CEOs in Headphones

Submitted by Martin J. Greenberg and Thom Park, Ph.D.

INTRODUCTION
A “coach” is dictionary defined as one who trains intensively by instruction, demonstration, and practice. That dictionary definition may have defined the coach of old, but does not recognize the current job environment and employment conditions of the modern-day college coach. The college coach of today is required not only to be an instructor, but also act as a fund raiser, recruiter, academic adviser, public figure, budget director, television, radio and internet personality, alumni glad-handler, and any other role that the university’s athletic director or president may direct him to do. Sports sociologists would opine that college coaches suffer from a condition known in the social science discipline as ‘role strain;’ that is, they have far too many roles to fill at very high levels of performance.

Coaching is a high-profile and high-risk position where every move and moment is surrounded by stress, and every decision, whether on or off the field, is subject to second-guessing and scrutiny and may often be the subject of a vicious public debate. Job security is as fleeting as the last seconds of a basketball victory in an environment where employment contracts are broken as easily as made.

Twenty-five years ago the average tenure of a Division 1A Head Football Coach was about 2.8 years. Nothing has changed. The first day on the job must often be spent planning for the last day, as the back end of the contract, i.e. termination provisions, may be more important than the compensation package. Job continuance is often conditioned on winning because wins are the equivalent of the bottom line — putting fans in the stands, selling enhanced seating, bolstering alumni contributions, generating lucrative TV and cable contracts, qualifying for Bowl competition, and persuading recruits to accept scholarships.

It is no wonder why big time college coaches are compensated the way they are — the job environment dictates the high compensation level.

CEOs IN HEADPHONES
Today’s major college coaches are CEOs in Headphones. Components of their compensation in some ways equate to the CEOs of private or publicly held companies. Compensation packages can include a signing bonus, base pay and supplemental payments, loans, supplemental insurance, deferred compensation, annuities, memberships, company car, tuition, and golden parachute provisions, to name a few. It has been reported that during the period 2007 through 2011, CEO pay rose 23%, while in the same period college coaches’ pay increased 44%.

Coaches’ salary inflation is part of the athletics arms race and has run rampant. In a recent study, college coaching salaries rose more than 750% during the 24-year period between 1985 and 2010, while during the same period, pay for full professors increased 32%, and the pay for college presidents increased 90%.

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In a survey conducted by the Knight Commission in 2009, 85% of university presidents believed that college football coaches’ compensation is excessive and identified escalating coaching salaries as the single largest contributing factor to the unsustainable growth of athletic spending.

In most instances the college coach is the highest paid state employee of a public institution, and the compensation package can be five to ten times the amount paid university presidents and athletic directors. What follows is a comparison of reported, but unverified, compensation packages of presidents, head football coaches, and athletic directors at several major state schools:

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COACH’S COMPENSATION
It was reported by USA Today that the average 2012 annual compensation for major college football head coaches is $1.64 million, up nearly 12% over the 2011 season, and more than 70% since 2006. Alabama’s Nick Saban and Texas’ Mack Brown are the highest paid football coaches.

The conference with the highest average compensation for its head football coaches is the Big 12, whose ten coaches are earning slightly less than $3 million a year. What follows, according to USA Today, are football coaches who earned at least $2.5 million for the 2012 football season:

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Similarly, the reported compensation packages, according to USA Today, of coaches for
major basketball programs are also healthy:

NCAA College Basketball Coaches’ Salary Database
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Among the 120 Bowl Division schools, 25 had made coaching changes for the 2012 season. Many of those universities who have made changes have had to dramatically increase their compensation packages in order to obtain their newly appointed coach.

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OVERCOMPENSATED
So is a major college football coach overcompensated? There is no business like show business except $portsBiz. One in a million deserves more than a million. Compensation packages are market driven, and today the market is overly aggressive. The coaches’ market may not even be based on Moneyball Metrics, i.e. wins, tournament appearances and wins, revenue, attendance, rankings, or donations. A successful collegiate football program has many economic as well as non-economic benefits to the University, including driving alumni contributions and student enrollment, creating revenue streams that support non-revenue sports, and the psychic income of being “Big Time.” In many instances these escalating compensation packages are paid for through multi-million dollar paydays from conference broadcast and multi-media contracts, rabid fans willing to pay the price for enhanced seating, marketing deals with companies willing to sponsor the athletic initiative, apparel companies desirous of having their logo on athletes’ uniforms, and semi-autonomous booster clubs.

No comparative faculty member vs. athletic coach compensation analysis has ever taken into consideration the many other variables in the job life of the coach versus the job life of a faculty member. Some of these considerations and mitigating factors are job tenures, hours worked, stress endured, measured job pressure, frequency of termination versus tenured jobs, fractured unvested pension plans, lateral moves to advance, and the list goes on. By any measure, such compensation analyses versus the public perception of the coaches’ compensation are gravely misunderstood. College coaches earn absolutely every penny they make.

Universities are tasked with education, academic research, and public service to their communities. Coaches’ compensation packages that so dramatically dwarf the compensation packages of administrators and our best professors seems out of proportion. Even presidents and trustees of major universities can fall prey to the glamour of a winning season or a BCS bowl bid. In the context of amateurism, college athletes are not paid and big money can be targeted for a big name coach. The compensation packages of today’s college coaches are indicative of the high premium American society puts on the athletic enterprise. A successful college coach is a limited commodity, and the compensation packages are simply a function of supply and demand.

PACKAGE
For years we have negotiated the components of coaches’ compensation in reference to “The Package.” The Package included:
I. Institutional Pay + Fringe Benefits
1. Salary
2. Life and health insurance
3. Vacation with pay
4. TIAA I CREF
6. Tuition waivers
6. Complimentary tickets
7. Annuity — longevity bonus
8. Contractual Bonuses

II. Outside income
1. Shoe, apparel, and equipment endorsements
2. Television, radio, and Internet shows
3. Speaking engagements
4. Personal or public appearances
5. Summer camps

III. Perquisites
1. Housing allowances
2. Membership in clubs
3. Business opportunities
4. Automobile usage
5. Dependent travel
6. Moving allowances
7. Additional insurance
8. Interest-free loans

The coach in most instances was permitted to separately contract for outside income sources. Today this is mostly university controlled and the coach receives institutional pay, plus fringe benefits, plus a talent fee or personal service fee that encompasses what previously was outside income but now is under institutional control, plus the perquisites as part of a total compensation package.

FINANCIAL ENGINEERING
The modern day coach financial structuring looks more like a CEO of a publicly traded or private company, with many new financial instruments and packages coming to the negotiation table including:
1. Signing bonuses
2. Retention, continuation, longevity bonuses
3. Up step life insurance provisions
4. Deferred compensation
5. Buyout of previous employer
6. Post-coaching employment
7. Interest free or forgivable loans
8. Retirement plans
9. Annuity
10. Expense account
11. Relocation payment
12. Disability payment
13. Entrepreneurial sharing

1. SIGNING BONUSES
BROWN – University of Texas-Austin: Special One Time Payment. Within 30 days of his execution of this agreement, Brown will receive a Special One Time Payment of $100,000.

JOHNSON – Georgia Tech: Signing Bonus. The Association agrees to pay Coach a onetime bonus of Two Hundred Thousand dollars ($200,000.00) within thirty (30) days of the signing of this employment contract.

MILLER – University of Arizona: Signing payment. As a consideration for the execution of this Contract, University will pay Coach one Million and 00/100 Dollars ($1,000,000) upon execution hereof.

MUSCHAMP – University of Florida: Signing Incentive. The Association shall pay to the Coach a Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand dollars ($750,000.00) signing incentive to be paid, subject to applicable taxes and withholding, upon execution and delivery of this Agreement by both parties.

O’LEARY – University of Central Florida: The coach shall be entitled to a signing bonus of $150,000 effective July 1, 2006, payable on next regularly scheduled Association pay period.

DYKES – University of California-Berkeley: Coach shall receive a one-time signing bonus of $594,000 on or before February 15, 2013.

2. RETENTION, CONTINUATION, LONGEVITY BONUSES
BARNES – University of Texas/Austin: If Barnes is head coach on March 31, 2010, a special payment of $1,000,000 will be made to Barnes. If Barnes is head coach on March 31, 2013, a second special payment of $1,000,000 will be made to Barnes.

CALIPARI – University of Kentucky: Retention Incentive. In addition to the above stated competitive and academic-based incentives, a retention incentive to encourage Coach to remain with the University shall be provided. University agrees to pay Coach a retention incentive if Coach remains in the employment of the University on each of the following dates:
March 31, 2014 (Bonus = $750,000), March 31, 2015 (Bonus = $1,000,000) and March 31, 2016 (Bonus + $1,250,000). Said bonuses to be paid within ten (10) days of the achievement of the applicable bonus.

DANTONIO – Michigan State University: 3.10. Contingent Annual Bonus. The University shall pay to Coach an annual bonus of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000), provided that the Coach has served continuously as the Program Head Coach for the twelve consecutive months immediately preceding July 1st of the year in which the bonus will be paid. Such bonus will vest on the first business day following the conclusion of the twelve-month period and will be paid to Coach on or before the end of the month in which the bonus vests.

3.11 Contingent Bonus: In the event the Coach continuously serves as the Program Head Coach through January 15, 2014, the University shall pay the Coach, on or before March 9, 2014, the amount of Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000).

HOKE – University of Michigan: Stay Bonus. The Head Coach shall earn a bonus of $500,000 for each full Contract Year he remains employed as head football coach by the University. The first three years of the stay bonus will not be vested and payable to the Head Coach unless he remains continuously employed as the head football coach by the University through the conclusion of Contract Year Three (December 31, 2013), at which time the first three years of the stay bonus shall vest and be payable to the Head Coach within thirty (30) days. The second three Contract Years of the stay bonus will not be vested and payable to the Head Coach unless he remains continuously employed as the head football coach by the University through the conclusion of Contract Year Six (December 31, 2016), at which time the second three Contract Years of the bonus shall vest and be payable to the Head Coach. The University shall pay any vested stay bonus within thirty (30) days of vesting date.

JONES – University of Cincinnati (Terminated): Retention Bonus. Coach shall earn a retention bonus in the amounts set forth below provided he is still employed as Head football Coach on the date indicated:

January 15, 2012 – $100,000
January 15, 2013 – $0
January 15, 2014 – $0
January 15, 2015 – $300,000
January 15, 2016 – $300,000
January 16, 2017 – $300,000

MEYER – Ohio State University: 3.11. Ohio State shall pay Coach the following sums if he is employed as Head Football Coach on the following dates:
a) Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($450,000) — January 31, 2014, payable within thirty (30) days following such date;
b) Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000) — January 31, 2016, payable
within thirty (30) days following such date;
c) One Million Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,200,000) — January 31, 2018,
payable within thirty (30) days following such date.

MILLER – University of Arizona: Retention Fund. At the end of each Contract Year, University will credit Three Hundred Thousand and 00/100 ($300,000) Dollars to a Retention Fund.

SABAN – University of Alabama: Contract Year Completion Benefit. If Employee is then employed as Head Football Coach of the University as of the dates set out below, Employee (or a corporate entity designated by the Employee) shall receive on that date the Contract Year Completion Benefit set out next to said dates:
January 15, 2012 $1,600,000 (upon completion of 5th year)
January 15, 2015 $1,700,000 (upon completion of 8th year)
January 15, 2018 $1,700,000 (upon completion of 11th year)

SELF – University of Kansas — Retention Payment Agreement:
Retention Payment. If Head Coach serves continuously as head basketball coach through March 31, 2013, or sooner as provided for herein, in addition to all other payments as found in the Employment Agreement dated April 1, 2008, Athletics shall pay to Head Coach on March 31, 2013, an after-tax sum of $2,114,575 (Initial Payment). That is, taking in account all state and federal tax liabilities Head Coach will owe with respect to the Initial Payment, Head Coach shall receive the net amount of $2,114,575. Athletics shall credit a separate account in favor of Head Coach with such annual amounts so that if Head Coach serves continuously as head men’s basketball coach through March 31, 2013, or sooner as provided for herein, Head Coach shall receive, $2,114,575 on March 31, 2013 (being the sum of $371,525 + $371,525 + $371, 525 + $500,000 + $500,000). Beginning on April 1, 2013, for each full year thereafter that Head Coach serves continuously as head men’s basketball coach through March 31, 2018, Head Coach shall be entitled to receive the after-tax sum of $500,000 per annum through March 31, 2018. Athletics shall credit a separate account in favor of Head Coach with such annual amounts so that if Head Coach serves continuously as head men’s basketball coach through March 31, 2018, Head Coach shall be entitled to receive $2,500,000 (second payment) on March 31, 2018 (being $500,000 multiplied by five years). That is taking into account all State and Federal tax
liabilities Head Coach will owe with respect to the second payment, Head Coach shall receive the net amount of $2,500,000 for the period April 1, 2013, through March 31, 2018. Vesting. Except as specifically described elsewhere in this Agreement, so long as Head Coach is serving as head basketball coach, these payments to Head Coach will vest on an annual basis so that the after-tax sum of $371,525 shall vest for the benefit of Head Coach on March 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the after-tax sum of $500,000 shall vest for the benefit of Head Coach on March 31, 2012, and each year thereafter through March 31, 2018, during the term of this Agreement and Head Coach’s employment. This amount, although vesting on an annual basis, will not be paid to Head Coach, except as otherwise provided for herein until March 31, 2013 (Initial Payment due) and March 31, 2018 (Second Payment due).

STOOPS – University of Oklahoma: Annual Stay Benefit. On October 1, 2009 and on July 1 of each contract year thereafter (“Annual Date”) the University shall pay Coach within 30 days of that date the annual sum of Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000) (“Annual Sum”) subject to the following provisions. Coach will be entitled to each Annual Sum if Coach remains employed at the University as Head Football Coach through each Annual Date outlined above subject to the following provisions. If Coach is no longer employed with the University on or prior to each Annual Date, then Coach shall be entitled to a pro rata portion of the Annual Sum (the “Pro Rata Portion”) based on Coach’s completed months of service with the University for that specific contract year. However if Coach voluntarily terminates employment on or prior to any Annual Date and assumes another coaching position, then Coach shall forfeit all of his right to the Annual Sum whether accrued or unaccrued. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Coach voluntarily terminates due to David L. Boren no longer serving as the University’s President, then Coach may voluntarily terminate employment as Head Football Coach and assume another coaching position without forfeiting his Pro Rata Portion of the Annual Sum.

Additional Stay Benefit. If Coach remains employed at the University through January 1, 2011, University will contribute sufficient amounts so that an aggregate sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800,000) (“Stay Benefit”) will be accumulated as of such date in the existing or new tax-qualified or authorized employee retirement programs or plans (the “Plans”) established by the University for the benefit of Coach under IRS Section 401(a), 403(b), 415(m) and 457(b) pursuant to paragraph IV.D of the previous Contract between the parties which had an effective date of January 1, 2007. Coach will be entitled to the Stay Benefit if Coach remains employed at the University as Head football Coach through January 1, 2011, subject to the following provisions. If Coach is no longer employed with the University on or prior to January 1, 2011, then Coach shall be entitled to a pro rata portion of the Stay Benefit (the “Pro Rata Portion”) based on Coach’s completed months of service with the University from January 1, 2009 through January 1, 2011 divided by 24 (number of months in the period from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2011). However, if Coach voluntarily terminates employment on or prior to January 1, 2011 and assumes another coaching position, then Coach shall forfeit all of his right to the Stay Benefit whether accrued or unaccrued. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Coach voluntarily terminates due to David L. Boren no longer serving as the University’s president, then Coach may voluntarily terminate employment as Head Football Coach and assume another coaching position without forfeiting his Pro Rata Portion of the Stay Benefit.

CHRISTIAN – Ohio University: At the conclusion of each season, Head Coach shall receive a longevity bonus of $100,000.

3. UP STEP LIFE INSURANCE PROVISIONS
DANTONIO – Michigan State University: 3.4.6. Insurance benefits consisting of (a) a Two Million Dollar ($2,000,000) term life insurance policy and (b) a disability policy to provide, in the event of the Coach’s disability, a monthly benefit amount of $6,000 for sixty (60) months, including a cost of living annual benefit adjustment and a lump sum distribution at the end of sixty (60) months.

PITINO – University of Louisville: Employer shall, subject to approval for coverage by an appropriate insurance carrier (which approval Employer shall use its best efforts to obtain), be the owner of a term life insurance policy on the life of Employee, having a face amount of $24,600,000. Employer shall pay all premiums needed to keep said policy in force through June 30, 2017. in the event of Employee’s death during the Term of this Contract and amounts are payable pursuant to such policy, a life insurance death benefit in the amount set forth in the following schedule shall be paid to such beneficiary(ies) as Employee or his assignee shall designate to Employer in writing:

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insurance policy shall lapse effective July 1, 2017, regardless of whether the policy is surrendered by Employer at that time. Provided, however, in the event that, prior to July 1, 2017, Employee becomes so disabled as not to be capable of performing his duties hereunder for a period of six months or more and Employer has been unable to purchase a policy of long-term disability insurance as provided in Section 6.2 hereof, then Employer shall assign to Employee, and Employee shall have the right to designate the beneficiary(ies) for the death benefit payable on such amount of said policy as is determined pursuant to Section 6.2 hereof. Employee (or his assignee) shall have the right to designate the beneficiary(ies) for the death benefit payable on behalf of Employee as outlined in this Section 3.1.14 above, and Employer shall have the right to designate the beneficiary(ies) for any death benefit proceeds payable from the policy in excess of the amount owed to Employee’s beneficiary(ies). If for any reason Employee (or his assignee) does not designate a beneficiary, such policy shall designate The Richard A. Pitino Revocable Trust u/a September 12, 2000, as beneficiary. Employee shall have the right to assign absolutely his rights, if any, under said life insurance policy until July 1, 2017. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if this Contract is terminated prior to June 30, 2017 (other than on account of Employee’s death or disability) either (i) by Employer for Just Cause, or (ii) by Employee other than by reason of Employer’s continued breach of this Contract (as described in Section 6.5), then the life insurance policy described in this Section 3.1.14 shall terminate.

SPURRIER – University of South Carolina: During the term of this Employment Agreement, the University shall pay the premiums necessary to provide Coach with life insurance benefits totaling Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000). Coach shall have the sole and exclusive right to designate any beneficiary. During the term of this Employment Agreement, the University shall pay the premiums necessary to provide Coach with disability insurance income totaling Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000) annually until Coach reaches the age of 65.

