It’s no surprise that college football and basketball are America’s favorite collegiate sports, but what is surprising is the amount of money in state college programs. In fact, in 39 states the highest paid state employee is a college football or basketball coach.

Collegiate athletics attract millions of fans to their televisions every year. Televised games not only draw tremendous attention, but revenue as well. According to Forbes.com, a basketball team that makes the national tournament’s final four semi-final round generates about $9.5 million. Knowing this, it is understood why so many states pour money into their collegiate athletic programs.

In Massachusetts, the highest paid state employee is Derek Kellogg, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, basketball head coach. The western Massachusetts native earns a salary of just over one million dollars, which is actually a smaller salary compared to the other 38 schools. For example, schools like Alabama, Michigan, and Kentucky all pay their respective coaches about $7 million.

While coaches like Kellogg are being paid upwards of a million dollars, it’s reasonable to wonder if they deserve the money. Does a basketball coach deserve more than a fire fighter who puts his life on the line every day? Or are salaries, like Kellogg’s, needed to boost a basketball team so a university can earn more revenue?

Lots of people may think that a man who tells college athletes what to do does not deserve anywhere near $1 million, yet Mr. Farmer, The Williston Northampton School’s head basketball coach, believes otherwise. “I do think they are justified in paying them that amount of money because of the NCAA and the potential earnings for that institution,” said Mr. Farmer, who previously coached at the collegiate level.

Mr. Farmer brought up the point that in order for a school to generate massive attention and revenue through an athletic team, they need to pay for expensive coaches. These coaches’ salaries may seem like a lot, but in reality they are small compared to the amount of revenue their team is bringing in through televised games.

Farmer also talked about the time and effort these coaches put in. “Coaches in season are probably working between eighteen and twenty hours a day through film, practice, preparation, appearances. It’s a full slate,” he said.

These division one coaches can be compared to CEO’s of large companies. They are paid millions of dollars, yet they put in a lot of their time to generate even larger amounts of money. A company needs to lockdown an expensive CEO, so in the long term they make more money.