Do N.C.A.A. Division I men’s basketball coaches give a f**k about their players?

I got this email newsletter last night from a website called Charity Navigator (“Your guide to intelligent giving”).

It tells you what makes some charitable foundations great, and others poor.

One article caught my eye: March Madness 2008: College Basketball Coaches Paid by Your Donations.

The piece explains how N.C.A.A. college coach’s salaries come from either your tax dollars (in the case of state schools) or from your charitable donations (for private colleges and universities).

It charts the salaries of coaches from 18 top notch men’s basketball programs at private colleges and universities.

The portion of each coach’s total compensation that comes from charity (other income comes from shoe deals, etc.) is compared to won-loss record, winning percentage, and Graduation Success Rate (GSR) as calculated by the N.C.A.A.

You can look at salary and won-loss record. But since the GSR varies so much, I wanted to know the GSR-to-charitable-salary ratio.

To me, that might be a statistical measure of whether a coach gives a f**k about his players. The GAF Ratio, if you will.

(To get that, divide the GSR by the salary, multiply by winning percentage, then multiply by 100,000.)

Now the rankings look very different.

Using the GAF, the top 3 charitably salaried coaches (in this group of 18) suddenly drop near to the bottom of the list. That would be Tom Crean of Marquette, Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt, and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke.

Hmm.

I know, it doesn’t seem fair. Tom Crean and Marquette have an 89% graduation rate! (The N.C.A.A. says its average for all sports, men and women, is around 77%.)

And he’s a winner, isn’t he? Coaches contribute a lot more to their schools then GSR, so they earn their high salaries, don’t they?

But what if a coach’s salary is overblown?

The GAF looks at GSR, winning, and salary.

Now, lowest salary coach Homer Drew of Valparaiso smokes Crean, Stallings, and Coach K with a GAF that’s 7-10 times higher!

Drew’s GSR is just 83% (still good) but his salary is only $187,000. Isn’t it obvious that he must really give a f**k?!

The GAF has special significance considering that it’s linked to charitable giving.

So, we should be asking a different set of questions. Toward what are we giving, exactly? Do graduation rates matter? Is winning more important? School stature? Should the N.C.A.A. publish the complete picture?

This year while you’re filling out your March Madness brackets, instead of looking only at the power rankings, also keep in mind the Give A F**k Ratio of each school and it’s head basketball coach.

(Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. )