CREAN – Indiana University: Supplemental Term Life Insurance. The University shall purchase a supplemental life insurance policy for Employee payable to a designated beneficiary up to a face value of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) based on an annual premium of up to a maximum of fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000). For income tax purposes, the annual premium shall be grossed up to take in account all applicable Federal income, State income, Social Security, and Medicare withholding taxes. If University determines that this term life insurance cannot be reasonably purchased from a commercial company, the University will pay employee fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) as a lump-sum at the beginning of each calendar year for Term of the Agreement. This amount shall be net of applicable Federal income, State income, Social Security, and Medicare withholding taxes.

KINGSBURY – Texas Tech University: The University will provide to Coach a term life insurance policy in the amount of $5,000,000 at no cost to Coach during the term of the Agreement.

4. DEFERRED COMPENSATION
HOKE – University of Michigan: Deferred Compensation. In addition to the standard fringe benefits provided pursuant to Section 3.03(a) hereof, effective January 12, 2011, and during the remainder of the Term of this Agreement, the University shall establish and maintain a “Deferred Compensation Account” on its financial record to record the deferred compensation benefit earned by and payable to the Head Coach pursuant to this section. This provision is established as an ineligible nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement for the Head Coach’s benefit in accordance with Section 457(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

(i) Provided that the Head Coach is employed as head football coach of the University football team during the “Employment Period” indicated below, the University shall credit (add to) the Deferred Compensation Account equal monthly payments of one-twelfth of the year “Credit Amount” as follows (which amounts shall vest pursuant to the vesting and forfeiture provisions of subsections (iii) and (iv) below and be credited at the end of each month on a pro-rata basis:

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(ii) Subject to the vesting and forfeiture provisions in subsections (iii) and (iv) below, the University shall debit (subtract from) the Deferred Compensation Account and pay the Head Coach (or his beneficiary) the following amounts within thirty (30) days after the “applicable payment dates”:

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MARSHALL – Wichita State University: If Mr. Marshall completes the 2011-2012 season, he will receive a one-time payment of Five Hundred Fifty Thousand and no/1.00 Dollars ($550,000.00); provided however, that should Mr. Marshall not complete the 2011-2012 season because of circumstances for any reason, Mr. Marshall will receive a one-time payment of Four Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($425,000.00).

Beginning on April 16, 2012, a new annuity will be initiated for the remaining term of the contract at One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($125,000.00) per year, said amount to vest as of the completion of each successive basketball season. The total vested amount of the annuity will be paid at the conclusion of every fourth season (“Payout Year’) that Mr. Marshall is employed by the ICAA, i.e., paid at the completion of the 2015-16 season, completion of the 2019-20season, etc; provided, however, if Mr. Marshall were to leave the employment of the ICAA for any reason at any time other than a Payout Year, he shall receive the total vested amount at that time.

PINKEL – University of Missouri: Deferred Compensation. The University agrees to annual deposit to a Fund, which Fund shall be owned, maintained and controlled by the University, within fifteen days of January 1 of each year under the term of this contact, the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00).

PITINO – University of Louisville: Employer will maintain a deferred compensation account in Employee’s name to evidence amounts credited pursuant to Section 3.2.1. Amounts credited to Employee’s account pursuant to Section 3.2.1, adjusted by the amount of any earnings losses, are referred to herein as the “Account.” The Account shall be deemed to be invested by Employer so that the Account will be increased or decreased at least monthly by the earnings or losses on such deemed investment until the Account balance has been fully paid to Employee or Employee’s beneficiaries or is otherwise forfeited pursuant to the Contract. Employee may suggest the deemed investment of the Account from investment options which will be provided for Employee’s review not less frequently than annually by Employer. However, Employer is not required to honor in any way such suggestions by Employee, and Employer shall have sole discretion with respect to any deemed investment decision related to the Account, until such time as the Account is paid to Employee or Employee’s beneficiaries or is otherwise forfeited pursuant to this Contract. Employer shall provide to Employee at least annually (as of December 31 of each year starting with the period ending December 31, 2010) a schedule of the Account reporting the opening balance of the Account and all amounts, including earnings or losses, credited or debited to the Account during the reporting period and any distributions with regard to the Account during the reporting period.

The Account will be credited in the amount of: (i) Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($900,000) on July 1, 2010, (ii) Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($900,000) on July 1, 2011, and (iii) Nine Hundred Thousand Dollars ($900,000) on July 1, 2012.

CREAN – Indiana University: Deferred Compensation. Commencing on July 1, 2012,during the remainder of the term, the Employee will be eligible to earn deferred compensation at an annual rate of Five Hundred Sixty-Six Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($566,250.00) “Deferred Compensation”). Deferred Compensation will be earned by the Employee on a prorated basis during the calendar year, with payment of such compensation deferred until thirty (30) days after the end of the calendar year. During any period of deferral, any Deferred Compensation will remain part of the University’s general assets, will not be deposited in a separate account, and will not bear interest. If the Employee remains employed with the University through December 31 of a calendar year during which Deferred Compensation accrues, the Employee shall vest in the Deferred Compensation on December 31 and shall be paid the Deferred Compensation, without interest, within thirty (30) days thereafter. In the event of termination of the Employee’s employment with the University for any reason prior to December 31, the Employee shall vest in the Deferred Compensation earned through the date of termination and shall be paid the Deferred Compensation, without interest, within thirty (30) days after the date of termination. By way of example, if the Employee remains employed with the University through December 31, 2012, the Employee will be entitled to $72,914.00 in Deferred Compensation, payable on or by January 30, 2013. For purposes of this Section 5.03, the term “termination” shall be interpreted to comply with the requirements of Internal Revenue Code 409A. In the event the Employee desires to modify the terms of this Section 5.03 for tax or other financial reasons, the parties agree to negotiate such modification in good faith and to use their respective best efforts to arrive at mutually acceptable terms. The Employee has been advised to engage legal and/or financial representatives regarding the tax implications of the Deferred Compensation. The Employee shall be solely responsible for any federal, state and local income taxes incurred by him as a result of the University’s payment of the Deferred Compensation.

5. BUYOUT OF PREVIOUS EMPLOYER
CHIZIK – Auburn University (Terminated): Repayment of Buyout from Previous Employment. Coach acknowledges that Auburn loaned him Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($750,000.00) to satisfy the buyout provision of his contract with his previous employer. During the course of this contract, this debt will be forgiven in the amount of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($150,000.00) for each contract year completed under this Agreement such that the debt will be forgiven entirely. If Auburn terminates Coach for cause prior to December 31, 2013, or if Coach terminates his employment with the University for any reason other than disability or death prior to December 31, 2013, Coach will be responsible for paying University the balance remaining on this loan, with the amount owed for a partial year being determined on a pro rata basis (i.e., $12,500 per month). The remaining balance will be paid as follows: 50% within thirty (30) days of termination for cause by Auburn or termination by Coach; and 50% within one (1) year of termination for cause by Auburn or termination by Coach. Coach acknowledges that University also has the discretion to reduce the payments owed to Coach in Paragraph 18 in whole or in part as part of the repayment of this loan. If Auburn terminates Coach without cause prior to December 31, 2013, the balance remaining on loan will be forgiven by Auburn.

DOOLEY – University of Tennessee (Terminated): The University also agrees to pay (i) a total of $500,000, in two equal payments of $250,000 each, to Louisiana Tech University on Dooley’s behalf no later than June 1, 2010 and June 1, 2011; and (ii) a total of $286,782 to be paid to the Internal Revenue Service on Coach Dooley’s behalf as withheld taxes, $143,391 to be submitted to the Internal Revenue Service within thirty (30) days of the date on which each payment is submitted to Louisiana Tech University. The University will report total taxable value of the commitment in this Article II.C in the amount of $786,782. The sum set forth in this Article II.C. represents the total payment the University will make on behalf of Coach Dooley regardless of the amount of taxes actually due.

HOKE – University of Michigan: Buyout Payment. The Head Coach acknowledges that the University has agreed to pay on behalf of the Head Coach the sum of $1,000,000 to San Diego State University (“SDSU”) in order to satisfy the buyout terms of the Head Coach’s employment contract with SDSU. The University considers this payment as taxable wages for tax withholding and reporting purposes. Consistent with that determination, the University has made timely deposits with appropriate taxing authorities of all amounts required to be withheld as taxes with respect to the Head Coach as a result of making the SDSU settlement payment. The University has agreed to neutralize to zero (0) dollars the actual tax impact of the buy-out payment in order that the Head Coach not be unduly burdened or distracted in connection with the performance of his duties hereunder. It is the express intention of the parties that neither party benefit financially to the extent there is a difference between (i) the amount of withheld taxes and (ii) the amount of tax liability incurred by the Head Coach. With respect to this liability which is attributable to the University having made the buyout payment, the Head Coach must claim all deductions allowable under applicable tax laws, including this buyout payment. Therefore, as soon as practicable in 2012, the parties will review the Head Coach’s pertinent tax information, including his signed federal and state income tax returns for 2011, and either the Head Coach or the University will pay the other party, as the case may be, such amount as is necessary to effectuate this mutually desired benefit. The Head Coach represents and warrants to the University that he is not bound by or subject to any contractual or other obligation to SDSU or any other party that would be violated by his execution or performance of this Agreement.

ROBINSON – Oregon State University: Payment Toward Satisfaction of Coach’s Current Contract. University will pay Brown University or its designee the sum of $145,000 toward satisfaction of Coach’s obligations under his current contract with Brown University.

CREAN – Indiana University: Upon receipt of a copy of the terms of the Employee’s present contract with Marquette University that requires the Employee to pay Marquette liquidated damages upon the termination of the Employee’s contract, the University will pay the Employee the stated amount of liquidated damages; however, such amount shall not exceed six hundred fifty thousand dollars ($650,000). In the event this amount is deemed to be income, the Employee will be responsible for any associated tax consequences.

BIELEMA – University of Arkansas: The University will pay (using legally permissible funds) Coach’s former employer a sum not to exceed a total of One Million and No/100 Dollars ($1,000,000.00) if required under the terms of Coach’s employment contract with his previous employer. The University considers this payment to be taxable wages for tax withholding and reporting purposes. Consistent with that determination, the University will make timely deposits with appropriate taxing authorities of all amounts required to be withheld as taxes with respect to Coach as a result of making any such payment. The University will neutralize to zero (o) dollars the actual tax impact of such payment to enable you to avoid any undue burdens or distractions in connection with the performance of your duties as Head Football Coach at the University. With regard to the University’s commitment to undertake this obligation, we expressly agree and intend that the University or you will not benefit financially to the extent there is a difference between (a) the amount of withheld taxes and (b) the amount of tax liability incurred by you. With respect to this liability, which is attributable to the University making any such payment, you agree to claim all deductions allowable under applicable tax laws, including any applicable deductions relating to the amount paid by the University to satisfy any portion of your employment agreement with your previous employer. Depending on the timing of any such payment by the University, you and/or your advisors agree to review your pertinent tax information, including any signed federal and state income tax returns necessary, and either the University or you will pay the other party, as the case may be, such amount as is necessary to effectuate this mutually desired benefit. Coach represents and warrants to the University that his acceptance of the position of Head Football Coach and his performance of the duties of this position will not violate any other contract or obligation to any other party.

TUBERVILLE – University of Cincinnati: The Employment Agreement shall contain a provision which states that upon receipt by the University of satisfactory evidence that Coach has incurred a binding contractual buy-out obligation payable to Texas Tech University by accepting employment as the University’s Head Football Coach, and upon receipt of a copy of the invoice received by Coach from Texas Tech University for the same, the University shall issue a payment to Coach of the buy-out amount not to exceed $931,000. Coach understands and acknowledges that the $931,000 constitutes income to him under applicable State and Federal tax codes and will be subject to withholding.

6. POST – COACHING EMPLOYMENT
DANTONIO – Michigan State University: In the event the Coach continuously serves as the Program Head Coach through March 15, 2014, the Department will offer Coach a two-year contract within the Athletics Department at an annual salary rate of $200,000 following the conclusion of his employment as Program Head Coach. In this position, the Coach will perform duties within the area of University Advancement as assigned by the University President and Athletics Director. The terms of the contract will be consistent with the standard terms for administrative appointments within the Department. Coach will not be eligible for this postcoaching employment if he ceases to be the Program Head Coach in order to take a position coaching a professional football team or an intercollegiate football program other than the Program.

TRESSEL – Ohio State University (Terminated): Upon notice from Coach that he intends to terminate his employment under this agreement, Coach may request from Ohio State the opportunity to have a non-tenure track faculty position at Ohio State. If Coach makes such a request, and if Ohio State does not have “cause” to terminate this agreement under Section 5.1, then Ohio State shall make a non-tenure track faculty position available to Coach. Salary, benefits and other terms of employment for such non-tenure track faculty position shall be mutually agreed upon between Coach, the Department of Athletics and the appropriate academic unit. Upon execution of such an agreement, this agreement shall terminate. The non-tenure track faculty position shall have a term not to exceed five (5) years, and shall be re-evaluated at the conclusion of such term.

7. INTEREST-FREE OR FORGIVABLE LOANS
JONES – University of Cincinnati (Terminated): Loan. Within thirty (30) days of the approval of this Agreement by the Trustees of the University of Cincinnati, the University shall provide Coach with a Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000) interest-free loan (the “Loan”). The Loan shall be forgiven by One Hundred Forty Thousand Dollars ($140,000) on January 1, 2011 or after the completion of any University bowl game of the 2010 football season, whichever is later. Commencing on February 1, 2012, the Loan balance shall be forgiven in equal monthly amounts over the remaining months of the Term pursuant to the terms of a promissory between the University and Coach.

The terms of the Loan are set forth in the Promissory Note (“Note”). Coach shall execute the Note within seven days of the approval of this Amendment by the University’s Board of Trustees. Coach understands and agrees that he shall be responsible for the payment of all taxes incurred as a result of the Loan and the monthly forgiveness of the Loan.

8. RETIREMENT PLANS
MEYER – Ohio State: For the period beginning September 1, 2012 and ending on January 31, 2013, Ohio State shall pay Coach Twenty Thousand Eight Hundred Thirty-Three Dollars ($20,833) in substantially equal monthly installments and in accordance with normal Ohio State procedures. In addition, Ohio State shall contribute Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000) to the DC Plan on January 31, 2013 (or in more frequent installments as determined by Ohio State in its sole and absolute discretion). Notwithstanding the foregoing: (a) to the extent that the Code limits or prohibits such contributions from being made to the DC Plan, Ohio State shall contribute such amounts to a defined contribution plan that is a nonqualified deferred compensation plan; and (b) if Coach is not employed as Head Football Coach on January 31, 2013, the aggregate contribution to the plans described in this Paragraph 3.2(3) shall be equal to Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000), multiplied by a ratio, the numerator of which is the number of days Coach was employed as Head Football Coach for the period beginning on September 1, 2012 and ending on January 31, 2013, and the denominator of which is 153. Coach shall reimburse Ohio State for any fees and/or expenses up to Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) relating to the establishment of the defined contribution plans in this Paragraph 3.2.

For the period beginning February 1, 2013 and for each subsequent “contract year” (February 1 through January 31), Ohio State shall pay Coach Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800,000) (plus any additional amounts payable pursuant to Section 3.2(6)) in substantially equal monthly installments and in accordance with normal Ohio State procedures. In addition, for the period beginning February 1, 2013 and for each subsequent contract year, Ohio State shall contribute One Million Dollar ($1,000,000) per contract year to the DC Plan on January 31 of the applicable contract year (or in more frequent installments as determined by Ohio State in its sole and absolute discretion). Notwithstanding the foregoing: (a) to the extent that the Code limits or prohibits such contributions from being made to the DC Plan, Ohio State shall contribute such amounts to a defined contribution plan that is a nonqualified deferred compensation plan; and (b) if Coach is not employed as Head Football Coach on the last day of the applicable contract year, the aggregate contribution to the plans described in this Paragraph 3.2.(4) for that contract year shall be equal to One Million Dollars ($1,000,000), multiplied by a ratio, the numerator of which is the number of days Coach was employed as Head Football Coach that contract year, and the denominator of which is 365.

Subject to any Code limits, Ohio State shall make an annual contribution of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) to The Ohio State University 403(b) Retirement Plan, as amended from time to time (the “403(b) Plan”), on January 31, 2013 and January 31 of each subsequent contract year (or in more frequent installments as determined by Ohio State in its sole and absolute discretion). Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Coach is not employed as Head Football Coach on the last day of the applicable contract year, the aggregate contribution to the 403(b) Plan for that contract year shall be equal to Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000), multiplied by a ratio, the numerator of which is the number of days Coach was employed as Head Football Coach that contract year, and the denominator of which is 365; provided, however, that for the contract year ending January 31, 2013, the radio numerator shall be the number of days Coach was employed as Head Football Coach for the period beginning on September 1, 2012 and ending on January 31, 2013, and the denominator of which is 153.

DANTONIO – Michigan State University: 401(a) Plan. The University shall make an annual contribution (the “Contribution”) for Coach’s benefit to a defined contribution retirement plan that meets the requirements of Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 401(a)(the “Qualified Plan”). The twelve (12) month plan year (“Plan Year’) of the Qualified Plan and the Qualified Plan’s Section 415 limitation year shall begin on January 1 and end on December 31. The amount of the Contribution each Plan Year shall be the maximum employer contribution for the Coach’s benefit to the Qualified Plan that is permitted by Code Section 415(c) for that Plan Year. Each such annual Contribution shall be deposited into the trust or custodial account relating to the Qualified Plan not later than the last day of the Plan Year to which that Contribution relates. This annual Contribution shall be made for each Plan Year to which that ends during the term of this Agreement.

STOOPS – University of Oklahoma: Additional Stay Benefit. If Coach remains employed at the University through January 1, 2011, University will contribute sufficient amounts so that an aggregate sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800,000) (“Stay Benefit”) will be accumulated as of such date in the existing or new tax-qualified or authorized employee retirement programs or plans (the “Plans”) established by the University for the benefit of Coach under IRC Sections 401(a), 403(b), 415(m) and 457(b) pursuant to paragraph IV.D of the previous Contract between the parties which had an effective date of January 1, 2007. Coach will be entitled to the Stay Benefit if Coach remains employed at the University as Head Football
Coach through January 1, 2011 subject to the following provisions: If Coach is no longer with the University on or prior to January 1, 2011, then Coach shall be entitled to a pro rata portion of the Stay Benefit (the “Pro Rata Portion”) based on Coach’s completed months of service with the University from January 1, 2009 through January 1, 2011 divided by 24 (number of months in the period from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2011). However, if Coach voluntarily terminates employment on or prior to January 1, 2011 and assumes another coaching position, then Coach shall forfeit all of his right to the Stay Benefit whether accrued or unaccrued. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Coach voluntarily terminates due to David L. no longer serving as the University’s President, then Coach may voluntarily terminate employment as Head Football Coach and assume another coaching position without forfeiting his Pro Rata Portion of the Stay Benefit.

