If I had the same amount of money for UW, I would invest it in a UW Football/Coaches Fund. At the end of each year the headcoach and assistants would be paid bonuses to bring their salary equal to or greater than every other team in the MWC we finished higher than.......and if ranked in the top 25 equal to or greater than every team we outrank.
For instance, (in a great year) lets say we finish ranked higher than Oklahoma. Oklahoma has one of the highest football payrolls and spends about 6.7 million on Stoops and staff. If the investments grew only 5% (about 5.3 million) we could make up the difference on investment income alone, assuming UW spends about 1.4 million on salary and bonuses for the whole staff for an exceptional year.
The fund could also sustain the same principles for wrestling, swimming, & women's basketball, etc. Maybe eventually be split to even cover men's basketball. We could offer salaries that compete with anyone and could get (or retain) the best coaches in the nation.
I am not saying our coaches are underpaid (in fact, I think a lot of us would consider it a dream job and would do it for free, if we felt we were any good at it). I just wouldn't want to lose any quality coaches or miss out on future hires based on pay.... And, of course, I start with football because it is the sport dearest to my heart, and it is the one that generates the most revenue for the school. But I would love to see UW build a wrestling program (or any other) that is winning national titles and no one can hire Branch away from us because he has built something here and no one can outbid us for his services...that would be awesome!
What else I like about it, is that it rewards production...not just shelling out a lot to a big name in base salary. Anyone that is willing to be compensated on production loves this, and those who don't......well you should be leary of, (they want the high pay even if the don't produce?) Incentive based pay is not new to football contracts, but I can't think of a better pay system at all that is tied to production than to just guarantee you will make more or equal to everyone you beat. We would have great coaches lining up for us, and be able to sustain a dynasty once rebuilt.