I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm in the wrong profession.
Don't get me wrong. I love being news director at WDUN. I've wanted to work in journalism my whole life, and except for a brief detour into the world of higher education, I've been able to live that dream.
But I didn't get into this line of work expecting to get rich.
I knew even as a teenager that journalism wasn't a high-paying profession. My first paycheck from the Early County News, my hometown weekly, was for about $45 – and that was for a week's work.
When I was growing up, if you wanted to make money, you thought about becoming a doctor or a lawyer, or maybe an accountant.
Today, there's something that looks even more lucrative than medicine or law. Based on recent news reports, I should have aspired to be a losing football coach or a failed business executive.
In case you missed it, the Florida State University recently fired head football coach Willie Taggart in midseason and will pay him $18 million as part of the buyout clause in his contract. At WeWork, a commercial real estate company, Adam Neumann was pushed out as the company's chief executive officer with a $1.7 billion buyout. That’s billion. With a B.
To boil this down, Willie Taggart is being paid $18 million not to coach the Seminoles and Adam Neumann is being paid $1.7 billion not to run WeWork. That, my friends, is a sweet deal.
I can certainly understand why Florida State and WeWork got rid of Taggart and Neumann. Neither man was living up to expectations of fans or stockholders, even if those expectations might have been unrealistic.
But I'm a little surprised – as I'm sure many of you are – at the staggering amounts of money these high-ranking folks get when they leave their jobs. At $18 million – a pittance compared to Neumann’s buyout – Taggart is getting more money to leave Florida State than I'll ever make as a journalist.
And having worked in higher education, I can assure you that no one else at Florida State – from the president to the professors to the support staff – makes anywhere close to $18 million.
Let me be clear here: I'm not upset at the salaries anyone makes. Sure, ballplayers and coaches make huge salaries, which are out of line when compared to those earned by people, such as teachers, who make a real difference in society.
But if you can convince your boss to pay you $18 million a year, as Taggart did to replace Jimbo Fisher, then more power to you. It's not Taggart’s place to ask his boss, "Are you sure you can afford this?"
Do you see how lucrative it is to not do a job? Instead of dreaming of becoming doctors, I wonder if kids today dream of being a fired CEO.
It's something I should have considered. But perhaps it is not too late. All I need to do is get a job as a football coach, fail spectacularly and get fired. Then I'm on easy street.
Unfortunately, reports say Florida State is zeroing in on a replacement for Taggart. Too bad, too, because I could have done at least as much as Taggart. I'm sure I wouldn't beat Miami or Florida, either.
On the other hand, there soon may be an opening in Flowery Branch. I wouldn't even need to move again
Does anyone have Arthur Blank’s number?