PAINTER – Purdue: Supplemental Retirement Contributions.
3.1 Supplemental Plans. Purdue will contribute the Supplemental Retirement
Contributions into, and in accordance with the provisions of, the supplemental Plans for the
benefit of the Coach.

3.2 Supplemental Retirement Contributions. The Supplemental Retirement
Contributions for Supplemental Plan year 2011/2012 will be $292,000.00. The Supplemental
Retirement Contributions for each subsequent Supplemental Plan Year during the term will be
$300,000.00, as such amount may be adjusted under Section 3.3 below.

3.3 Plan Expenses. To the extent permitted by law, all costs and expenses for the maintenance and operation of the Supplemental Plans shall be paid from the applicable Trusts. If any Supplemental Plan Year Purdue incurs (i) any cost or expense directly attributable to the maintenance or operation of the Supplemental Plans which are not permitted by applicable law to be paid from the Trusts, including but not limited to the costs or expense (a) of responding to any examination or inquiry by the IRS regarding the tax qualification of the Supplemental Plans or (b) that are normally paid by a plan sponsor rather than from plan assets, such as the costs of redrafting the Supplemental Plans to maintain their tax qualification, or (ii) any costs or expense which a trustee of one or more of the Trusts assesses upon Purdue because Trust assets are not at that time sufficient to cover the trustee’s expenses, Purdue, upon providing written notice to the Coach, may reduce the Supplemental Retirement Contributions for that Supplemental Plan Year by the amount of such costs or expenses reasonably incurred by Purdue, provided always that Purdue shall not have the right to the Supplemental Retirement Contributions on account of any costs that are attributable to or arise out of its failure to timely perform its duties and responsibilities as sponsor of the Supplemental Plans. Further, in no event will costs and expenses of maintaining and operating the Supplemental Plans directly attributable to participation by other eligible employees be borne directly or indirectly by the Coach.

9. ANNUITY
MARSHALL – Wichita State: If Mr. Marshall completes the 2011-2012 season, he will receive a one-time payment of Five Hundred Fifty Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($550,000.00); provided, however, that should Mr. Marshall not complete the 2011-2012 season because of circumstances for any reason, Mr. Marshall will receive a one-time payment of Four Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($425,000.00).

Beginning on April 16, 2012, a new annuity will be initiated for the remaining term of the contract at One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($125,000.00) per year, said amount to vest as of the completion of each successive basketball season. The total vested amount of the annuity will be paid at the conclusion of every fourth season (“Payout Year”) that Mr. Marshall is employed by the ICAA, i.e., paid at the completion of the 2015-16 season, completion of the 2019-20 season etc.; provided, however, if Mr. Marshall were to leave the employment of the ICAA for any reason at any time other than a Payout Year, he shall receive the total vested amount at that time.

For example: If Mr. Marshall were to leave the employment of the ICAA after completion of the 2012-2013 season, he would receive a one-time payment of One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($125,000.00); If Mr. Marshall were to leave the employment of the ICAA after the completion of the 2013-2014 season, he would receive a onetime payment of Two Hundred Fifty Thousand and No/1.00 Dollars ($250,000.00); if Mr. Marshall were to leave the employment of the ICAA after completion of the 2014-2015 season, he would receive a one-time payment of Three Hundred Seventy-Five thousand and No/1.000 Dollars ($375,000.00); after completion of the 2015-2016 season, he would receive a one-time payment of Five hundred Thousand and No/1.00 dollars ($500,000.00). The payment cycle would then start over and continue for as long as Mr. Marshall is employed by ICAA.

10. EXPENSE ACCOUNT
MUSCHAMP – University of Florida: Coach shall be paid an expense account for personal expenses of Sixty-Eight Thousand Thirty-Eight and 64/100 ($68,038.64) for the First Contract Year. Thereafter, Coach shall be paid an annual expense account for personal expenses of Sixty-One Thousand Dollars ($61,000.00) for each Contract Year this Agreement is in effect (prorated for any Partial Contract Year using the proration process described in paragraph 4 for Partial Contract Years.

This personal expense payment shall be paid in installments at the same time as base salary net of applicable taxes and withholding.

TUBERVILLE – University of Cincinnati: University will provide Coach with an annual Business Entertainment Allowance and Coaches Working Meals budget of $10,000, the expenditure and reporting of which shall be subject to University rules.

PETERSEN – Boise State University: Coach shall have a “public relations” account of $7,000 per year to be used for reimbursement for meals and other acceptable and appropriate activities relating to the furtherance of the business of the University, and such funds shall be expended only in accordance with University and State Board of Education policies.

CRONIN – University of Cincinnati: Coach will have use of an expense account at a level determined by the Athletic Director annually, not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) per year. All expenses must be accounted for with receipts and other information in accordance with Athletic Department policies.

BOWDEN – University of Akron: As additional supplemental compensation…the University shall: vi. reimburse Coach up to the amount of $12,000 annually, for non-traditional expenditures related to entertainment expenses associated with Coach’s development efforts, in accord with the then-current University policies. All expenses must be pre-approved by the Director, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, and Coach must provide an annual accounting of expenses to the Director and the Vice President for Public Affairs and Development.

SUMLIN – Texas A&M: Reimbursement for Spouse’s Official Activities. It is understood by the parties that from time to time Sumlin’s spouse may be called upon to travel to and/or attend various functions on behalf of the University, subject always to her reasonable availability. When engaged in such activities Sumlin’s spouse shall be entitled to payment for travel and other expenses incurred in such official activities. Spouse’s official activities may include, travel to all away football and bowl games, and special events at the invitation of the Director.

Reimbursement for Coach’s Official Activities. Sumlin shall be entitled to be reimbursed by University for customary expenditures incurred by Sumlin in the discharge of his duties under this Agreement afforded to employees of the University of commensurate rank and length of service, and of like term of appointment.

11. RELOCATION PAYMENT
TURGEON – University of Maryland: To facilitate the relocation and moving the Coach and his family from College Station, Texas, to Maryland, including costs related to the sale of the Coach’s current home, the purchase of a new home, and for temporary housing and moving expenses for the Coach and his family, the University agrees to pay the Coach Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($450,000), payable on or before June 1, 2011.

ALFORD – University of New Mexico (Terminated): Moving Expense Reimbursement. Moving expenses will be reimbursed as provided in University policy 4020, “Moving Expenses,” of the University Business Policy and Procedures Manual (UBPPM), up to a maximum of $15,000.00. If Coach Alford does not complete the first contract year from date of hire, he shall reimburse the University a prorated portion for moving and travel expenses paid by the University. In that event, the total amount paid shall be divided by twelve and the prorated amount to be reimbursed by Coach Alford shall be 1/12 times the number of months or partial months of the first contract year not completed. This provision shall apply whether Coach Alford resigns or is terminated by the University in accordance with this Agreement.

TUBERVILLE – University of Cincinnati: University will pay reasonable costs associated with Coach’s move to the Cincinnati area not to exceed $20,000 unless approved by UC in advance which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, and provided Coach uses a University approved vendor and provides documentation of the costs.

University will pay reasonable costs for travel associated with Coach and his spouse’s efforts to locate a home in the Cincinnati area, not to exceed $5,000 unless approved by UC in advance which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, subject to submission of appropriate documentation of such costs.

Coach will be provided a temporary housing allowance for a period of three (3) months in an amount not to exceed $6,000 per month unless approved by UC in advance which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, payable in the pay period subsequent to submission of appropriate documentation of housing expenses.

MACINTYRE – University of Colorado: Moving Expenses.
i. The University will reimburse Macintyre allowable moving and lodging expenses up a maximum amount of Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000). Allowable moving expenses and lodging are as provided by University fiscal rules and University policy.

ii. For each Assistant Coach hired by Macintyre, the University will reimburse the Assistant Coach for allowable moving and lodging expenses up to a maximum amount of 10% of the Assistant Coach’s salary or Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000), whichever is less. The Athletic Director’s prior written approval is required before any Assistant Coach is eligible for reimbursement under this subparagraph.

12. DISABILITY PAYMENT
SELF – University of Kansas: Termination in the Event of Head Coach’s Death or Disability. In the event of Head Coach’s death, his estate shall receive an after tax payment of $500,000 for every full year Head Coach has been employed as head men’s basketball coach after April 1, 2008. In the event of Head Coach’s disability, as defined below, Head Coach shall receive a payment of $500,000 for every full year Head Coach has been employed as head men’s basketball coach after April 1, 2008. A “full year” shall be defined as a year beginning on April 1 and ending on March 31. In the event of head Coach’s death or disability before the end of any such full year, this payment shall include an amount established by dividing by 365 a numerical figure obtained by multiplying the number of calendar days served during the partial year (that begins on April 1) by the amount of $500,000. This payment shall be made in the event Head Coach’s death or disability occurs at any time up to and including March 31, 2018 but in the event of head Coach’s death or disability between April 1, 2013 an March 31, 2018, this payment shall not include any amount for the days or years served prior to April 1, 2013. In addition, if Head Coach dies or becomes disabled before April 1, 2011, any amount paid to him under a prior Retention Agreement due to death or disability shall reduce the amount paid under this Agreement. Any payment under this provision shall be made thirty (30) days following the death or full disability of Head Coach. In the event Head Coach dies or is disabled after March 31, 2018, this provision is no longer effective.

Disability shall only be deemed to exist if Head Coach is:
a. unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve (12) months;
b. by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve (12) months, is receiving income replacement benefits for a period of not less than three (3) months under an accident and health plan covering employees of Athletics; or
c. determined to be totally disabled by the United States Social Security Administration.

PITINO – University of Louisville: In the event Employee becomes, in the opinion of a physician reasonably acceptable to Employer and Employee, so disabled as not to be capable of performing his duties hereunder for a period of six months or more, and said disability occurs during the period of the date of this Contract and March 31, 2013, Employee shall be entitled to receive the balance of the compensation which would have been due him pursuant to Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 herein for a period of time commencing at the time of disability and ending at the earlier of termination of said disability or March 31, 2013, but for a period of no less than twelve months. Employer has purchased a long-term disability insurance policy from Lloyds of London on behalf of Employee under the terms of the Employment Contract between Employer and dated June 25, 2007, and Employer maintains the right to increase the amount of said coverage in order to reimburse a portion of the cost of disability benefits that may be paid by Employer to Employee until March 31, 2013. Subject to Employer’s ability to obtain an appropriate extension to Employee’s long-term disability insurance policy, in the event Employee becomes, in the opinion of a physician reasonably acceptable to Employer and Employee, so disabled as not be capable of performing his duties hereunder for a period of six months or more, and said disability occurs during the period of March 31, 2013 and June 30, 2017, it is the of Employer to pay Employee compensation pursuant to Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 herein until the earlier of the termination of said disability or June 30, 2017. However, except as provided herein, Employer cannot assume the risk of self-insuring said payments to Employee. Therefore, Employer will use its best efforts to purchase long-term disability insurance on Employee from April 1, 2013 until June 30, 2017, for an amount equal to 100% of the employee’s compensation as defined in Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2. If such insurance is purchased and a disability benefits is paid from the policy due to Employee’s disability, Employee will be entitled to receive a disability benefit from Employer equal to the balance of the compensation due him pursuant to Sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 herein for a period of time commencing at the time of disability and ending when the disability insurance benefit is no longer payable, but no later than June 30, 2017. If, after using its best efforts to purchase longterm insurance, said insurance cannot be purchased, and Employee becomes, in the opinion of a physician reasonably acceptable to Employer and Employee, so disabled as not to be capable of performing his duties hereunder for a period of six months or more, Employer will assign to Employee and Employee shall have the right to designate the beneficiary for the death benefit payable under the life insurance policy owned by Employer as described in Section 3.1.14. The foregoing shall apply only if Employer is able to procure the life insurance policy described in Section 3.1.14. Thus, if Employer is unable to procure life insurance and long-term disability insurance for Employee, then Employer shall not be required to make any payments or assign any benefits to Employee pursuant to this Section 6.2 on account of Employee’s disability. Employee agrees to take all medical exams and to provide all medical history that may be required as a condition to obtaining said additional long-term disability insurance.

SPURRIER – University of South Carolina: Disability Insurance. During the term of this Employment Agreement, the University shall pay the premiums necessary to provide Coach with disability insurance income totaling Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000) annually until Coach reaches the age of 65.

CRONIN – University of Cincinnati: For each year that Coach is employed under the Term for which Coach elects coverage under one of the long term disability plans offered by the University, the University shall obtain a supplemental disability insurance policy in the name of Coach which will enable Coach to receive a total disability benefit from all sources equaling Twenty-Five Thousand dollars ($25,000) per month, starting with the first day he is declared totally disabled under the applicable University disability policy through the Term. As a of this undertaking, Coach agrees to fully cooperate in completing all requirements of the insurer in order to obtain coverage at the most advantageous rates and terms, including without limitation waiver of physician-patient privilege and rights of privacy under federal and state laws.

13. ENTREPRENEURIAL SHARING
HURLEY – University of Rhode Island: The Coach will also receive, in addition to his Base Salary, the sum of $175,000.00 (One Hundred Seventy-Five Thousand and no/100 Dollars) in each Contract Year as a guaranteed portion of the gate receipts for all home games administered by the URI Athletic Department. This amount shall be increased $15,000.00 (Fifteen Thousand and no/100 Dollars) in each Contract Year following the first Contract Year of the Term of this Agreement. Said amount shall be payable quarterly during the Term (on October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1 of each Contract Year.) The first payment shall be payable on October 1, 2012).

FLECK – Western Michigan University: Football Game Attendance Incentive. In December of each year, University shall calculate the publicly announced home football game season attendance average using announced game attendance form the preceding, just completed, football season. University shall pay Employee one bonus if Employee meets certain game attendance standards in accordance with the following table:
If the publicly announced home football game season attendance average:
is 18,000 or higher, but is less than 20,000, Employee bonus shall be: $6,000
is 20,000 or higher, but is less than 25,000, Employee bonus shall be: $8,000
is 25,000 or higher, Employee bonus shall be: $15,00086

MOLNAR – University of Massachusetts Amherst: Gross Game Guarantees. Molnar shall receive, for each season during which Molnar serves as head football coach, ten percent (10%) of gross away game guarantees (“Away Game Payments”), up to a cumulative maximum of One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000), provided, however, that said guarantees are based solely upon games scheduled at the authorization of the Athletic Director. Such Away Game Payments shall accrue, pro rata, with respect to each away game for which Molnar serves as head football coach relative to the total number of away games during that season, and shall be distributed on or before the last day of each Contract Year.

Ticket Incentive: For each season during which Molnar serves as head football coach, Molnar shall receive additional compensation as determined below (the “Ticket Incentive Payment”):
i. Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000) if the NCAA certified attendance at home football games averages Fifteen Thousand (15,000) during the regular season or

ii. Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000) if the NCAA certified attendance at home football games averages Twenty Thousand (20,000) during the regular season or

iii. Thirty Thousand Dollars ($30,000) if the NCAA certified attendance at home football games averages Twenty-Five Thousand (25,000) during the regular season or

iv. Thirty-Five Thousand Dollars ($35,000) if the NCAA certified attendance at home football games averages Thirty Thousand (30,000) during the regular season

The Ticket Incentive Payment, if any for a Contract Year, shall accrue, pro rata, with respect to each home game for which Molnar serves as head football coach relative to the total number of home games during that season, and shall be distributed on or before the last day of the Contract Year.

DAVIS – Central Michigan University: For each home basketball game that is sold out during the Term, Coach will receive an additional lump sum payment of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500). Attendance will be calculated based on athletics department official ticket counts.

KINGSBURY – Texas Tech University: Attendance Achievement. If the average paid attendance at home football games equals or exceeds an average of 95% of Paid Seating Capacity during a Contract Year – $50,000. For purposes of this provision, Paid Seating Capacity for football is 60,454. Paid Seating Capacity is subject to change based upon future construction to Jones AT&T Stadium, and will automatically be adjusted for purposes of this provision upon completion of any such construction.

VII. PERFORMANCE BONUSES — PERQUISITES
In addition to the financial engineering, coaches also are handsomely paid for reaching certain plateaus with respect to performance of their jobs, as well as provided perquisites of a Chief Executive Officer. For instance, Tubby Smith, former University of Minnesota basketball coach, had a whole Exhibit (effective July 1, 2012) of incentive payments based upon a performance bonus plan.

In lieu of any other performance based bonus plan the University may adopt for sports coaches or other University employees, the University shall pay Coach the following incentive Bonuses, consistent with the requirements of all other terms of this Agreement:

I. NCAA Tournament. For each year the Team shall play in the NCAA Championship Tournament during the Term of Employment, the University shall pay Coach as follows:
a. Winning the National Championship, One Million Five Hundred Thousand and
No/100 Dollars ($1,500,000);
b. Playing in the National Championship Game, One Million and No/100 Dollars
($1,000,000);
c. Playing in the Final Four, Six Hundred Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($600,000);
d. Playing in the Elite Eight, Three Hundred Thousand and No/100 Dollars
($300,000);
e. Playing the Sweet Sixteen, Two Hundred Thousand and No/100 Dollars
($200,000);
f. Playing in the Second Round, One Hundred Fifty Thousand and No/100 Dollars
($150,000);
g. An invitation to play in the NCAA Championship Tournament, One Hundred
Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($100,000).
Coach shall receive the highest single bonus amount achieved under this schedule I.
Bonus amounts on this schedule I are not cumulative

II. Big Ten Finish. The University shall pay Coach a bonus based upon the Team’s Big Ten finish that concludes during each year of the Term of Employment, as follows:

Finish Amount of Bonus
a. Big Ten Regular Season Champion $250,000
b. Not lower than Big Ten Regular Season 2nd
place or tied for 2nd Place $150,000
c. Not lower than Big Ten Regular Season 3rd
Place or tied for 3rd Place $100,000
d. Not lower than Big Ten Regular Season 4th
Place or tied for 4th Place $ 50,000
e. Big Ten Tournament Champion $250,000
Bonus amounts on this schedule II are not cumulative except for the Big Ten Tournament Championship

III. Academic Performance. The University shall pay Coach a bonus based on the Annual Academic Progress Rate (“APR”) for the Team as established each year by the NCAA,beginning at the end of FY 2008, as follows:
a. APR greater than or equal to 930 $ 25,000
b. APR greater than or equal to 940 $ 50,000
c. APR greater than or equal to 950 $100,000
d. APR greater than or equal to 970 $150,000

Coach shall receive the highest single bonus amount achieved under bonus Schedule
III. Bonus amounts on this schedule III are not cumulative

IV. Graduation Rate. Each year, beginning at the end of the 2007-2008 academic year, the University shall pay Coach a bonus of One Hundred Thousand and No/100 Dollars ($100,000) if the four-year average of the Team’s six-year graduate rate, as determined by the University consistent with NCAA rules, is equal to or higher than 50%. The four year average shall be based on the rates of the just-completed academic year and the three previous academic years.

