Stan Geiger

Abomination in Norman

A few days ago---shortly after OU's men's basketball team had its head handed to it in a tournament game---Coach Jeff Capel went on TV and basically said he was off to South Carolina if he didn't get a big fat raise. He even chuckled as he said it.

Well, he got his big fat raise. Reports say Capel's new contract gives him a base pay bump of $400,000 per year. He is guaranteed $1,050,000 per year---plus incentives. And he gets a $600,000 "stay bonus," payable after six years.

Capel is now guaranteed to make 30 times the state average wage---in base pay alone. He is making in a week what it takes many Oklahomans a year to earn.

Capel's record at OU, as if that makes any difference, is mediocre at best. University coaches don't even have to be successful to become multimillionaires these days.

Incredibly, even as reports of Capel's windfall are still warm, OU President David Boren has gone public with his annual threat to students. They may expect, Boren says, to see a tuition hike of 10 percent for the coming year. That's on top of the tuition hike students saw this year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and...

Various reports say the combined salary of just four employees at the University of Oklahoma, Capel, Stoops, Coale and Boren, now totals over $4.7 million a year. That's just what four employees pocket. And that's just the base salary figure---no bonuses or lavish benefits included.

Your tax dollars at work in public education. Your tuition dollars at work in public education.

I am left to wonder how long people will sit back and allow this nonsense to continue. I am left to wonder when people will finally grow weary of being raped by educators, light up the torches and grab the pitchforks.

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