Coaches' Pay In The Balance -- Bender's Salary Tops Gobrecht's

Bob Bender has been the University of Washington men's basketball coach for eight days, and Chris Gobrecht has been the Husky women's coach for eight years.

Bender has yet to coach a Husky game; Gobrecht has a 181-59 record and has taken seven teams to the NCAA Tournament.

Bender's UW salary is $110,000; Gobrecht's is $78,500.

Is that fair?

No, says UW Athletic Director Barbara Hedges, and she has vowed to bring Gobrecht's salary closer to Bender's.

"I want to see a balance. That's my goal," Hedges said.

But what constitutes balance?

Should Gobrecht make as much as Bender? That's the way it is at Virginia, where Debbie Ryan, coach of the women's team, makes the same ($106,000) as men's coach Jeff Jones.

Should Gobrecht, whose teams have outdrawn the Husky men for the past four seasons, make more than Bender? That's the way it is at Louisiana Tech. Leon Barmore, the women's coach for 16 years, makes $63,000. That is $6,500 more than men's coach Jerry Loyd, who is in his third year.

Or should Bender be making more than Gobrecht because coaching the men's team traditionally has meant more pressure? That reason, and others, have been given to justify higher salaries for men's coaches.

A gender-equity study compiled by the NCAA a year ago reported that men's basketball coaches at Division I schools made an average yearly salary of $71,571, compared with $39,177 for women's coaches.

Hedges declined to specify what salary she had in mind for Gobrecht. But she said in seeking that "balance" she will evaluate Gobrecht according to the same standards she used in hiring Bender. They include coaching experience, success on the court, adherence to recruiting rules, academic progress of her players, recruiting success and public relations.

Gobrecht said she wants only "a good-faith effort in moving towards gender equity."

"I think women's basketball is a changing market, in terms of salaries going up for the top coaches," Gobrecht said. "But I think the bigger issue is that, when you have two people at a university, being paid by the university, and doing the exact same thing, that you really have to come to grips with that."

Gobrecht said she doesn't know "if either one of us" should be making $110,000 per year.

"But I think the principle of the issue is we're doing the same job."

But it isn't the same job, some people argue. They contend that men's coaches are under more pressure to win from fans, administrators and the press, and have been quicker to lose their jobs when they haven't won. They argue that men's coaches are more visible public figures, resulting in more demands on them.

"All of those arguments are falling by the wayside as the stature of women's basketball grows," Gobrecht said.

Elwin Heiny, coach of the Oregon women's team for 17 years, was fired after last season by Athletic Director Rich Brooks, who said he was not satisfied with the direction of the program. Two seasons ago, Arizona hired Joan Bonvicini away from Long Beach State, where she had been highly successful, to improve the Wildcat women's team.

Public figure? Gobrecht and other top coaches - Pat Summitt at Tennessee, Vivian Stringer at Iowa, Jody Conradt at Texas, Tara VanDerveer at Stanford - have become celebrities just as men's coaches have.

Gobrecht acknowledges that the NCAA Tournament and lucrative television contracts give men's programs greater potential to make a lot of money.

"But I still feel it is a very important part of my job to do what I can to help produce revenue so that women's basketball can become self-supporting," Gobrecht said.

Elsewhere, many coaches of women's teams have received significant salary upgrades, with none more dramatic than Ryan's at Virginia. Her salary went from $70,000 to $85,000 last September, then from $85,000 to $106,000 last Dec. 1, according to the Newport News Daily Press.

At Ohio State, women's coach Nancy Darsch may soon have a contract approximating that of men's coach Randy Ayers.

Darsch, who makes $55,524 a year, guided Ohio State to the NCAA title game this month. Even though her contract does not mention a bonus based on performance, she will receive a $20,552 bonus, Ohio State Athletic Director Jim Jones said yesterday.

And Jones and OSU president E. Gordon Gee speak favorably of raising her pay closer to Ayers' annual salary of $96,384.

VanDerveer, who just finished her eighth season at Stanford, is believed to be the highest-paid women's coach in the country at $130,000 a year. Her contract calls for an increase of $20,000 a year from now, which would bring her even with Mike Montgomery, the Cardinal men's coach.

Like most men's coaches at Division I schools, outside income is available to women's coaches.

Last year, Gobrecht reported $30,500 in revenue - $9,500 from KOMO radio for coach's shows, $15,000 for her summer camp and $6,000 from speaking engagements. Bender has yet to negotiate his contract for outside income.

Hedges is on vacation next week, and said she and Gobrecht will resume contract discussions when she returns. Any salary adjustment will be made retroactive to April 1, the anniversary date of her three-year, rollover contract.