V. Coach of the Year Honors
a. Big Ten Coach of the Year $100,000
b. National Coach of the Year $100,000
Coach is eligible to receive either or both amounts under this schedule V.

VI. Annual Team Cumulative Grade Point Average (“GPA”).
a. Cumulative Team GPA of 2.9 or above $100,000
b. Cumulative Team GPA of 3.25 or above $150,000
Coach shall receive the highest single bonus amount achieved under this bonus schedule VI. Bonus amounts on this schedule VI are not cumulative.

VII. Contract Extension. The University agrees to extend the Employment Agreement and its Amendment for one year in the following circumstances:
a. Winning the Big Ten Regular Season Championship; or
b. Winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship; or
c. Playing in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen or better.

In each year, the contract extension shall be for a maximum of one additional year. Additional one year extensions may be earned in other years. The extension shall be from May 1 following the end of the existing Term of Employment through April 30 the following calendar year, and all other terms and conditions of the existing Employment Agreement shall apply to the extension period.

In addition to performance-based pay, coaches also demand and receive perquisites commensurate with the position. What follows is an example of the perquisites provided Matt Painter, Head Basketball Coach at the University of Purdue:

4.0 Additional Perquisites.

4.1 Purdue will sponsor the Coach’s membership in the Club, and will pay any initiation fees, monthly dues and assessments on the Coach’s behalf, in return for the public relations value to Purdue of the Coach’s presence at the Club’s various facilities and social contacts with its members and guests, at times of the Coach’s choosing, or as reasonably requested by Purdue from time to time.

4.2 Purdue will provide the Coach with a car allowance of $1,500.00 per month.

4.3 The Coach may conduct sports camps and retain the income therefrom in accordance with Purdue’s sports camps policies, as the same may be amended from time to time.

4.4 Purdue will provide the coach with one athletics department staff pass to the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

4.5 Contingent on the present agreement between Purdue and NIKE, Inc. remaining in force without material amendment, the Coach may order (or, in the Coach’s discretion, the Coach’s assistant coaches and support staff may order), at no charge, up to a total of $25,000.00 (at Nike prices) per Fiscal Year of Nike merchandise from “Nike by Mail.”

4.6 Purdue shall provide to the Coach, free of charge, (i) eight season tickets to men’s basketball games for the Coach’s personal use, plus an additional twenty-five single game tickets for each men’s home basketball game for business use, (ii) season tickets for the Coach and each of his dependents for football games, (iii) two season tickets for women’s basketball games, (iv) two season tickets for volleyball games, (v) twenty tickets to each game in the Big Ten postseason tournament in which the Team is a participant, and (vi) twenty tickets to each game in the NCAA post-season tournament in which the Team is participant.

4.7 The Coach’s spouse and children may travel with the Team to away basketball games at Purdue’s expense under normal Purdue travel reimbursement policies as they may be changed from time to time.

VIII. MARQUEE SALARY CLAUSE
Nick Saban’s contract contains what is the equivalent of a marquee salary clause in a professional player’s contract wherein his compensation is always equivalent to the highest paid football coaches either in the SEC or the NCAA:
Market Rate Review. Commencing February 12, 2015 (and each February 1 thereafter through the end of the contract, as amended), the parties will meet for so long as necessary to determine the marketplace trends regarding head football coach compensation at Southeastern Conference (SEC) and National Collegiate Association, Division I, bowl subdivision (NCAA) institutions. Should the Employee’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” be less than that of the average of the “total guaranteed annual compensation” of the three highest paid SEC head football coaches; or less than that of the average of the “total guaranteed annual compensation” of the five highest paid NCAA head football coaches; then the University agrees to increase Employee’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” to the higher of the two averages, at said times. No more than one adjustment shall occur annually. For purposes of this paragraph, “total annual compensation” shall be defined as that terminology is generally understood and defined within the industry and may include base salary and talent fee and similar such payments as received by Employee and included in the calculation of Employee’s “total guaranteed annual compensation,” but shall not include bonuses or incentives earned, expense allowances, deferred compensation, longevity bonus payments, in-kind compensation, or other compensation of any nature not generally understood to be a part of a head collegiate football coach’s “total guaranteed annual compensation.” It is the intent of the parties, for purposes of this paragraph, to compare Employee’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” to similar amounts received by head football coaches at SEC and NCAA institutions. Therefore, the parties agree that, should
any comparator’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” include amounts, known by whatever name, that are similar in nature to amounts received by Employee, said amounts shall be included in the comparator’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” for purposes of determining the averages, and Employee’s total guaranteed annual compensation” for purposes of this comparison. Likewise, when amounts are to be excluded from Employee’s “total guaranteed annual compensation” for purposes of said comparison, similar amounts shall be excluded from any comparator’s “total guaranteed annual compensation,” regardless of the name by which said compensation is known. Both parties agree to confer and negotiate in good faith at said times towards an adjustment in the Base Salary and Talent Fee, if then deemed warranted based on the marketplace analysis, and to share information and appropriate documentation with the other party to substantiate its evidence of marketplace valuation. Valuations that are used for purposes of this Market Rate Review must be verifiable by public record other documentation mutually acceptable to the parties and relied on in the industry. The good-faith failure or refusal of either party to agree to an adjustment or average proposed by the other party shall not constitute a breach of this contract.”

These clauses will become more prevalent as the athletics arms race continues and universities try to retain and maintain their power coaches.

IX. CORPORATE COACHES
The New York Times refers to many college coaches as Corporate Coaches. Such reference is indicative of the fact that some coaches contract separately with the University for the payment of their salary, and University fringe benefits, while setting up separate entities usually in the form of a limited liability company or corporation to contract for other professional services such as media services, camps, speaking and endorsements. The New York Times stated that:
Coaches can use these corporations for sophisticated tax planning that is not available to state employees who are not affiliated with similar organizations. But because a portion of their income is earned as state employees, they remain eligible for state employee benefits such as pensions, retirement savings matches, medical insurance, vacation pay and tuition waivers. Funneling expenses through such a corporation converts nondeductible personal expenses to fully deductible business expenses. Loan-outs also can be used to defer income and establish additional retirement savings. In many cases, the corporation can deduct benefits, which are tax-free until the funds are distributed upon retirement. There is also great latitude in designing fringe and retirement benefits since either they or their spouses are the majority shareholder in the corporation. These corporations often are included in the coaches’ contracts with the university. L.S.U.’s contract with Miles stipulates that he can require the university to contract with another corporation for services that are part of his fee for media appearances. The name of the corporation is not cited in his contract but Miles and his wife, Kathy, have five registered corporations in Louisiana. In this, as in many other aspects of their contracts, Saban and Miles are following an increasingly standard practice. Kansas State’s Bill Snyder has a contract that states the university’s athletic corporation must more than $700,000 annually to a corporation he is affiliated with, SSM Inc., to license his image.

The Employment Agreement by and between Kansas Athletics, Inc., and Bill Self provides that in addition to the salary and incentive payments that are paid directly to the Coach, Kansas Athletics shall also pay to BCLT, LLC an Illinois limited liability company created by Self, fees for professional services rendered by Self.

Self’s limited liability company, BCLT, LLC, and Kansas Athletics, Inc., also entered into a separate agreement entitled Professional Service Agreement in which BCLT, LLC arranges for compensation through the Agreement for Self for all educational, public relations and promotional activities (multi-media activities) arranged by BCLT, LLC for Head Coach.

The Head Football Coach Employment Contract between the University of Central Florida Athletic Association, Inc. and George J. O’Leary also includes George O’Leary, Inc. The contract provides for the Coach’s base salary to be paid directly to Coach. The contract also provides that payments for radio and television services, speaking, equipment and apparel endorsements shall be paid to George O’Leary Enterprises, Inc. The corporation agrees to provide Coach to make appearances during the football season or otherwise for such radio and television shows, and for granting the Central Florida Athletic Association the nonexclusive right to utilize the coach’s services in procuring speaking engagements or endorsements of equipment or apparel.

X. CONCLUSION
College football and basketball coaches are highly compensated employees, in many instances more highly compensated than the athletic director and the president of the University, and in most instances the highest paid employee of the University. They earn every penny that they are paid. The negotiation of a coach’s contract today is a sophisticated financial arrangement. The coach’s career is often fleeting, unpredictable, and sometimes short. Therefore, it is incumbent upon lawyers or coaches’ representatives to protect coaches against the risk of firing, death, and disability. Not only must the representative look at the hay-day of earnings, which can be very short-lived, but also earnings post coaching career in the form of deferred compensation and post retirement structures.

Indeed, college coaches have become CEOs in headphones and deserve the very best in representation. In the opinion of these authors, the very best in representation can be characterized as follows:
1. A representative that knows the environment of college coaching, financial comparisons, fair market value, and current financial arrangements between universities and college coaches. NCAA football and basketball are unique vocational domains and must be understood by experienced, veteran advisors.

2. A representative that understands it’s not how much you earn, it’s how much you keep, i.e. a keen understanding of tax planning. The Internal Revenue Services is the coach’s partner.

3. A representative that understands the importance of post retirement financial planning and the structures therefor. A Coach’s retirement often comes earlier than expected.

4. A representative that protects the coach and his family financially against the risks of termination, death, and disability.

5. A representative that understands college coaches’ contracts and the various legal nuances that are contained therein.

6. A representative that understands the basis of a time-value theory of money and inflation protection.

7. A representative that is willing to think out of the box and look at the University and coach as entrepreneurial partners.

8. Finally, a representative that is willing to take the coach out of the back room into the courtroom if the coaches’ rights need to be protected.

Coaches are the paramount teachers and highly visible campus leaders, and oftentimes the face of their University. They deserve the very best in complex representation required to sustain their best interest with veteran professional advice. Society should ask no less for them and should honor such noble requests.

REFRENCES
1.) Martin J. Greenberg, College Coaching Contracts Revisited: A Practical Perspective, 127 MARQ. SPORTS LAW
REV. 127, 129 (2001).

2.) Patrick Rishe, College Football Coaching Salaries Grow Astronomically Due to Escalating Media Rights Deals, FORBES (Nov. 20, 2012), http://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2012/11/20/college-football-coaching-salaries-growastronomically-due-to-escalating-media-rights-deals/.

3.) Randy Southerland, Biggest Football Expense: Coaches’ Salaries, ATLANTA BUS. CHRONICLE (Aug. 10, 2012),
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/print-edition/2012/08/10/biggest-football-expense-coaches.html?page=all.

4.) CHARLES T. CLOTFELTER, BIG-TIME SPORTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES 106 (2011).

5.) Steve Weiberg et al., College Football Coaches See Salaries Rise in Down Economy, USATODAY.com (Nov. 10,
2009), http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2009-11-09-coaches-salary-analysis_N.htm.

6.) Jay Reeves, New UA President’s Pay Package Worth Up To $652,000, TUSCALOOSANEWS.COM (Sep. 10, 2012), http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20120910/NEWS/120909748.

7.) USA Today Analysis Shows College Football Coaches’ Pay Soaring; Pac-12, SEC Lead, SPORTSBUSINESS DAILY (Nov. 20, 2012), http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2012/11/20/Colleges/Coaching-Salaries.aspx (hereinafter “SportsBusiness Daily”).

8.) Jodi Upton & Steve Berkowitz, Athletic Director Salary Database, USATODAY.COM (Mar. 6, 2013), http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/03/06/athletic-director-salary-database-methodology/1968783/.

9.) Highest-Paid Public-College Presidents, 2011 Fiscal Year, THE CHRONICLE (May 20, 2012), http://chronicle.com/article/Public-Pay-Landing/131912/ (hereinafter “Highest-Paid Presidents”).

12.) Dan Simmons, Rebecca Blank, Approved as UW-Madison Chancellor, to Start July 15, WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (Apr. 6, 2013), http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/university/rebecca-blank-approved-as-uwmadison-chancellor-to-start-july/article_b80d6c34-9e21-11e2-8975-001a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true.

13.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Wisconsin-Madison & Gary L. Andersen (Jan. 2, 2013).

14.) Christopher Schnaars & Kristin DeRamus, NCAA College Basketball Coaches’ Salary Database, USATODAY.COM, usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-03-28/ncaa-coaches-salarydatabase/53827374/1 (last visited Apr. 4, 2013).

15.) Steve Berkowitz & Jodi Upton, Salaries Rising for New College Football Coaches, USATODAY.COM (Jan. 17, 2012), http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2012-01-16/College-football-coachescompenstion/52602734/1.

16.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Texas at Austin & William Mack Brown, §IV (Sep. 1, 2007).

17.) First Amendment to the Employment Agreement by & between Georgia Tech Athletic Association & Paul Johnson, §6 (Dec. 10, 2007).

18.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Arizona & Sean E. Miller, §5(a) (May 1, 2009).

19.) Employment Agreement by & between University Athletic Association & William L. Muschamp, §8 (Dec. 13, 2010).

20.) Employment Agreement by & between UCF Athletics Association, Inc. & George O’Leary, §3.4 (July 1, 2006).

21.) Employment Agreement by & between University of California, Berkley & Daniel Dykes, §2G (Dec. 7, 2012).

22.) Amendment No. 2 to the Employment Agreement by & between University of Texas at Austin & Richard Dale Barnes §VI(G) (3/6/08).

23.) Employment Agreement by & between Ohio State University & Urban F. Meyer, §3.11 (Date Unknown).

25.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Alabama & Nick L. Saban, §5 (Jan. 4, 2007).

26.) Retention Payment Agreement by & between Kansas Athletics, Inc. & Bill Self, §1-2 (Apr. 1, 2008).

27.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Oklahoma & Robert Anthony Stoops, §IV(D)(E) (Jan. 1, 2009).

28.) Employment Agreement by & between Ohio University & Jim Christian, §3.5(k) (July 30, 2012).

29.) Amendment to Employment Agreement by & between Michigan State University & Mark J. Dantonio, §3.4.6 (Oct. 7, 2011).

30.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Louisville Athletic Association, Inc. & Richard A. Pitino, §3.1.14 (July 1, 2010).

31.) Employment Agreement by & between University of South Carolina & Stephen O. Spurrier, §5.01, 5.02 Nov. 23, 2004).

32.) Employment Agreement by & between Indiana University & Thomas Crean, § 4.03(B) (Aug. 11, 2008).

33.) Employment Agreement by & between Texas Tech University & Kliff Kingsbury, §7 (Feb. 18, 2013).

34.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Michigan & Brady Hoke, §3.02(g)(i)(ii), (Mar. 23, 2011).

35.) Employment Agreement by & between Wichita State University Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Inc. & Gregg Marshall, §3.4.12 (Apr. 16, 2011).

36.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Missouri-Columbia & Gary R. Pinkel, §5(A) (Nov. 25, 2008).

37.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Louisville Athletic Association, Inc. & Richard A. Pitino, §3.2, 3.2.1 (July 1, 2010).

38.) Second Amendment to Employment Agreement by & between Indiana University & Thomas Crean, § 5.03 (Nov. 28, 2012).

39.) Employment Agreement by & between Auburn University & Gene Chizik, §26 (Dec. 15, 2008).

40.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Tennessee & Derek Dooley, Art. 2 Sec. C (9/2/2010).

41.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Michigan & Brady Hoke, §3.02(h) (Mar. 23, 2011).

42.) Employment Agreement by & between Oregon State University & Craig Robinson, §12 (Apr. 6, 2008).

43.) Employment Agreement by & between Indiana University & Thomas Crean, §4.04(b) (Aug. 11, 2008).

44.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Arkansas & Bret Bielema, at pages 10-11 (Dec. 4,2012).

45.) Memorandum of Understanding by & between University of Cincinnati & Thomas Tuberville, at 5 (Date Unknown).

46.) Employment Agreement by & between Michigan State University & Mark J. Dantonio, §II(K) (Oct. 7, 2011).

47.) Addendum No. 3, §5.3.f to Employment Agreement by & between Ohio State University & James P. Tressel, (June 16, 2003).

48.) Amendment to Employment Agreement by & between University of Cincinnati & Lyle “Butch” Jones, §3(o) (Jan. 1, 2012).

49.) Employment Agreement by & between Ohio State University & Urban F. Meyer, §3.2 (June 8, 2012).

50.) Employment Agreement by & between Michigan State University & Mark J. Dantonio, §II(I) (Oct. 7, 2011).

60.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Oklahoma & Robert Anthony Stoops, §IV(E) (Jan. 1, 2009).

61.) Employment Agreement by & between Purdue University & Matt Painter, §3.1 – 3.3 (July 1, 2009).

62.) Employment Agreement by & between Wichita State University Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Inc. & Gregg Marshall, §3.4.11, 3.4.12 (Apr. 16, 2011).

63.) Employment Agreement by & between University Athletic Association, Inc. & William L. Muschamp, §11 (Dec.13, 2010).

64.) Draft Memorandum of Understanding between University of Cincinnati and Thomas Tuberville, page 2.

65.) Employment Agreement by & between Boise State University & Chris Petersen, §10 (Feb. 1, 2012).

66.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Cincinnati & Michael W. Cronin, §3(I) (June 21, 2011).

67.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Akron & Terry Bowden, § III (A)(3)(vi) (Aug. 8, 2012).

68.) Employment Agreement by & between Texas A&M University System & Kevin Sumlin, §4.6, 4.7 (Jan. 1, 2013).

69.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Maryland & Mark Turgeon, § 5 (June 27, 2011).

70.) First Amendment to Addendum to Employment Agreement by & between University of New Mexico & Steve Alford, §4 (Apr. 10, 2008).

71.) Draft Memorandum of Understanding between University of Cincinnati and Thomas Tuberville, page 2.

72.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Colorado Boulder & George Michael Macintyre, §9(a) (Jan. 7, 2013).

73.) Retention Payment Agreement by & between Kansas Athletics, Inc. & Bill Self, §5 (Apr. 1, 2008).

74.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Louisville Athletic Association, Inc. & Richard A. Pitino, §3.1.14 (July 1, 2010).

75.) Employment Agreement by & between University of South Carolina & Stephen O. Spurrier, §5.02 (Nov. 23, 2004).

76.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Cincinnati & Michael W. Cronin, §3(h) (June 21, 2011).

77.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Rhode Island & Daniel Hurley, §3.2.5 (Date Unknown).

78.) Employment Agreement by & between Western Michigan University & Philip John Fleck, §J (Dec. 31, 2012).

79.) Employment Agreement by & between University of Massachusetts Amherst & Charles E. Molnar, Jr., §5 (Dec. 7, 2011).

80.) Employment Agreement by & between Central Michigan University & Keno Davis, §(3)(I) (Aug. 15, 2012).

81.) Employment Agreement by & between Texas Tech University & Kliff Kingsbury, §III(4)(j) (Feb. 18, 2013).

