U of O Economics Professor Bill Harbaugh has been in the news recently for his controversial acquisition of internal administrative U of O communications. Tuesday he chimed in on football coach Mark Helfrich's new five-year, $17 million contract.
Harbaugh says the U of O's success in football comes at the expense of the University as a whole:
Harbaugh: "It's probably a mistake for the University to be so invested in big-time sports, particularly college football. The University as a whole would be better off with a team that won half the games and had half the budget."
Harbaugh says the money allocated to Duck football limits funds for faculty recruitment, and drains their compensation. The emphasis on intercollegiate sports distorts what the college attends to, he says:
Harbaugh: "The athletic programs suck up an enormous amount of administrators' attention. You look at the calendar of the President. This is the main thing he deals with: football, basketball, various sandals, the donations, and so forth."
Harbaugh says big-time sports doesn't contribute to the U of O; it takes from it.