ALTOONA, Pa. -- If you ran 31 businesses and 28 of them lost money every year, you'd be considered a bad business person.
Furthermore, if just one of those businesses brought in, say, 90 percent of your profit, you'd have a pretty easy decision: Put almost all of your resources into that business, and kinda sorta forget about the others.
That, my friends, is Penn State football in a nutshell, compared to, of course, the other 30 sports programs at the university. And it’s like that at most other major universities, as well.
That's where we'll begin this week's Friday top 5:
1. Penn State must keep feeding the cash cow, at all costs
Football is the cash cow that makes upwards of $50 million a year or more during normal circumstances (ie non-COVID times). Men's basketball (around $4 million) and men's hockey (around $300,000 because of its $1.7 million endowment) are the only other programs that turn a profit, according to various published reports pre-COVID.
That's it. Everything else loses money.
So, here's the question: Why should Penn State spend any significant amount of extra money on any program other than football? The return on that investment is going to be, well, negative under just about any scenario. Additionally, taking any of that money away from football can only jeopardize the cash cow program's ability be an even bigger cash cow?
Let me give you an example.
I love college basketball, and think it would be awesome if the Penn State men's program could become a consistent contender in the Big Ten. But to do that would take a lot more resources (money!), and yet there's really no indication that having a better basketball program would bring in more money for the university.
Put another way, if Penn State goes 12-20, the profit would be around $4 million because of TV rights money. And if the Lions go 20-12, the profit still probably would be about $4 million -- maybe even less because, again, it would have taken more money in order to pay for the things necessary to get to 20-12.
Micah Shrewsberry is believed to be making $2 million a year. If the university bumps him or any coach up to, say, $3 million, what are the odds that the basketball program could recoup that extra million dollars somehow? Very, very slim actually. So, you see, spending more trying to win more really won't work for men's basketball, because it would just wind up hurting the bottom line.
As selfish or sad or whatever as it may sound, it's hard to justify Penn State Athletics spending any amount of money that doesn't benefit the football program in some way.
But c'mon, that's not fair! What about creating more opportunities for all the other college athletes?
Now, this may sound incredibly selfish, but ... tough! I mean, life isn't fair, folks, and if you have 28 programs not pulling their weight financially, I'll ask again: How can a university justify spending more money on them?
Since when should football have to pay for every single thing in a sports department? Well, kind of since forever, really, but certainly more so now than before because of the money explosion with TV contracts.
But the big question really should be: Why, in this modern economic structure, should football still have to be on the hook to pay for everything else?
Why is there not a structure in place where major football programs are treated as independent, separate business entities within an athletic department, with any and all money the program makes being funneled back into ONLY the football program?
It's my belief that there will come a day when that exact structure will indeed be put into place in college football. The sport is a professional business, its players are really employees, and at some point, college football players will unionize and have labor law protections and the whole shebang.
When that happens, the business of college football will have to break away from being the cash cow for all other college sports programs. Because it makes no sense whatsoever for football to have to pay for tennis, golf, fencing, swimming & diving and pretty much everything else.
That model has really never made sense, and it's a model that needs to be phased out.
2. Vote coming today on $7.5 million football upgrades
The reason I wrote all of that above is because of news this week that Penn State is getting set to spend $7.5 million on upgrades to practice facilities.
When I first saw the story a couple of days ago that this was happening, I'll be honest and say my first thought was: Only $7.5 million? That figure seems kind of low, in the era of trying to keep up with the Joneses of college football.
I get it that scoffing a bit at $7.5 million in upgrades may sound sort of greedy or what have you, but hey, that's just the reality of where we are in college football. The biggest programs around the country are spending enormous amounts of money to try and keep pace, and Penn State must do the same.
The university did spend $48 million to renovate the Lasch Building, and that was money very well spent, from a return on investment standpoint.
This additional $7.5 million will be money well spent. Here's a good look at what some of the money will be spent on.
The Board of Trustees will vote Friday on whether to approve the funding. It certainly will pass, and it will be very interesting to see if any BoT members vote against it. Remember, Jay Paterno voted against the $48 million upgrade a couple of years ago, which very much brings into question if JayPa truly even wants the football program to be as successful as possible since he's no longer a part of it.
So, pay close attention to Jay's vote this time around.
3. Final wrestling dual meet this weekend
Penn State's No. 1 wrestling team will wrap up the dual meet season Sunday against Clarion at Rec Hall.
The undefeated Lions clinched the Big Ten regular-season title last weekend. Here's a look at the upcoming postseason schedule:
Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich.
• March 4: Sessions 1 and 2
• March 5: Sessions 3 and 4
NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
• March 16: Sessions 1 and 2
• March 17: Sessions 3 and 4
• March 18: Sessions 5 and 6
4. Hockey team faces big home series
Penn State has only two series left before the postseason, and the No. 7 Lions have a big series Friday and Saturday against No. 2 Minnesota at Pegula Ice Arena.
Friday's game is at 6:30 p.m. on BTN, and Saturday's game also is at 6:30 on BTN.
These teams met earlier in the season in Minnesota, when the Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the country. Penn State won the first game, 4-2, then lost the second, 3-1.
5. Legendary longtime field hockey coach retires
One of the most respected coaches in Penn State history has decided to call it a career after a 39-year run as a head coach.
Char Morett-Curtiss took over as women's field hockey coach in 1987, after spending four years at Boston College, and enjoyed great success with the Lions for more than three decades. She announced here retirement this week.
"My heart is filled with gratitude for Penn State," Morett-Curtiss said in a university release. "I came here as a student-athlete in July 1975 and have had countless opportunities to grow and make an impact because of the University and people like Ellen Perry, who hired me, and athletic directors like Tim Curley, Sandy Barbour and Pat Kraft, who have supported Penn State field hockey and me every step of the way.
"It's the right time. The program is in great shape, coming off the Final Four and a Big Ten Championship, with an experienced staff of Penn Staters, a new stadium on the horizon and an athletic director in Pat Kraft who shares my vision for the program's future."
She led Penn State to a 17-4 record this past season and reached the national semifinals for the sixth time during her Penn State tenure.
Here's a look at some of Morett-Curtiss' accomplishments, from Penn State's release:
• 575-239-16 career record as a head coach
• 575 career wins (541 at Penn State and 34 at Boston College) are in the NCAA's top five all-time
• 30 NCAA appearances, including six trips to the national semifinals and two to the national championship game, rank among the top five all-time
• Eight Big Ten regular-season titles and two Atlantic 10 regular-season crowns
• Six Big Ten Tournament Championships and two Atlantic 10 Tournament Championships
• Eight-time NFHCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
• Seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year
"Char is a Penn State legend! She has been the keystone of the Penn State field hockey program from the time she was a student-athlete through an amazing nearly 40-year career as a coach," AD Pat Kraft said in the university release.
"Her passion for Penn State, Happy Valley, women's athletics and field hockey, in particular, has shown through in everything she does. She has been a mentor for so many young women, not only making them better field hockey players but preparing them for life after field hockey. She bleeds Blue & White, and while we will miss her on the sidelines, we are excited to have her continue to share her love for Penn State Athletics in her new advisory role."