82.) Amendment to Employment Agreement by & between University of Minnesota & Orlando “Tubby” Smith, Exhibit A (July 1, 2012).

83.) Employment Agreement by & between Purdue University & Matt Painter, §4.0-4.7 (Date).

84.) Second Amendment to Employment Agreement by & between University of Alabama & Nick L. Saban, §3 (Sep. 9, 2009).

85.) James K. Gentry & Raquel Meyer Alexander, From the Sideline to the Bottom Line, NYTimes.com (Dec. 31, 2011), http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/sports/ncaafootball/contracts-for-top-college-football-coaches-growcomplicated.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

86.) Employment Agreement by & between Kansas Athletics, Inc. and Bill Self, §8(a),(b), effective April 1, 2008.

87.) Professional Service Agreement by and between Kansas Athletics, Inc. and BCLT, LLC, effective April 1, 2008.

88.) See Employment Agreement by & between UCF Athletics Association, Inc. & George J. O’Leary (July 1, 2006).

2014-02-12T16:45:10-06:00February 12th, 2014|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Sports Coaching, Sports Management, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on CEOs in Headphones

Ranking College Football Programs Based Upon Athletic Performance and Academic Success

Submitted by Frederick Wiseman & John Friar

ABSTRACT
The NCAA has become increasingly concerned about the academic well-being of its student-athletes and has adopted a new measure to monitor the academic progress of each collegiate team that grants athletic scholarships. It is called the Academic Progress Rate (APR) and measures the extent to which a team’s student-athletes retain their eligibility and stay in school on a semester by semester basis. Lucas and Lovaglia (2005) believed that the ranking of collegiate teams based upon both academic success and athletic performance would be of value to numerous constituencies and developed such a ranking system for collegiate football teams. In this paper, we build upon their work by constructing a statistically based ranking system that utilizes a team’s multi-year APR and their Average Saragin Rating. During the 2007-2010 academic years that were investigated, the three top ranked teams were Ohio State, Boise State and the University of Florida. The results also revealed a moderate and positive correlation between a team’s multi-year APR and its Average Saragin Rating.

INTRODUCTION
The NCAA recently implemented a number of changes that were designed to improve the academic well-being of student-athletes. These changes fell into four categories: (i) new initial eligibility standards, (ii) new requirements for two-year college transfers, (iii) new requirements for post-season eligibility, and (iv) new penalty structures and thresholds. Refer to Harrison (2012) for an excellent review of these changes and for a history of the NCAA’s commitment to the academic success of student-athletes. A key component of this academic reform movement has been the development and adoption of the APR for each collegiate sports team that grants athletic scholarships (8). The APR measures the extent to which student-athletes are maintaining their eligibility and staying in school. It represents a significant improvement over previous measures of academic success because it provides specific information on the extent to which current student-athletes are satisfactorily completing the academic requirements that are necessary to obtain a degree.

The APR is a number between 0 and 1000. On a term by term basis, each student-athlete receiving athletic aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for remaining academically eligible. Excluded from this calculation are those team members who decide either to leave school to sign a professional contract or to transfer to another school, provided in each instance they were still eligible to compete when they left school. The total points earned by team members are divided by the possible number of total points that could be earned, and then this proportion is multiplied by one thousand. The resulting figure is the APR score for the team. Defined in this manner, the APR provides an up-to-date measure that can be used to evaluate the academic success and the academic culture of collegiate sports teams at a given point in time. It also allows comparisons to be made between teams playing the same sport throughout the country. Each year, the NCAA reports for each team both a single-year APR and a multi-year APR, based upon the last four seasons.

For the 2012-2013 academic year, teams in all sports must have obtained a multi-year APR of at least 900 or have an average single-year APR of at least 930 in the last two academic years in order to be eligible to compete in post-season play. This requirement disqualified the University of Connecticut’s Men’s Basketball team, the 2010-2011 national champions, from participating in the 2012-2013 tournament. The APR requirement becomes more stringent each year until it reaches its desired multi-year standard of 930 in 2015-2016.

The use and wide-spread acceptance of the multi-year APR as an appropriate measure of academic success has had a dramatic effect on college sports teams and athletic departments. It is the single most important measure of academic success for the NCAA and is closely monitored by athletic directors, coaches, and academic advisors. This is especially true at the elite revenue producing schools competing in football and basketball where the imposition of penalties can result in a substantial loss of revenue and prestige.

Lucas and Lovaglia (2005) and, more recently, Crotty (2012), indicated that it would be of value to rank college athletic teams using a combined measure of academic success and athletic performance. They argued that such a measure would be of benefit not only to university administrators when evaluating their athletic programs, but also to potential student-athletes when choosing a college to attend. Lucas and Lovaglia proposed such a measure for Division 1 football programs and called it the Student-Athlete Performance Rate (SAPR). To arrive at a team’s SAPR score, they added a team’s single year APR to a team’s Athletic Success Rate (ASR). Unfortunately, the ASR that was developed was seriously flawed because it did not provide a valid measure of a team’s athletic performance for a particular period in time, but rather it was designed to measure the “well-being” of a team over some undefined period of time. For example, included in the construction of the ASR were such factors as a team’s all-time winning percentage, its average attendance in a particular year, the number of conference championships won in the last five years, and the number of student-athletes that went on to play in the National Football League.

In this paper, we build upon this previous work by describing a statistical ranking system which is based upon valid measures of both athletic success and athletic performance. This ranking system is then applied to the 120 members of the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The methods used to create such a ranking system are described in the next section.

METHODS
A valid measure of academic success and a valid measure of athletic performance are required to construct an overall ranking of schools. For the academic success measure, we use a school’s multi-year APR score (http://www.ncaa.org). At present, the latest available multi-year APRs are based upon the 2007-2010 seasons. Since the multi-year APR is based upon a four year period of time, the athletic performance measure used should also cover this same time period. Various performance measures were considered before it was decided to use the average of the Saragin ratings at the end of each season for each team. A team’s Saragin rating is based on three factors (i) won/loss record, (ii) strength of schedule, and (iii) margin of victory. The Saragin ratings for college football teams have been published on a weekly basis by USA TODAY since 1998 and have been used to help determine which teams will play in the national championship game. The ratings can be found at: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin-archive.htm.

To obtain an overall ranking of schools, we employ a methodology using two independent standardized z-scores as previously described by Wiseman et al. (2007). With this methodology, we first have to determine whether a correlation exists between a team’s multi-year APR and its Average Saragin Rating. If a correlation does exist, we cannot simply compute standardized z-scores for each individual rating and add them together to obtain an overall measure. Instead, we need to construct two standardized z-scores which are independent and which take into account the correlation that exists. For each school, these z-scores would be: (i) the standardized z-score for the Average Saragin Rating and (ii) the standardized z-score for the multi-year APR given the Average Saragin Rating. The first standardized z-score would be computed as follows:

Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.34.10 PM

For the second z-score, we would need to calculate the expected multi-year APR given the Average Saragin Rating and the standard deviation of the multi-year APR given the Average Saragin Rating. To obtain these values, we compute:

Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.34.54 PM

where µAPR is the average multi-year APR, p is the correlation coefficient between the Average Saragin Rating and the multi-year APR, and σAPR is the standard deviation of the multi-year APRs. Given the above, the second z-score would be:
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.36.05 PM

Statistical theory concerning bivariate normal distributions tells us that the standardized z-scores for the Average Saragin Rating and for the multi-year APR given the Average Saragin Rating will each have a mean of 0.0 and a standard deviation of 1.0. Further, since the two z-scores are statistically independent, they can be added together to obtain an overall summated z-score for combined athletic performance and academic success. The higher the overall value of Zsum = ZSaragin(i)+ ZAPR|Saragin, the higher the overall ranking.

RESULTS
Table 1 presents the Average Saragin Ratings for the four seasons as well as the multi-year APR score for all 120 schools. The average Saragin rating (µSaragin) was 70.62 with a standard deviation (σSaragin) of 10.03. The highest average ratings were obtained by the following five universities: Florida (90.85), Alabama (90.82), Oklahoma (89.17), Oregon (88.98), and Ohio State (88.35). The average multi-year APR (µAPR) was 951.97 with a standard deviation (σAPR) of 18.27. The five highest ranked universities according to their multi-year APR were Northwestern (995), Boise State (989), Duke (989), Ohio State (988), and Rice (986).

Table 1. Average Saragin Rating and Multi-Year APR for Schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision: 2007-2010
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.37.50 PM

When the individual schools were grouped by conference, the Average Saragin Ratings of the six major conferences (SEC, Big East, Pac 10, Big 10, Big 12 and ACC) were all greater than the five smaller conferences (Mid-American, Sun Belt, Mountain West, Conference USA and Western Athletic). In terms of the academic success measure, similar results were obtained except for the Mountain West conference which had a higher multi-year APR than three of the major conferences — the Pac 10, the Big East and the Big 12. These results are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Scatterplot of Average Saragin Rating and Average Multi-Year APR by Conference: 2007-2010
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.43.49 PM

A correlation of r =.32 (p<.01) was found between the Average Saragin Rating and the multi-year APR. This finding is similar to results obtained in earlier studies that used graduation rates as the measure of academic success (1,3,6,7,9,10). Universities that ranked highly on both measures were Florida (1st and 19th), Alabama (2nd and 23rd), Oklahoma (3rd and 23rd), Ohio State (5th and 4th), Boise State (10th and 2nd), and TCU (8th and 17th). Given the correlation that existed between multi-year APR and the Average Saragin Rating, the two independent z-scores (ZSaragin(i) and ZAPR|Saragin(i)) were obtained and then added together for each of the 120 schools. These scores are presented in Table 2 and the top ranked school for the four year period was Ohio State which had the fifth highest Average Saragin Rating of 88.35 and the fourth highest multi-year APR of 988. Boise State, Florida, Alabama, and Northwestern had the next highest rankings. The Anderson-Darling test was used to test for normality of the two z-scores and the test results revealed that the normality assumption could not be rejected at the 5% level of significance. Table 2. Comparison of the Top 25 Ranked Schools using Alternative Ranking Methods: 2007-2010*
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 4.38.38 PM

The previous ranking of schools gave equal weight to athletic performance and to academic success. Giving such equal weight to each of the components was originally suggested by Lucas and Lovaglia (2005). However, one could also argue that more weight should be given to the athletic performance measure since this would be a national ranking of football teams. Our methodology allows for that possibility. For example, if we decided to give the first z-score (ZSaragin) a weight of .8 and the second z-score (ZAPR|Saragin) a weight of .2, we could obtain a weighted average of the two z-scores and re-rank the schools based upon this weighted average. The results of such a weighting are shown in Table 3 and, once again, the top ranked school was Ohio State. It was followed by Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Boise State. Now, however, seven new schools entered into the Top 25. These were schools that had relatively strong Average Saragin Ratings but relatively poorer multi-year APRs. They were South Carolina, Oregon, Oregon State, West Virginia, USC, Auburn, and Texas. The schools that they replaced were Northwestern, Air Force Academy, Rutgers, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kansas, and Wake Forest. These latter schools are generally better known for their academics than for their football success.

Sensitivity analyses were conducted in order to determine how the rankings would have changed if different weights were used. These analyses were conducted for the following three sets of weights –(.9, .1), (.75, .25) and (.7, .3), where the first number is the weight given to the Average Saragin Rating and the second number is the weight given to the multi-year APR given the Average Saragin Rating. The rank correlations between each of these three weighting schemes and the (.8, .2) weighting scheme that was originally used were .97, .98 and .91, respectively. This indicates that the actual rankings were relatively insensitive to the actual weights used when the weight given to the Average Saragin Rating was .7 or higher.

DISCUSSION
We have shown that it is possible to have a combined ranking of athletic teams based upon athletic and academic success. The results of this ranking for the 2007-2010 period indicated a positive correlation between athletic success and academic success. The analysis also revealed that the top performing football schools are more likely to ensure that their student-athletes stay in school and maintain their eligibility. This makes sense because such schools have the most to lose financially if their teams are not eligible for post-season play. These teams also spend a considerable amount of time, effort, and money recruiting promising student-athletes. They also generate a substantial amount of money and provide a high level of academic support and facilities for its student-athletes in order to help them maintain their eligibility. Such a high level of support may not be available for student-athletes at poorer performing schools with fewer resources devoted to their academic well-being.

Additionally, many of these large and successful schools offer specific programs geared to the student-athlete population, thus increasing the likelihood of their academic success. Similarly, these schools may also be less likely to take a chance on a potential student-athlete with significant athletic potential, but with very little chance of academic success at their school.

CONCLUSION
The ranking of FBS teams was based upon their success in the classroom and their performance on the football field. Rankings for other collegiate sports, both male and female, including the non-revenue sports could easily be obtained using the methodology described. In addition, it would be of interest to identify the key factors that lead certain teams to have high APRs, while other teams have low APRs. Such an investigation is the subject of future research, and should be of value to numerous groups including the NCAA as it continues with its academic reform movement.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT
Critics and some members of the NCAA have argued that the organization should increase its emphasis on the academic well-being of its student-athletes. This has led to the academic reform movement that has taken place in recent years. With the methods presented here, the NCAA could recognize schools that excel both on the field and in the classroom. It also gives member schools a scorecard as to how well its team is doing on and off the field. The results also indicate that the schools with the weakest football teams in the non-BCS conferences, often times, are also the ones whose teams have the lowest multi-year APRs. Reasons for these differences should be investigated so that corrective actions can be undertaken which will enable all student-athletes to increase their likelihood of academic success.

REFERENCES

1. Comeau, E. (2005). Predictors of academic advancement among student-athletes in the revenue-producing sports of men’s basketball and football. The Sport Journal, 8. Available at: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/predictors-academic-achievement-among-student-athletes-revenue-producing-sports-mens-basketb.

2. Crotty, J. M. (2012). When it comes to academics football crushes basketball. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmarshallcrotty/2012/01/05/northwestern-vs-rutgers-in-bcs-championship-if-education-was-yardstick/.

3. DeBrock, L., Hendricks, W., & Koenker, R. (1996). The economics of persistence: Graduation rates of athletes as labor market choice. Journal of Human Resources, 31, 513-539.

4. Harrison, W. (2012). NCAA academic performance program (APP): Future directions. Journal of Intercollegiate Sports, 5, 65-82.

5. Lucas, J. W. & Lovaglia, M. J. (2005). Can academic progress help collegiate football teams win? The Sport Journal, 8. Available at: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/can-academic-progress-help-collegiate-football-teams-win.

6. Mangold, W. D., Bean, L. and Adams, D. (2003). The impact of intercollegiate athletics on graduation rates among major NCAA Division I universities: Implications for college persistence theory and practice. The Journal of Higher Education, 74, 540-562.

7. Mixon, F. G. & Trevino, L. J. (2005). From kickoff to commencement: the positive role of intercollegiate athletics in higher education. Economics of Education Review, 24, 97-102.

8. NCAA. (2012). Academic Progress Rate. Available at: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/NCAA/Academics/Division+I/Academic+Progress+Rate.

9. Rishe, P. J. (1993). A reexamination of how athletic success impacts graduation rates: Comparing student-athletes to all other undergraduates – the university. American Journal of Economics and Sociology (April). Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1536-7150.00219/pdf.

10. Tucker, I. B. (2004). A reexamination of the effects of big-time football and basketball success on graduation rates and alumni giving rates. Economics of Education Review, 23, 655-661.

11. Wiseman, F., Habibullah, M. & Yilmaz, M. (2007). A new method for ranking total driving performance on the PGA Tour. The Sport Journal, 1. Available at: http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/new-method-ranking-total-driving-performance-pga-tour.

2014-02-07T16:49:33-06:00February 7th, 2014|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on Ranking College Football Programs Based Upon Athletic Performance and Academic Success

An Empirical Analysis of the Effectiveness of World Wrestling Entertainment Marketing Strategies

Submitted by Sungick Min, WonYul Bae, David Pifer and Colin Pillay

Abstract
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), which is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, produces one of the most popular sporting events in the world, spans a diverse audience, and has a fanatical base and following for its entertainment value. This study was designed to investigate the numerous ways in which the company promotes and markets its brand, its programming, its events, and its products. Drawing from 107 randomly collected survey questionnaires, the results of this research indicated a variety of significant differences in the effects of WWE marketing promotions on the age, income, marital status, and ethnicity demographics. These findings can in turn be used to help the WWE target designated consumer segments with the appropriate resources and marketing strategies as the company strives to increase future opportunities for success. Further samples from other areas in the country are needed, though, to verify if the regionally recognized inclination is consistent across the country. In addition, research should be performed at different times of the year to clarify seasonal sport preferences.

INTRODUCTION
Professional wrestling fans receive different reactions from people. Some people think it is “cool” to be a fan; others are disappointed because they consider it to be faked. Fans respond that they enjoy the entertainment value of professional wrestling. According to Ball (1990), wrestling fans tend to be stereotyped as the “dregs of society,” a group composed mainly of lower-class people.

Nevertheless, professional wrestling is also a tremendous entertainment business and has become an addiction for a large portion of young Americans. Ball (1990) stated, “Professional wrestling in the United States provides an ideal platform for the study of entertainment-culture and portrays some of the richest symbolism in society today” (p. 4).

It incorporates action in the arena, and sometimes outside the arena. It is an action adventure show, a cartoon, drama, and a sitcom. It is like a big soap opera for men, a hybrid of everything ever seen on television. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE), which produces some of the most popular shows in the world and reaches a diverse audience, has an enormous fan base and following for its entertainment value. As one of television’s most unique shows, it draws upon many other successful forms of entertainment. The continuing story lines are familiar to viewers of soap operas. The action, adventure, and racier elements draw their motivation from the best that sports and Hollywood have to offer. According to Gresseon (1998), professional wrestling has gone from a dull participant ritual to an exciting, action-filled form of entertainment.

The action in WWE events may be “fake,” but the entertainment value of World Wrestling created by Vincent and Linda McMahon is very real. Gresson (1998) asserted that wrestling has taken into consideration the audience’s needs and successfully translated them into spectacular shows that draw spectacular profits. The WWE has dominated its market and has established its brand in the minds of the American public. As an integrated media and entertainment company, the WWE is principally engaged in the development, production, and marketing of television programming, pay-per-view programming, live events, and the licensing and sale of branded consumer products featuring its successful World Wrestling Entertainment brand.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In WWE’s 2006 annual report, net revenues of $400.1 million were generated, while an income from continuing operations of $55.2 million, before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortizations, stock options, and other non-cash charges, was reported.

