The top pay goes to medical doctors, the football/basketball coaches and some admins. This money isn't coming necessarily directly from tuition costs. I agree though it is too expensive. Universities are always building new buildings.
Not a professorship; an actual, physical chair.
They weren't amused. I think they'd heard that one before.
Last year the top 6 highest paid employees at Berkeley were all coaches or athletics administrators, of which the highest (head football coach Justin Wilcox) was paid $4 million. The football team isn't anything special, consistently coming in middle of the pack and not drawing in huge crowds.
The people rooting for Cal are doing it out of college/hometown spirit and not because we think our team is the best. If instead of $4M we spent $200k on a coach, would that change the outcomes at all? That would save $84/student per year in tuition, which is not a negligible amount.
I don’t know how California state schools are run, but at least in Oregon it doesn’t work like this. The athletics programs are funded from a completely different pot of money than the academics, specifically so that football spending doesn’t affect tuition. At Oregon State University (where I’m currently a grad student), the football program is profitable and brings in enough ticket sales to pay for itself and all the rest of the athletics programs too.
The lottery also makes money for a few of its participants.
Also players can now be compensated for their "name, image and likeness" and top players are earning millions.