This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Thanks for printing the details about University of Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham's contract. Are other people as outraged as I am about this?
Let's do some quick math. Let's say he retires at a salary of $4 million. That means his 10-year retirement clause will be worth about $400,000 a year. Dividing that figure by 52 weeks means he will get $7,700 per week. Seeing as how he will work only 10 hours per week, he will make $770 per hour.
As the highest paid state employee, by far, he makes about 26 times more per year than our governor. As I have never attended a Utah sporting event, I don't know how much tickets are. But I'm guessing that his perk of free tickets will be worth thousands per year. Free tuition for his own kids, and half tuition for his grandkids and even great-grandkids will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
At 65, he will get more than $2,000 per month from Social Security, plus a very generous retirement from state government after his more than 20 years of service. As a pretty smart guy he is probably saving a lot from his $4 million a year, or at least he should be. He is probably debt-free, or at least he should be.
I've worked more than 40 years and have never made more than $50,000 per year. I'm getting less than $800 per month from my Social Security, which means he will make more per hour than I make per month. Should us taxpayers be forced to pay for his lifestyle? Maybe the Legislature should have a say in this matter. Outrageous.
Mike McManus
Salt Lake City