Via Bentley: Yost's 1901 Contracts

Submitted by Blue Noise on

Saw this on the Twitters and it is pretty damn cool. As part of their ongoing series on the 150th Anniversary of Michigan athletics, Bentley today posted a PDF of Yost's first contracts with Michigan from 1901, in addition to some background info on the deals.

Yost agreed to coach the team for a salary of $2,300.00 [edit: salary went up to $2,750 for the 1902-04 seasons] (Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator only goes back to 1913, but conversion to that year would be a little over $55,000 today.  A pittance compared to coaches salaries at even the worst FBS schools today, but not a bad haul for Yost considering this is at the very dawn of big time college athletics and the contract called for the school to pay for his living and travel expenses).

At two pages, the contract is juuuuusssst a few thousands of words shorter than the contract with our current head coach and has no provisions for camps, media appearances, assistant salaries, or use of private aircraft. Although since Yost's deals were signed two years before the Wright brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk, the latter provision would not have been of much use.

For any students of Michigan football history and college football history in general, I highly recommend checking out this artifact:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mich/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2015-16/misc_non_event/yost-contracts.pdf

http://www.mgoblue.com/goblue150/from-the-archives.html

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Gofor2

October 29th, 2015 at 9:55 AM ^

I would like to know what Michigan was paying the local men to come play for the team during that time period. Many don't know it, or wish to be in denial about it, but UM used to pay non-student grown ass men in the area to play on the team. I wonder how much the school paid those players? Probably not near as much as UM pays the players today. But at least UM has held the tradition that you don't need to go to class to play football for the Wolverines. I doubt that will ever change.

Joined: 12/13/2014

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Soulfire21

October 28th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^

For those curious, $2,300 in 1901 had the same purchasing power as $62,348.25 in 2015 dollars.

Ed: Guess I should read eh?

First thought was, wow has the commitment to football blown up.   On the converse, a $5 million salary in 2015 would have been $208,031 in 1913.

Joined: 03/18/2010

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BornInAA

October 28th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^

Can anyone calculate FPI, S&P+ Ratings and Team Efficiencies from this record?

Yost's first team posted an 11-0 record, outscored opponents 550-0, and defeated Stanford, 49-0, in the first Tournament of Roses game.

 

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Vengeful Barbarian

October 28th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

Just follow Jim's advice and you can find out for yourself. Go in to work dressed as yourself in the morning write your name on a time card and punch in. Then sneak out and change into a different work outfit, write your name on a new time card and punch your self in again. Do this about 12 times everyday for about a month and you should be ok.

If this doesn't work I have a floppy disc with a virus that you can upload onto your company computer system which take the fraction of a cent that gets round off from each sales transaction, and deposit it into your personal bank account.

Joined: 02/12/2014

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Alton

October 28th, 2015 at 11:48 AM ^

I can't find numbers for Michigan, but at the University of Wisconsin, a full professor made between $2,000 and $3,000 per year in 1901.  I think we can assume it was about the same at Michigan.  Assistant professors made $1,200 to $2,000.

So Yost was basically being paid the same as or even a little more than a typical first-year full professor.

Joined: 07/05/2008

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Alton

October 28th, 2015 at 7:24 PM ^

Again, I had to look at the University of Wisconsin budget for 1900-01.  They paid the President $3,000 and the Interim President $1,500.  I assume that indicates a transition in the office, and so I jumped to the conclusion that they had $4,500 set aside for President's salary for the 12-month period.

So...some average salaries:

* President:  $4,500
* Deans of Colleges:  $3,500
* Full Professors:  $2,500
* Assistant Professors:  $1,500
* Lecturers:  $1,000

Yost's salary puts him very much in the higher levels of University pay.  This did get me thinking:  when did Michigan's football coach first make more than its President?  I have a feeling it might not have happened until the 1970s, although Yost being coach and Athletic Director at the same time might have put him into that range.

Joined: 07/05/2008

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sadeto

October 28th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^

You forgot to mention that he got room and board - "training table" and a "reasonable amount" to rent a "room"! 

Inflation calculators are one view of relative value, but they don't really take into account purchasing parity. To give some perspective, average income in 1900 was $438/year for all workers. The equivalent ratio today would mean Yost making roughly $250k. 

Joined: 01/17/2014

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uncleFred

October 28th, 2015 at 2:31 PM ^

Yost was employed as coach only from September 1st through the last game with a balloon payment on December 1st effectively 3 months. Annualized that would be $9,200 the first year and $11,000 for subsequent years. Annualizing that in 2015 dollars is $249,393 for the first year and $298,187.28 for subsequent years not including living and travel expenses. 

Professors were paid for at least the school year if not annually so effectively Yost was paid three or four times as much as a professor not accounting for living and travel expenses.  

Even back in the day coaching at an insitutiion like Michigan paid pretty well. 

Joined: 10/14/2011

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MMB 82

October 29th, 2015 at 9:52 AM ^

that the contract covers the period from Sept 1 to "until the last game is played," so he was making this salary over just 1/3 of the year.

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