WWE is incredibly prevalent in the male demographic, especially those aged 14 to 34. The company has been involved in the entertainment business for over 20 years and has established the brand as one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. According to Stotlar (2005), demographic changes in the United States population have directly influenced sport marketing. Brenner (2004) indicated that population trends have caused organizations to take a long, hard look at marketing efforts as teams and leagues find that there is no single, correct approach. To increase market penetration, marketers often discuss how to reach Hispanic, Asian, or other ethnic consumer groups, but oversimplify the challenge by applying such labels. According to WWE, its operations are organized around two principal activities:
1. Creation, marketing and distribution of live and televised entertainment, including the
sale of advertising time on its television programs; and
2. Marketing and promotion of its branded merchandise.

In an effort to further exploit and bolster its business, WWE launched a brand extension that created two separate and distinct brands, “Raw” and “SmackDown!” Each extension has its own distinct story lines, thus enabling the company to have two separate live event tours. The two tours permit the company to visit new domestic markets while touring internationally on a more frequent basis. In addition, WWE currently maintains licensing agreements with approximately 70 licensees worldwide. The company logo and images of WWE characters appear on thousands of retail products, including various types of apparel, toys, video games, and a wide assortment of other items.

According to WWE’s 2006 annual report, the company produces and promotes wrestling matches for TV and live audiences. Its nine hours of TV programming each week include “Raw”, a top US cable program, and “Smackdown!”, the highest-rated UPN show. Most of its programming airs on Viacom outlets, including MTV, TNN, and UPN. WWE also produces 14 pay-per-view programs and about 240 live events each year, licenses characters for merchandising, and sells videos and DVDs that showcase such wrestling stars as “The Rock”, “Hollywood Hulk Hogan”, and “The Undertaker.”

WWE’s success prompted this study, which set out to investigate the numerous ways in which the company promotes and markets its brand, its programming, its events, and its products. Kwon and Armstrong (2004) asserted that one of the most crucial elements of sport marketing involves segmenting the market of sport consumers into smaller, homogeneous groups for which specific marketing strategies can be cultivated. Accordingly, this study examined the different results of WWE promotions and marketing based on age, income, marital status, and ethnicity.

Pitts and Stotlar (2002) defined sport marketing as “the process of designing and implementing activities for the production, pricing, promotion, and distribution of a sport product to satisfy the needs or desires of consumers and to achieve the company’s goals” (p. 80).

Understanding the “4 Ps of Marketing” is crucial to any successful marketing channels in an organization. In traditional marketing, the “4 Ps of Marketing”, a concept coined by E. Jerome McCarthy (McCarthy & Perreault, 1990), specifically refers to the following:
Product: the essence of the product or service that includes product lines, product extensions, and the meeting of new consumer needs within the targeted group of customers.
Price: shows the desired image a company wants to portray about a product or service while taking into consideration competitors’ prices, available discounts, and market share.
Place: the actual, physical distribution of a product or service. This can include the transporting of goods to wholesale and retail outlets or the geographic location of a business or organization.
Promotions: carrying messages about products and services to potential consumers. This can be performed through publicity, advertising, or other means of communication.

A brief overview of the 4 Ps as they relate to the WWE will serve as a base from which to understand WWE’s success. To begin, the WWE “products” are its superstars – “The Rock”, “Trish Stratus”, “Stone Cold Steve Austin”, and “The Undertaker”. These superstars are professional and skilled in the portrayal of popular characters. One of WWE’s top superstars, “The Rock”, the son of a Samoan homemaker and an African-American pro wrestler, became a feature film action hero in Universal’s blockbuster, “The Scorpion King”. WWE has a vastly increased talent pool that translates directly to brand extension and additional revenue streams producing more pay-per-view events, more live events, more international tours, more branded merchandise, and more new television programming with new stars and new brands outside the genre.

Compared to other sports leagues, the WWE ticket “price” is one of the most expensive. According to the WWE website (2007), the average ticket price for three live events in Asia in March 2002 was $63.00 and the average ticket price for live events in the United States was $36.00. Each of WWE’s other 11 domestic pay-per-view events have a suggested retail price of $34.95, up from $29.95. Compared to the baseball ticket, ESPN (2007) indicates that the lowest average price is $13.79.

According to the WWE annual report (2006), it has major arenas, such as Madison Square Garden in New York City, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, California; Allstate Arena in Chicago, First Union Center in Philadelphia, Fleet Center in Boston, and Earls Court in London, England. These major arenas represent the “place” in the marketing mix. WWE has a 46,500-square-foot entertainment complex located in Times Square. The complex boasts a 600-seat restaurant and 2,200 square feet of retail space. The complex provides for a variety of entertainment uses, including:
1. Airing WWE’s regularly scheduled TV shows and pay-per-views;
2. Hosting concerts and other live events, including press conferences,
stockholder meetings and product launches;
3. A night club;
4. Appearances and autograph sessions featuring performers; and,
5. Banquets, birthday parties and other social and corporate functions.

“Promotion” is the final P in the marketing mix to be discussed. According to WWE, the company promotes and markets its brand, its programming, its events, and its products in numerous ways, including:
1. Approximately 200 live events are held each year in major stadiums and arenas
throughout the world, including Madison Square Garden in New York City, Arrowhead
Pond of Anaheim, California; Sky dome in Toronto, Canada; and the Manchester
Evening News Arena in Manchester, England;
2. Nine hours of original television programming are produced, 52 weeks per year;
3. 12 domestic pay-per-view events are produced each year;
4. Programs and pay-per-view events are distributed in over 150 countries in nine languages;
5. Branded merchandise is marketed and sold directly to consumers and to major retailers
worldwide;
6. The branded merchandise is licensed to approximately 85 companies to produce and distribute thousands of retail products worldwide;
7. Two monthly magazines are published with a combined annual circulation of
approximately 5.8 million; and,
8. News and information is distributed about the WWE’s story lines, performers, and
programming and, consequently, affects e-commerce sales through Internet sites.

For years, a great deal of research has been undertaken in an effort to understand the behavior of sport marketing strategies. However, most studies have focused on direct sport marketing strategies, while studies examining the factors that influence indirect consumer behavior have been neglected. At present, studies investigating the effectiveness of WWE marketing strategies have not been well designed, thus creating a need for further research. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of various WWE marketing platforms and the demographic composition of its fan base. An empirical analysis looks at the numerous ways in which the company promotes and markets its brand, its programming, its events, and its products.

Furthermore, this study also examines the effectiveness of WWE promotions and marketing based on age, sex, educational level, and ethnicity. Differences based on age, sex, educational level, and ethnicity may compel sports marketers to adapt current marketing approaches.

Best marketing practices of current WWE are also examined, and recommendations for sports marketers on how to successfully target the population segment are provided.

In sum, the general research question for this study is: How do WWE marketing channels affect various fan bases?

METHODS
Sample and data collection
As mentioned, WWE’s 2006 annual report showed a strong following of fans in males aged 14 to 34. Taking this into account, the designated target population of this study was university students aged 18-34. In addition to its representation of the WWE fan base, this demographic was also deemed appropriate due to the fact that university students fall into the age demographic (18-34) that is most sought after by sport producers. According to Turco (1996), college students differ significantly from other markets in their consuming behaviors. Therefore, surveys were distributed to over 500 students and a total of 107 viable questionnaires were obtained using SurveyMonkey. Within the collected sample, 40 students were from a public university in South Korea and 67 students were taking Sport Exercise and Science (SES) activity classes from April 23 to May 4, 2007, at the University of Northern Colorado. This sample size was intended to be used as a pilot study for future research.

Instrumentation
The questionnaire was comprised of several sections with a total of 35 items. Part of the survey contained questions to gain information about general demographics of spectators, WWE-related information, and marketing-related information. Requested demographic information included age, sex, marital status, and household income. This survey was formulated to WWE marketing channels before the questions for demographic information. The objective of the study was to provide other related information necessary to assist WWE in developing effective marketing strategies. It took respondents approximately 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

Procedures
The data was collected through SurveyMonkey from April 23 to April 30 in 2007. The researcher contacted course instructors and obtained consent from them to disseminate the surveys. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the author’s Institutional Review Board, which approved the methodology and survey instrument. All participants were informed in advance that participation was voluntary and that all information would remain confidential and anonymous. They were able to refuse and decide to stop responding at anytime. 107 survey questionnaires were distributed randomly. A total of 103 usable surveys were collected. All questionnaires were answered anonymously. It was assumed that the participants in the survey gave honest and thoughtful responses to each question.

Data Analysis
A cross tabulation is the process of taking two variables and tabulating the results of one variable against the other variable. A cross-tabulation gives us a basic picture of how two variables inter-relate. It aids us in searching for patterns of interaction. Each cell indicates the number of respondents that gave a specific combination of responses, that is, each cell contains a single cross tabulation. A cross tabulation was performed to examine the correlation between the different variables and various demographic make-up of its fan base. Descriptive statistics were also calculated for each of the demographics. SPSS 13.0 for Windows was utilized to perform the above statistical analyses.

RESULTS
The participants of this study included Caucasian, Asian, African-American, and Hispanic populations. Of the 107 total respondents, 55% considered themselves Caucasian and 38% considered themselves Asian. Only 7% of the responses gathered this study were from African-American and Hispanic (Chart 1). Figure 1 indicates that there is a significant difference between various ethnic groups. The majority of Caucasian respondents indicated that they made their decision to go to the WWE event to entertain guests, while most Asian respondents preferred attending the event to spend time with their families.

CHART 1 Demographics of Participants
Screen Shot 2014-02-05 at 4.52.10 PM

FIGURE 1 Factors to Go to the WWE Event
Screen Shot 2014-02-05 at 4.54.12 PM

Overall, giveaways were not seen as a significant factor in determining whether or not to go to the WWE event. In addition, in the question regarding the importance of the excitement offered by WWE, approximately 90 % of female respondents provided a response of neutral or less. 29% of male respondents produced a neutral response (Table 1).

TABLE 1 The Levels of Excitement by WWE
Screen Shot 2014-02-05 at 4.55.30 PM

One of the interesting findings in this study is that while the majority of Caucasian respondents watched over 3 hours of television a week, their Asian counterparts reported watching less than 5 hours of television in a single week (Table 2). According to the WWE Report (2006), the majority of the WWE fan base was Caucasian. However, the results of this study indicate that 52% of Caucasian respondents were not watching WWE events on television. In general, the results of this study indicated that there were more male than female spectators at WWE events. The majority of the respondents who attended the events was from middle-income families and was Caucasian.

TABLE 2 Hours of Watching WWE on Television
Screen Shot 2014-02-06 at 9.33.39 AM

A large proportion of the spectators were single. The people in different age groups differed significantly in the marketing channels. Those 30 years of age or younger appear to be more interested in attending the events, ordering pay-per-view, and visiting the WWE site. In regards to ethnicity, not only did very few Hispanic people attend WWE events, but very few participated in or were affected by the other marketing strategies.

DISCUSSION
According to the responses, pay-per-view and the website were the most effective sources of information about WWE. CD’s, home videos, print media, and other items were relatively less effective sources of information for WWE. Consequently, WWE should develop additional weekly television programming through creative and entertaining events while strengthening its pay-per-view marketing efforts to reach new consumers.

In essence, WWE must strengthen its existing television and pay-per-view distribution relationships and develop broader distribution arrangements for WWE branded programming worldwide. This can be accomplished by continuing to produce high quality, exciting live events, branded programming, and consumer products for global distribution.

In addition, WWE must develop its story lines by further integrating contemporary themes and increasing its focus on the continuous cultivation of skilled, young, entertaining characters to complement its pool of established talent. This can be accomplished by recruiting, developing, and maintaining a roster of highly skilled athletes who possess the physical presence, acting ability, and charisma to develop into popular performers. WWE should also augment the licensing and direct sales of WWE branded goods through its distribution channels while cultivating its Internet operations to further promote the brand and develop additional sources of revenue. In addition, the organization should also inflate the licensing and direct sale of WWE branded merchandise, and bring the distribution of home videos, CD’s and publications in-house.
WWE must meet certain objectives if it wants to achieve its goal and be the number one entertainment business in the United States or among the Hispanic Community. While advertising and broadcasting in Spanish may invite Latino and Hispanic consumers to the arena, the presence of Spanish-speaking ushers, vendors, and customer service representatives will ensure an enjoyable experience. According to Sergio Del Prado, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Vice President of sales and marketing (summarized in 10 Tips for Reaching Hispanic Consumers, 2007), “one thing where people really drop the ball, you get [Latinos] to commit, and then they come to the ballpark and nobody speaks the language and they feel different than anyone else.”

A Hispanic marketing blitz should contain promotions in the Hispanic newspapers, on Hispanic TV channels, and on Hispanic radio stations. Heavy advertising through all these media outlets will enhance the WWE brand name and symbol in the Hispanic community. Spending on advertising to Hispanic media outlets should be double that of English speaking outlets. WWE does not want to be an organization for the elite, but an organization that all of the country, regardless of income and race, can enjoy and love. This end message has to be communicated to WWE’s prospective Hispanic fan base in order for WWE to become profitable in the Hispanic community.

In addition to Hispanics, young people are a second market that WWE must target in order to achieve lucrative success. WWE must gear its consideration toward the young generation, a mission that can be accomplished by concentrating on young people while they are at school. WWE must work with the schools to generate programs and initiatives that spark the students’ interests. This can be accomplished through WWE ticket and merchandise giveaways. For instance, students who accomplish a certain GPA receive four tickets to a WWE live event. At the event, WWE will acknowledge their accomplishments with either scoreboard or public address recognition during a break in activities. This sort of program could generate short-term expenses, but will benefit WWE in the end. These students and their parents will become consumers of the WWE’s brand and will subsequently be more interested in WWE’s product. This interest will bring them back to the live events, where additional marketing strategies can move them up the consumer escalator.

Considering the time people normally spend on watching TV, television promotion showed high efficiency to communicate the information about WWE events to the respondents. However, it is obvious that TV advertising is the most expensive means to promote any event. Due to the fact that most people who attend WWE events are working class and spend plenty of time in their automobile driving regularly, radio is a comparatively cost-effective and efficient method to market a WWE event.

CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of various WWE marketing platforms and the demographic composition of its fan base. What was discovered was that many people cannot pay for the price of a WWE event. The price is too costly for many people living in the United States at the present time and many of WWE’s prospective consumers consider a live event as a novelty and not a usual night of entertainment. Providing new ticket plans that are reasonable for the majority of U. S. residents would be exceedingly favorable to WWE. It would augment its revenue and attendance in a very short period of time and supply WWE with a stronger fan base for the future.

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT
WWE should implement new forms of entertainment and build brands that harmonize its existing businesses, including the improvement of new television programming that will extend beyond its current offerings. Such formulations will appeal to WWE’s targeted demographic market and build up branded location-based entertainment businesses directly or through licensing agreements, joint business enterprises, and other preparations. For the promotion to be flourishing and fill the stands, this decision must be made based on knowledge of WWE’s prospective spectators, their characteristics, and behavior patterns.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
None

REFERENCES
1. Ball, M. R. (1990). Professional wrestling as ritual drama in American popular culture. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.

2. Boston has highest average for 10th straight season. (2007, March). Retrieved from http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2819597

3. Brenner, S. (2004). A world of opportunity. Sport Business Journal, 15-16.

4. Gresson, A. D. (1998). Professional wrestling and youth culture: Testing, taunting, and the containment of civility. Boulder, CO: Westview.

5. Kwon, H., & Armstrong, K. (2004). An exploration of the construct of psychological attachment to a sport team among college students: A multidimensional approach. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 13(2), 82–93.

6. McCarthy, E. J., & Perreault, W. D. (1990). Basic Marketing (10th Edition.) Boston: Irwin.

7. Pitts, B. G., & Stotlar, D. K. (2002). Fundamentals of Sport Marketing (2nd Edition.). Morgan town, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

8. Stotlar, D. K. (2005). Developing successful sport marketing plans. Morgan town, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

9. Turco, D. (1994). Event sponsorship: effects on consumer brand loyalty and consumption. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 3(3), 42 – 45.

10. World Wrestling Entertainment Website (2006). Retrieved April 2, 2007, from http://www.wwe.com

11. 10 tips for reaching Hispanic consumers. (2007, January 22). Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, 9(37). Retrieved April 5, 2007, from http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm.

2014-02-06T09:44:56-06:00February 6th, 2014|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Sports Marketing, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on An Empirical Analysis of the Effectiveness of World Wrestling Entertainment Marketing Strategies

‘The Personal Journey’: A Study of the Individual Race Stories of Desert Marathon Runners

Submitted by Richard Cheetham MSc, University of Winchester

Abstract
The research recounted the personal journeys and experiences of individuals who had undertaken and completed a Desert Marathon race, with specific focus on the reasons behind their participation, their race experiences and how the race had subsequently impacted upon their lives. The lack of a comparative analysis of these individual personal race accounts formed the rationale behind this research. The objective was to achieve a greater appreciation of what drives those to challenge themselves in such harsh and high risk environments. The eight runners interviewed all sought a challenge beyond that of the normal marathon distance and one that would require very diligent training ‘rituals’… The very personal reasons ranged from using the race to seek adventure, to grieve, to “make people sit up and take notice” and to experience and conquer an event of such magnitude. The recollection of the race and the months that have since passed, highlighted the impact on each of the runners. This impact showed changes in their outlook on life, a greater self-belief, and a “greater respect for humanity.” They had become invigorated by the experience and in some cases, there was a continued pursuit of the next ‘arena’ in which to test themselves as well as making enduring friendships with those they met along the way.

Introduction
In the words of Dean Karnazes, Desert and Ultra Marathon runner who once completed 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days, and author of Ultra Marathon man: Confessions of an all-night runner.

I run because long after my footprints fade away, maybe I will have inspired a few people to reject the easy path, hit the trails, put one foot in front of the other, and come to the same conclusion I did: I run because it always takes me where I want to go. (Karnazes, 2005, p.276)

The ‘culture’ of ultra-distance running has inspired a number of autobiographies from those who have found that they have a story to share of their adventures, heartache, drive and conquest of distances and terrains beyond ‘normal’ recognised running / endurance events. Dean Karnazes is one of those runners. Individuals’ life changing circumstances have led some to immerse themselves in the raw beauty of the long distance trails and the open road. They have entered a previously unknown world of suffering, unchartered territory of heightened physical and mental demands, and yet also one that embraces obstacles set along the way. It was these stories and the author’s own experience from the 2010 Atacama Desert Marathon that inspired this narrative research into this specific aspect of ultra-marathon running among those who set their goal to triumph in completing of one of life’s most difficult endurance challenges.

Extreme Running
The emergence of ‘extreme’ running as a new sports genre has seen races on all five continents run across deserts, along mountain ranges, and through dense jungle. What qualifies these as extreme are the length, terrain, and altitude; as well as extremities of heat, cold, isolation and remoteness. They demand physical and psychological strength from the participants and “extend them beyond the norm of running experiences” (McConnell & Horsley, 2007, p.10). The standard format for desert ultra-marathons is to require the individual to complete six marathons in 6 days, carrying all their equipment and food. It is only water, tents and medical support that is provided.

