This is definitely about money. Wrestling has consistently been a top performer, even coming close to national championships. A 10% raise relative to the team’s performance is a pittance, especially when you consider the bonuses a football coach could make for just reaching a bowl game. Keep in mind, Cael made much less relative to football and other sports, which aren’t doing that well.

Pollard is probably playing with an already stretched budget and might not have been in a position to up Sanderson’s salary.

For more perspective, if Cael would have fought in MMA, he could have probably made over three times his pay fighting just thrice a year. This is definitely about money.

Unlike football or basketball, we actually have a nationally competitive product to sell to a coach. We should be able to really get the cream of the crop. I believe our financial position is a bit tenuous, but we still should be able to afford someone at Cael’s former salary.

Comparing football coach salary to wrestling coach salary is ludicrous. Wrestling doesn’t make anyone any money. Football and basketball fund the rest of the athletic department. That said, it looks like our limited resources are going to improving those sports, at the possible cost of others.

I’m glad to see that Cael didn’t throw JP under the bus in his blog, even if he’s not telling the truth. I won’t lie, I’m a JP apologist. He’s done more for ISU athletics from a financial standpoint that anyone has ever done. He’s also pumped up the ‘pep’ parts of athletics, from the Capital One Mascot stuff to helping out the bands and cheer squads when they need it. It’s just a shame that the next thing to go wrong will probably cost him his job.