paid coach in the Big 12, the athletic conference in which Mizzou competes.
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