The locations for the races include the Sahara, Gobi, and Atacama deserts, as well as Antarctica (often referred to as the ‘last wilderness’). Runner and author, Robin Harvie, refers to these as the “theatre of the wild” (p.38) in his book Why we run? The challenge of long distance running goes beyond a simple calculation of mileage and often into a psychological territory unknown to most. It is therefore an event that takes the runner to “the extreme frontiers of the environment and their own physical capacity for endurance” (McConnell & Horsley, 2007, p.10).

An early insight into the appeal and demands of these extreme environments is given by Polar explorer Richard Byrd who wrote in 1938 of the appeal, the dangers and the challenge in his book ‘Alone’ long before they were used for endurance running events.

After gazing at the sky for some time, I came to the conclusion that such beauty had been reserved for remote and dangerous places, and that nature has good reasons for demanding special sacrifices from those who dare to contemplate it.

These sacrifices would require the runners to show thorough preparation and discipline, little room for error in an event that has claimed lives through dehydration and sheer physical fatigue.

And so it is from these desert cauldrons that emerge the individual race stories, their untold personal journeys that often begin beyond the start line and continue past the finish. It is the recollections which give an insight into the appeal of the challenge, the one that lures them into the desert, to endure such hardship and to be rewarded by such an achievement. With this article the author hopes to not only learn from the runner’s narratives, but to convey a sense of appreciation for the participants’ personal motives, barriers and doubt that were overcome in pursuing their goal of running across, in this case, the Sahara and Atacama deserts.

Author and runner, Billy Isherwood, provided perhaps one of the only detailed personal accounts of such a race when he completed the 2006 Atacama Desert race. It begins with an account of his battles with alcoholism, drug abuse, and the domestic violence he experienced during his childhood. Yet at the age of 54 he crossed the finish line after 250 kilometres of running through the unforgiving terrain and climatic conditions. This autobiographical account of his life, and how he arrived at the start line of the 2006 Atacama Desert Marathon, provided a story that was to partially influence the rationale behind this narrative study, as it detailed his journey to the race, his race account and the transformation since. Karnazes (2012) and Zahab (2007) have described their desert race accounts, but in among a collection of other races. The aim of this study is to collate and compare narratives from those competing for the first time, to achieve a greater appreciation of what drives those to challenge themselves in such harsh and high risk environments.

This research began with a review of a number of autobiographies and selected texts surrounding ultra-marathon runners and endurance running. This was coupled with the autobiographies of triathletes, Richard Roll and Chrissie Wellington. The experiences from this variety of ultra-endurance athletes helped to form a backdrop to the work and a basis for the direction of the interviews.

Ultra marathon runner, Robin Harvie (Harvie, 2012) produces an insight into his running motives and explains that the only way to truly understand ‘the why and your own why’ is to take part in these events. He states that the race changes an individual beyond their initial motivation and that “to really know where the road leads, is to take that road yourself” (p.4).

Robinson (2011) provides a starting point for the research in terms of accomplishment and for some, the need for self-actualisation. Many people “never connect” with their true talents and subsequently “never know what they are really capable of achieving” (p.xi). For Marshall Ulrich, who ran across America at the age of 57, it was the accomplishment, not the pursuit of “high prize money or stadiums of adoring fans” (p.17). For Scott Jurek, a world renowned ultra-marathon champion it was wanting to “pry myself open going beyond the body beyond the mind” (Jurek, 2012, p.224). Krissy Moehl, twice winner of the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc (a 100 mile race in the Alps), also speaks of the accomplishment of “pushing your physical limits” (Moehl, cited in Powell, 2011, p.2). She refers specifically to the emotional responses that such challenges evoke aside from those physical boundaries that are realised. Multiple Ironman Triathlete, Chrissie Wellington (2012), refers to a “contest against the race itself” (p.1) regardless of fellow competitors.

Dean Karnazes identified that time spent running allowed him space for “finding peace” (p.276). Dietz (2011) recognises that in ultra-marathons the time out running and away from work, family, and finances rarely happens and therefore allows “a holiday for the mind” (p.42). Trail runner, Boff Whalley states that “We all of us run … To give our bodies a general sense of purpose – creating, in this hurly-burly world, space to think, space to breath” (Whalley, 2012, p.5). He refers to a connection with the environment – the relationship between “the earth and our feet” (p.3). His focus was on running away from normal chosen routes and exploring challenging paths with harsh terrain, unpredictable weather and undulating, demanding wilderness.

Andrew Murray who ran from the far north of Scotland to the Sahara desert (Murray, 2011) was driven by the endeavour, for a charitable cause but also the appeal of the locations he would visit along the way. The desert marathons are organised in places rarely visited but, it could be argued, in some of the most extraordinary destinations on earth. Dietz (2011) also highlighted that the running became an excuse to travel to places around the world. Karnazes (2005) was also led by the appeal, the freedom to explore and to experience the environment for real.

Some people may have fear of living in a comfort zone of neither risk nor adventure and a fear of living from “meal to meal” which Jim Schekhdar (Schekdhar, 2002) saw as his inspiration to break out from ‘normality’ and row across the Pacific in 2001. Or as Reid (cited in Austin, 2007) comments that there is a real need to achieve and challenge ourselves, to “do something with our lives” (p.120) and that this can be achieved through running. Maybe it could be the fear of simply “walking along the corridors leading to the lives of our parents” (Harvie, 2010, p.74) and therefore exist with the confines of ‘normal life.’

An analysis might reveal it as simple as runners looking for the next step, the further distance as they draw from their previous accomplishments (Dietz, 2011). One marathon may not be enough to provide some with the satisfaction after completion and that coupled with a new inner belief that there is more ‘in the tank’ which leads inevitably onto higher stakes. For some however, their very existence is defined by running (Harvie, 2010). Described by Karnazes (2005) as a very simple “primitive act” (Karnazes, 2005, p.276).

Selected comments from these autobiographies and ultra-endurance focussed literature show some of the deeply felt emotions and motivations. These are mere ‘snapshots’ of their stories.

Alongside these individual perspectives from endurance racers, a specific contextualised series of narratives from desert runners will add to and enhance the breadth of studies. This research was therefore designed to be an innovative research project within a developing specific area of athletic performance. To accomplish it I use narrative enquiry where “people’s lives are storied” (Savin-Boden & Major, 2013, p.227). Hopefully this will not only enable a more sophisticated academic understanding of the extremes of human sport, but it will provide a resource for those wishing to compete in such events, beyond what training manuals offer. As Parker (1978) sought to understand in the novel ‘Once a Runner’ there too was a desire to “capture some of the bittersweet beauty and heartbreak of the only all-consuming quest for physical excellence” (p.274).

Method
This research used a narrative research methodology which, through a study of research suitability, has been regarded as the most relevant and effective for understanding the individual race motives and race recollections (Savin-Boden & Howell Major, 2013, Jones, Brown, & Holloway, 2012). The study aimed to recount the experiences of individuals and therefore “focus on people’s perceptions and experiences of the world they live in – and what it means to them” (Jones et al. 2012, p.113) and to show an understanding of that experience (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). Schultz (1964) emphasises that this is the world as viewed by the individual and not constructed by the researcher who should act to safeguard any misinterpretation of data. The study aimed to truly reflect first-person accounts of life experiences, which is essential in the use of narrative research and allows the individuals voices to be heard (Cresswell, 2007). The research sought to provide a richness of data that eight individual accounts of desert races can achieve. It was a description of what they underwent and how they lived through it – “the essence of the experience” (Cresswell, 2006, p.58).

Essential to this study, was the ability to recognise themes that may emerge, commonalities of the runners backgrounds and the race impact for example, and also to identify and highlight the very personal nature for undertaking their journey and encounters along the way. The runners developed a trust with the author that was built on ensuring they were represented honestly and accurately throughout.

Sample
A selection was made of eight runners (n=8), from 28 to 52 years of age, who all agreed to an interview, four female and four male. They were chosen through convenience from a number who had competed with the researcher in the Atacama Desert marathon in 2010 or from contacts of those participants and who had raced in other locations. Some of these have completed desert ultra-marathons since 2010 in the Sahara, Atacama, Antarctica, and Gobi Deserts.

The relatively small sample size is consistent with narrative research of this kind as Holloway and Wheeler (2010) suggest homogeneous groups can require only 6 to 8 participants. The selection of participants is also consistent with sampling recommendations by Morse (1986, 1991b) who encourages the choice of interviewees to be based upon their experience, knowledge and ability to articulate (in this case, their race journey). This form of purposive sampling was supported by the shared and “specific phenomenon” (Jones et al, 2012, p.35; Mayhut & Morehouse, 1994) that is recommended in qualitative study.

The interview procedure
All participants were interviewed individually at work or home in locations chosen by them. Four were interviewed via Skype, as they lived in the United States, Hong Kong and Australia. By their nature qualitative interviews are often unstructured (Jones et al, 2012). They use open-ended questions which is a primary consideration within qualitative research (Mayhut & Morehouse, 1994; Gratton & Jones, 2004). The aim was to allow the participants to describe their race experience in as much detail as possible and interviews lasted between 45 minutes and an hour but there was no time restriction placed on them. It was essential that the interviewee described their experience in as much detail as possible and felt they were encouraged in some way to lead and control the interview, recognizing that they were the expert of this very particular journey.

In this case, however, the interviewer has also completed a desert Ultra-marathon and this proved to be an advantage in the interview process as the interviewer was able to further explore their encounters with greater empathy. This may be a question of guidance as opposed to direction.

Interviews of this nature have been described as a “conversation with a purpose” (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994, p.88). As a result the questions designed and selected were guided by the subject content and also by Patton (1990) who used six types of questions. Selected from these, were themes based around experience, behaviour, feelings, background, sensory and opinion. The recounting of the race story from a personal perspective focussed on pre-race, race, and post -race experiences within the context of a personal journey.’ Their feelings, thoughts and motivations, as well as the impact that the race completion has subsequently had on them, shaped the interview process.

Data Analysis
The gathering of the stories from the interviews followed the approach recommended by Maykut and Morehouse (1994) in which what is meaningful to the participants guides the analysis, and not that which is pre-determined by the researcher. Therefore data collected aimed to represent those participants in a “coherent and meaningful way” (Hunter, 2010, p.44) by ensuring that the information was given order and structure in the analysis stage. Following each interview the audio tapes were transcribed and coded using thematic analysis (Gratton & Jones, 2010). Thematic analysis led to the selection of significant emerging themes that the participants identified, not those deemed worthy by the researcher; while not losing the reconstruction of the desert race journey. These emergent themes were identified in the results section. The analysis of the interview transcripts enabled a more meaningful presentation of the interviews and was considered in such a way that when read by the participants they would feel that they still ‘owned the story.’

Discussion of Results

Individual running history
The initial question aimed to gather a running history of each interviewee. This showed that they were not ‘well versed’ in the demands of endurance running in such harsh conditions and would have to acclimatise and adapt to the sheer volume of training and preparation required. It proved to be far in excess of that required for anything experienced before. Lucy confessed that before the Sahara Desert Marathon, “I’d never been a serious runner.” All the participants had completed a marathon before the race began, in some cases as part of their training and in others something that had been part of their running history.

It was felt important that, in initially focussing on this aspect of their stories, that the reader would be made aware of the running history of the group in order to put the accomplishment into a better context. The findings showed variety in their pre-desert race running accounts.

David who had competed in two Marathons and adopted an increasingly more serious approach to his training to the point where he wanted to find an event that allowed him to “incorporate all the training.” His father had completed “11 or 12 London Marathons” and he had grown up within an environment where “he’d (his father) go out on Christmas day or whenever…we just accepted it. Ross, who had “accidentally done a full marathon” three years before Atacama, played rugby and kept general fitness as it was “something I have always worked on.” He also confessed to not enjoying running and felt “I don’t think I’ve got the right body type.” Ricky who had played professional baseball where running formed part of the training programme and except for several shorter distance events including five and ten kilometre races “I had never really done anything formally and no marathons.”

Andrea had “sporadically” done some running at High School and College including cross-country but her father had “been a life-time runner and has done like I think around fifty marathons.” Andrea recalled a moment when “I gave him a call and said if I do a half-marathon will you come and do it with me?” This had come when she had taken up running again after a period in her twenties she had been “a really heavy smoker.”

Sam indicated that while she was always “an active person” despite taking part in several half-marathons stated “I definitely haven’t been a very good runner.” Marilena had completed six full marathons including Hong Kong, London, and one in Uruguay. She had a great deal of running experience; as a result the training application alone would, in itself, help her with the preparation for the Atacama Desert race.

Tremaine referred to the military CFT (Combat Fitness Test) as the only real specific running he had done while in the British Army but had no real interest in it outside of this form of ‘compulsory’ training.

It is this analysis that gave a starting point for the research. This showed that these successful desert marathon runners had no experience of extreme endurance events prior to that first day on the start line. A race start that would see them carry up to 12kgs each day of food, basic medical resources and other essential supplies to survive the extremes of heat (daytime temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius) and cold ( temperatures fell to near freezing at night). And so it seemed inevitable to begin the questioning with – why choose something so extreme?

Reasons why the participants chose to race across a desert.
The discussion then moved onto ‘the why’, the why something so extreme? And it was this question that unearthed some common themes. The level of extremity should not be underplayed. This was highlighted in the 2011 Gobi Desert race where one runner died. The need for thorough preparation was essential and that every aspect of the race had to be considered. Sam described “taking off those rose coloured glasses.” The desert was to be an uncompromising and unforgiving environment. Tremaine said he wanted to find something that was simply on the “borderline of lunacy!” For many this may be regarded as ‘lunacy’ but what transpired were the deeply personal accounts of ‘their why.’ Goals (such as this one) give a sense of purpose – “a real sense of being” (Pink, 2009, p.137). Ricky said “there always has to be a purpose…. a really strong why.” For him one of the reasons was on his way to work, “it was walking the tube (London Underground) and being out of breath…..its’ like I am gonna make a change.” The other answers to this question were “as individual as the runners themselves (Ulrich, 2011, p.44). Andrea had been “enthralled” by the feats of Dean Karnazes, ultramarathon and desert runner. She initially wanted to volunteer on a desert race but was encouraged by a race organiser that she could complete one and recounted, “he was like listen, I can tell when people are ready and it’s not about how far you can run, its’ really about your mind-set.” Andrea had reached a point in her life when she wanted to see that “I could really do something” to test herself.

The challenge itself – extending boundaries and beyond a marathon
Initially what became evident was the runners reference to ‘the challenge’ itself, the test of oneself against the elements and to find the next step from the marathon. It seemed that they were all looking for the next step. Ultramarathon runner Ray Zahab (cited in Ulrich, 2011) believes that if you can run twenty six miles then your body can carry you further, “the only question is can your mind go the distance” (p.144).

All of those interviewed were drawn by the need to see what was within their grasp, physically and mentally and that the desert race offered up a chance to demand of them to reach a limit never previously realised. David had read about the race as he had been actively looking for “the next thing” and had sought out an extreme race event. For him it was “something ….you make a commitment to …and that means you make sacrifices.” Wellington (2012) refers to what the intensity of Ironman taught her, “our limits may not be where we think they are” (p.274) and this was echoed. The need to push their boundaries, to apply themselves, unaided (Tremaine, “it’s just you and the desert,” Marilena, “just the thought of being in the open, self-supported”) to take on something dramatic and this captured their imagination.

Ross, who had experienced physical hardship due to altitude sickness when climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2007, had a philosophy of “not if but how” when he was presented with the details of the race by David via an e-mail in early September 2009. He exhibited a clear determination that in order to succeed one had to embrace the sheer scale of the challenge and reach “that boundary of probably pushing yourself to the limit.” He went on to say “it’s not how fast you run but how much guts you have.” Murakimi (2009) believes it is the pain (and the inevitability of it) which is accepted and that it can give us a greater sense of being alive. Others agreed that there was something alluring about the pain.

Having watched previous desert race videos, Marilena was aware of the likely suffering and was not in any way deterred but drawn in even more to choose the desert as her ‘arena’. “I saw suffering, going up and down hills and I thought that hmm that’s a challenge, I can do that. So I wanted to prove to myself that I can do it.” She also had a connection with her first race as her youngest daughter had been born in Chile and the “beauty” of Atacama had been the deciding factor on the choice of race and location.

It was important that the choice of extreme running took Ricky away from normal marathon events because for him, “What makes people sit up and listen is something more extreme,” “everyone’s done a marathon…for me “its’ kind of lost a bit of its’ shine.” He believed the attraction of this next level was “….discipline….commitment ….. Accomplishment, that’s what captures people’s spirit.” This was echoed by Harvie (2010) who felt that with the marathon distance (26.2 miles) “anyone can run a marathon given enough time” (p.269). Powell (2011) and Ulrich (2011) recognise the attempt to accomplish something so few have done as a motivational aspect in ultramarathon races. It is the thrill and excitement of taking on such a “mission” (McConnell & Horsley, 2007, p.11).

For loved ones
Lucy and Tremaine provided extremely emotive reasons for entering such an event. They had both experienced the loss of family through cancer, Lucy’s father had passed away in 2007 and Tremaine’s partner, Carla, had lost her battle to the illness at the age of only 31 in 2009. Lucy wanted to find a race that was something slightly different in order to generate interest for those wishing to donate to the charity she was running for (“raising money was my drive”) and also the race would help her to “put everything into perspective” since her bereavement. Tremaine had wanted to give something back to those who had cared for Carla, to do something “dramatic” and subsequently raise sponsorship in order to support a palliative care centre. He regarded the people who worked there and had cared for her as “saints” and not only did he wish to raise money but that the race would be his way of grieving. “You know in the middle of the desert, you’ve got no-one to talk to.” Both had been clearly deeply affected by their tragedies and it was evident the races (Lucy and Tremaine were to compete in four desert marathons in the same year along with Sam and Ricky) would allow them to deal with this part of their life. Scott Jurek, one of the most renowned ultramarathon runners said, “I ran because overcoming the difficulties of ultramarathon reminded me that I could overcome the difficulties of life, that overcoming difficulties was life” (Jurek, 2012, p.6).

For Tremaine, after all the anguish following Carla’s death “everyone fell to pieces” the desert race became a place that allowed him the chance to sort out “my own affairs.” It was “the best time to sort out my issues is when I am demoralised and broken down.”

Experience of the run
The journey offered each runner a starting point, as highlighted, from their first step along the route to the race and now that same journey moved to the next phase. The race itself was the next area for questioning. It is where initial fears, an almost inevitable suffering, emotions and individual coping mechanisms would all be unearthed.

