Jack's Smack: Student athletes are hired guns to make fat cat college coaches, administrators rich

Now that Missouri is poised to join the SEC, I see some shocking and staggering numbers involving college athletics.

While it isn't certain yet, Missouri and A&M are each believed to be on the hook for close to $20 million to defect to the SEC.

Most of the big time football coaches are making from $1.5 to $4 million dollars a year.

It’s preposterous.

At Auburn, football expenses for a year were at $40 million dollars. That's one year.

Missouri, by comparison is $15 million.

Texas and Oklahoma, the big dogs in the Big 12, don't even get a sniff when compared with the likes of Auburn, Alabama, and all those other heavy-hitters from the SEC.

The money they spend on football is mind-boggling.

Here's one that really caught me by surprise.

I would venture to guess there's not a single one of you reading this right now that can tell me who the highest paid athletic director is America is.

I'm not expecting you to name the person. Just give me the school.

You can't do it, can you? It’s in the SEC and I’ll bet you still can't name the school.

It’s Vanderbilt. Yep, that small public school in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dave Williams makes $2.5 million a year as the athletic director.

He's also a vice chancellor, a general council, a tenured law professor and secretary for the medical school at Vandy.

Without question, this guy is pulling his weight and more.

Mike Alden at Missouri makes nearly $700,000 a year considerably more than Sheahon Zenger at KU and John Currie at K-State. They're both in the $450,000 dollar a year range.

That’s still damn good money for traveling around the state as a glad-hander.

Bottom line these are the same administrators that feed us all that bull about protecting quote, "the student athlete". They're the same people who don't want to give these kids a stipend.

I cringe every time I hear those two words -- "student-athletes".

Just be honest.

They're nothing more than hired guns to make all these fat cat college coaches and administrators rich and proud.

That’s Jack’s Smack.