Escapism
Beyond the chance to endure this feat of endurance the races provide times of isolation and solitude. There were times when runners experienced this and the interview sought to question what feelings this provoked among them. It aimed to garner greater details from the runners as to their race experience in terms of greater connection with their thoughts and to any appreciation of the environment they found themselves in. Heather Reid, Professor of Philosophy at Morningside College in Iowa, speaks of running allowing freedom, escape from the norm of daily living and away from “the herd” (Reid, cited in Austin, 2007, p.119). It offers a freedom and a removal of obstacles that limit the chance to ‘escape’ into a world “free of briefcase, cell phone and car keys” (p.118). When these freedoms are experienced how do individuals respond? Austin (2007) believes it is here that one can reflect on our lives and what is important to us. The questioning aimed to find how that freedom was recognised, appreciated and articulated. It was here that the ‘escapism’ enabled them to recollect feelings that show a greater connection with what they were doing and where they were. This was an uninterrupted space, away from outside distractions and ones that are part of or ‘plague’ our lives. The escapism that is “near impossible when modern life is defined by interaction” (Harvie, 2011, p.211). In this case the runners referred to the technology of contemporary life that does not afford us enough moments of ‘silence’.

Sam, Lucy, David, and Andrea referred to the “escapism” offered by the race. This referred to being away from normal work routines and into a challenge without phones and computers that would lead Lucy to show how much this meant to her, “I loved turning my phone off that was just a joy”… Andrea, “it’s been the only time in the last decade I don’t obsessively check my phone,” and “I don’t think I understood how disconnected from the rest of the world I would really be.” Sam reflected on similar experiences, “I put myself in high paced environments…….my phone is with me 24/7 and I am constantly checking e-mails.” With this hectic lifestyle came the “reward” of the marathon challenges, away from a world where in work her life was “crazy.” The final reflection came from David, who enjoyed being away from a life which appeared sometimes one of being ‘bombarded’ with e-mails, the internet”

Coping strategies
Endurance races provide an undulating ‘emotional terrain’ for runners. Zahab (2007) developed a “tunnel vision” (p.173) when trying to ignore the pain in his feet in the Amazon jungle marathon and allowed the “pure adrenaline” (p.174) to carry him through. Fry (cited in Austin, 2007) believes that running for the dedicated “is form of ritual suffering” (p.67). Harvie (2012) describes the suffering that is experienced and throws many into a pain “beyond comprehension” (p.73). And yet they also experience feelings that put this pain into some kind of perspective and deal with it in their own unique way. “I would live entirely in the moment………There was only one mission of putting one foot in front of the other” (Karnazes, 2011). Often there is the acknowledgement of its short-lived nature.

In her interview, Marilena described just how ‘dark’ things could get, “my feet were horrible…….I lost nine toenails” but “at least my suffering will be temporary……..that kept me going for sure.” Almost as inevitable partners inextricably linked are the moments here described as ‘moments of light and dark’ where the pain can give way to a time when the runner experiences a vivid moment of excitement that encapsulates all that is the adventure, the race, the encounter. They press on towards the light, towards that end goal lifted by what they could become and what they could realise. Ultramarathon runner Francesca Conte notes that at the Arkansas 100 mile race, “I always want, in every race to take the time to look up at the sky at night, because remembering how lucky I am matters more than winning” (cited in Jameson, 2003, p.152).

Ricky had suffered with horrendous blisters on both feet and had been vomiting during one of the stages. “We (a fellow runner who was with him on day 3) were in a horrible shape – that was a bad day.” A day that would find him out on the course for over 6 hours as he battled to cross the line for the end of a stage of the race. So how do you overcome these factors that could leave a runner struggling to carry on? Ricky continued, “You pushed through it, the pride, the elation of getting through and finishing that stage” and his drive to prove to others he could do it. One of those was his former Baseball coach at University who was always critical of him and doubted his abilities and to whom Ricky directed his anger: “I keep him in the back of my head…..and I imagined him watching me run this race. I’m going to prove you wrong because he’s a bastard. I wish he was listening to this.”

It was clear that each of the interviewees had their own strategy for these dark moments. Andrea had a key word, one that she would use when she was “hitting my lows.” She would “super-charge it with good thoughts…….charge it with good memories” and when those low points were experienced “I’ll say it (the word) to myself.” It was a case of “shifting” her thought process and it helped her through moments as on the third day when she had run out of water with five kilometres still to go. Water on the race was rationed each day. As Dean Karnazes pointed out when he participated in his first desert race, “Why ration water? I guess the organisers wanted to make it as authentic as possible. This is a race across the desert after all” (Karnazes, 2011, p.156). But this too could be a danger and Andrea was frustrated and angry but had turned this anger into “fuel, like it’s something that can move you on.”

David appeared very clear about his ability to cope with the times when he felt low either through fatigue or the pain of his worsening blisters. “I was never really that negative because I knew that everybody has their ups and downs.” He was able to break down the day’s route into sections where his aims would be to use the checkpoints as progress markers and goals. “I know that this is gonna hurt for the next 10k, but you can split that down.” Ulrich (2011) similarly learned to “compartmentalise my physical anguish…….how to strategize my races” (p.19 & 20).

Sam had injured her ankle even before the race had started and still travelled to the race. She had raised money for charity and was sponsored by a University in Australia. It had been a goal, “an absolute dream” and yet this initially appeared to be one that would stay as just that due to her injury in training just before the race. Her ability to turn potential disaster into achieving that goal was one that was built on reviewing how she could best complete each day.

So I decided to just walk it. I’m just going to do whatever I can to walk and even if I can only walk for the first one day, two days, I’m just going to make the most of it. I’ve never been to South America, so that’s what’s important to me, to really make the most of every moment I think that moment’s been the reason why I’m still running today.

It was almost as though her ‘dark moments’ had occurred before the race had begun and it enabled Sam to completely rethink her approach to the event. The walking of each stage for the first few days allowed her to take in her surroundings, to see things others may have missed as they pressed on across the terrain. “I found it a beautiful race.”

I was just wanting to make the most of it…….I had committed so much financially and …. mentally to get to the start line that I wasn’t going to throw that away by holding onto this idea that I would be able to run the whole thing.

Ross reflected on the charity he was running for although to help fend off the difficult times he was experiencing he spoke of “a bit of bravado” where there is a bit of it that you can’t go home and say I didn’t finish…..unless your leg was hanging off!” However he had been “so focussed, personally…..just progressing and putting your energy into that, otherwise I think I’d fall over and not get up.” He was also able to recall a time when the race became for him a moment of humour.

We were going across the salt flats where it was really rough, and it was a hazy heat, three sixty degrees and I just started cracking up. And I was just like this is …… bonkers like could not get further from reality, not reality, because it was reality, but from your day-to-day reality, and yeah I thought it was brilliant. Like couldn’t see another person and it was just like you know, that’s what you do it for.

Tremaine and Lucy had other emotions that influenced their coping strategy. Their recollections took on a very different slant. After her father’s death, Lucy and her sister, Camilla, entered the Sahara Desert Marathon and they had to split up midway as only Lucy was able to continue. At a checkpoint, one of the race doctors handed her a note passed to him earlier by Camilla. It had been written a while ago by their father, “I remember sitting quietly at the side of the camp…..bawling my eyes out because I was so tired.” The emotion, “the tears, the tiredness, I mean the whole thing was horrendous.” But this also enabled her to reflect upon why she was there and to change her thoughts “don’t be ridiculous, you’re raising money for people who are a lot worse off than you and that’s what kept me going.”

Tremaine experienced a great deal of reflection in the times of isolation in the race when “who do you talk to……your mind and soul has to dig up some serious questions.” The questions of regret related to being away from home when he was in Iraq and spending more time with his family surfaced when he was given that time to think “have a word with yourself.” And yet also occupying his thoughts were “you know she would be proud of me and what I’m doing you know.”

The impact of the race.
After all the miles, all the previously untapped thoughts and feelings, the physical peaks and troughs, the terrain and the temperature extremes it was all over but had it changed them? For the participants in the study at least this was the end of one journey and the start of another.

Friendships
One of the most significant changes for the participants was new and some enduring friendships, the connection with other runners from around the world and in one case, friendships that helped to change opinions. For Marilena, “I loved the way you mixed with so many nationalities, there were beautiful people; never seen them before and maybe you will never see again, but that week they were your closest friends and there was that rapport.” Tremaine had changed his views on those he had met away from his life in the military and from one that he felt instilled stereotypes of those in civilian life. He had experienced so much and identified so many things that had changed for him. Twenty two years serving in the military had left him ‘disconnected’ to civilians and now “I wasn’t a hate civvies kind of soldier that I used to be.” He highlighted what others identified as a camaraderie and respect among his fellow competitors: “No one judges you, the fit ones respect the slower ones, the slower ones respect the fit ones. It’s just like an aura around people.

Ross acknowledged it was “…..the friends that you make and the memories that you create there…..I don’t think it changed my life, but it’s certainly made it a lot richer.” With all the wealth of memories that arose Sam highlighted “what I take away from it (the race), from the journey of running, particularly in those early day races, were just the friendships I made”. Andrea found “one of the unexpected treasures of the experience” was “that you had to like earnestly connect with people in a way that you don’t get to in your life.” Murakami (2009) commented that one of the real pleasures of running has been the people he has met and who have encouraged him along the way.

New self-belief and new challenges
Six of the eight ventured back into other deserts to race and run across – these were Ricky, Lucy, Sam, Marilena, David, and Tremaine. For them the challenge had given them a change in their self-belief through this first accomplishment in an extreme endurance event. Lucy, “I do take on challenges slightly head-on now, because I, you know I‘ve put my body through some extreme situations.” The interview had taken place two weeks after she had summited Aconcagua in Argentina, which is just less than 7,000m high. “I think, I know I can, I know I can do with, like physically I can do more.” She continued to reflect on her thoughts to what lay ahead.

I’d never thought of running a hundred miles around Mont Blanc or round Mount Fuji…….now it’s perfectly normal that I am doing that at the end of April. It’s just ….you live in a tent and you get used to….a sleeping bag for three and a half weeks on a mountain or a week in the desert with ten other people, and that’s perfectly normal and you don’t bat an eyelid.

Jurek (2012) believes that runners are transformed by these challenges and that they can “illuminate the path leading to something larger than ourselves” (p.227). It was evident that the race had a transformational and profound effect on all the interviewees both during and after the race. Marilena had “always tried to challenge (herself)” and now

So when I crossed the line, ah, it’s just amazing, you look back and think wow, I did that 250 kilometres, six days and you did that. It shows what you can do if you put your mind to it.

David has since completed the Sahara Desert Marathon in 2012 and one where he felt this experience helped him in his approach. He finished tenth overall in his second desert race, in Atacama he placed outside the top fifty. “I think you definitely come back with a different mind-set, just on your own ability to take on a challenge and achieve it I think.” He has actively “sought out more” events like this because “your outlook changes.” Since 2010 Ross has continued to seek out running challenges and in 2012 completed the 100 mile footrace called the Centurion in just over 24 hours. Sam had reached a new “physical barrier” in terms of how hard she was able to push herself. This was one aspect identified by many of the runners before the race. “We’d never at home, would have considered doing a third marathon (of an eventual six)……that’s quite amazing.”

Sir Steve Redgrave, five time Olympic Gold medallist, asked himself the question upon retirement if he would go through all the sacrifices and training again; he felt he would.

“It was a privilege, a quest. It was a challenge and I have always been inspired by a challenge” (Redgrave, 2009, p.300). For those who did not draw a line at the end of their first extreme challenge, these words seemed to reflect what subsequently happened as they chose to confront another test of human endurance.

A chance to reflect
For all the runners the race had changed their thoughts about how they viewed life as well as themselves. For Andrea “it just made me think, well you might as well try more things” and was “less afraid to fail.” Since the Atacama she had been able to take more risks in her life and had moved to Tahoe from San Francisco “I would have probably never have made that decision if I wasn’t there (in the desert).” Ricky, who has since become a motivational speaker, working with charities and young children as a direct result of his completion of four desert marathons in the same year believed that “Nothing ever happens to you by saying no…..the world has just opened up by saying yeah I’m gonna do that race and its changed my life and (with it) from many different….perspectives.” There was a greater appreciation of certain aspects of life from both David, “I don’t think you worry so much about the bits and pieces, the things that can sort of clog up and take up your time, don’t actually matter or mean anything!” And Marilena, who was able to take a step back and appreciate her surroundings, her environment, “I see every beauty, I see a tree and I see the colours of the tree that maybe other people don’t see.”

Tremaine had come to terms with the loss of his partner Carla and was looking to the future. “I’ve come out the other end.” He was thankful for the race experiences in many ways and that “it’s finding my footing, and I would have never achieved that because I could have quite easily have been bitter.” Despite injury forcing him to abandon the Sahara Desert marathon he was able to complete two further races in the Gobi and Antarctica. “What I did discover on that first desert race was my respect for humanity and I really found some people that you know actually give a damn about everyone else apart from themselves.”

Work can deprive people of challenging experiences which give “effort a greater meaning to life” (p.120) and ones that provide a greater personal engagement (Pink, 2009) If this is to be achieved then it was through something providing a very different form of accomplishment. For Andrea, “I did it for nothing but the sheer aspect of seeing like that my life was really monotonous at the time. I‘d wanted to see if I have almost nothing for a week. Really what’s it gonna feel like for me and how I am, what does that actually change about me.” With Ross, the experience and “the adventure more than the race” was very different from his life as a graphic designer in London, “I sit in a studio looking at a screen for sixteen, eighteen hours, you know some days.” Sam’s achievements gained through running have led her to share those experiences in her role as an inspirational speaker. With future races she now tries to; “Align them with charitable causes, which is what I am most passionate about to be honest, probably even more than the running itself. …the capacity for it to you know really affect others and influence change.”

Final thoughts
The interviews concluded and an opportunity for the eight runners to describe what they would say to those contemplating taking part in, what has been described as. One of the toughest endurance races on earth. Words that they felt would help to prepare someone for the ‘experience’ they had all shared.

For Ross “just know that anything is achievable…..you’ve got two feet, heart, and lungs and off you go.” Lucy felt similarly that “go for it one hundred percent……it’s an incredible experience.” David wanted to highlight that this was not an exclusive challenge for elite runners. The race contained “people from all walks of life…….you can’t judge a book by its cover.” Ricky enthused “the race was epic man that was absolutely epic.” Andrea considered the experience of challenging herself and realising her potential to “see how far I could really push it” had made her feel the race “was very special, very special to have done that.”

Marilena recalled an “amazing journey….the whole journey was an amazing experience, you don’t need much in life……being with yourself sometimes and (with) nature.” Sam was able to put thoughts into a context of the ‘challenge’ by reflecting on her family background to put it into more perspective. Her father had polio as a child and her mother had “never run in her life” and so she wanted to recognise that “I had done an incredibly physical challenge….I succeeded more because of my mental capacities than my physical capacities.” The immediate impact for Sam when she finished her first desert race was evident, “I was just so happy, I felt so blessed to have finished it. “I was elated….it’s like my body was healed.” This absolute optimism and positivity……feeling fortunate to be there, I was definitely a stronger person when I finished the race.”
The final words were from Tremaine who wanted to ensure that people knew the risks and not to do it “off a whim/” The real question is “…what’s your fundamental reason? You know if it’s for fame and glory, don’t bother. The only race you have is to challenge yourself.”

Discussion
The race journey showed from starting out on this adventure the ‘line in the sand’ at the finish was merely a part of a tapestry of riches and rewards for each of the desert runners. Austin (2007) refers to runners experiencing self-discovery, a time where solitude allows reflection and that “we learn something about ourselves” (p.xii). Their learning was something that they all identified in the conversations and each was as individual and personal as the reasons they had set out on the path to adventure in the first place. The path they followed was transformational not only after but at points along the 250 kilometres of desert trail. Their stories highlighted what can be achieved when mind and body act in unison to surpass what has gone before in our lives in one of the most demanding of arenas.

There was a changed belief about themselves and having such a purpose in the race provided them with a fulfilling activity that gave them their own reward. Pink (2009) discusses a relationship between a challenge that is neither too easy and yet too difficult. With that step being beyond one’s current capability which “stretched the body and mind in a way that made the effort itself the most delicious reward” (p.115). The effort in each of their stories, proved worthwhile in many ways from the charities that they ran for to the people they met and the places they saw. Their ability to recall such vivid moments even when time had passed (nearly three years) since they finished the race, highlighted the impact of the race. These vivid recollections showed such detail that, one could argue, the journey had a deep and profound effect. Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University believes “the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life, your mind-set” (Dweck, 2006). It is clear the race affected each of the runners in terms of how differently they viewed themselves, if not openly in the interview but by the directions their lives took after leaving the desert.

Conclusion
If running is to be a metaphor for life as Whalley (2012) comments, then in this case the desert was to provide that stage. Running in “straight lines along city streets bears little resemblance to life” but venture away from these and the trails will reflect the “life twists and turns” (p.266, 267). When one takes the leap of faith away from the confinement those streets impose into the unpredictable twisting and tortuous routes that desert running is, then this truly reflects what living is really about. Roll (2012) believed that when deciding to test ourselves there is a “new path waiting for (us)” and dare to “take that first step and then (it will) show us who we really are” (p.125).

Some have continued to run, others have found a peace in the accomplishment and so the desert was hardly to be a desert at all. It was to be a treasure trove of memories, of new and life-long friendships and greater self-belief. “Our past makes us” (Jurek, 2012, p.264) and for these runners the past has shaped their future.

Applications in Sport
The heightened interest in extreme endurance events over recent years has made it possible for many people to achieve success in events they otherwise thought impossible. An insight into the experiences of a few of these who chose to venture into such unknowns can create an awareness of the impact such events can have on individuals. This study aimed to explore outside physiological and psychological research parameters and provide those considering embarking on a similar journey with simple narratives that could inspire them to realise what is possible and what can be realised.

Acknowledgements
I should like to thank the eight participants who willingly shared their stories with me so openly and honestly. They not only provided me with their experiences but also proved inspirational. I should also like to thank colleagues for their interest and encouragement throughout this research process as well as the University of Winchester for the financial support with this project. Finally, I should like to thank my patient family who recognised how important this research was for me.

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2014-02-04T13:47:58-06:00February 4th, 2014|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Sports Exercise Science, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology|Comments Off on ‘The Personal Journey’: A Study of the Individual Race Stories of Desert Marathon Runners

The Relationship Between Racial Diversity and Winning Percentage: A Study of Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams and Coaching Staffs in the Atlantic Coast Conference From 2005-2009

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2014-02-11T15:30:51-06:00February 3rd, 2014|Contemporary Sports Issues, General, Sports Management, Sports Studies and Sports Psychology, Women and Sports|Comments Off on The Relationship Between Racial Diversity and Winning Percentage: A Study of Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams and Coaching Staffs in the Atlantic Coast Conference From 2005-2009
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