A state legislator from Des Moines wants to dramatically cut the pay of Iowa State’s men’s basketball coach. I-S-U coach Larry Eustachy just signed a contract which pays up to 900-thousand dollars a year in salary and bonuses. Representative Ed Fallon says no state university’s athletic coach should be paid that much. Fallon says it’s “obscene” that one coach makes as much as the combined salaries of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the presidents of all three state universities.But House Appropriations Committee chairman Dave Millage of Bettendorf says while he, too, objects to the “outlandish” salary, none of the money being paid Eustachy is tax-payer dollars. He says the legislature shouldn’t get involved if tax-payer dollars aren’t involved.Millage says as an attorney, he wouldn’t want the legislature to try to break the contract Eustachy has signed.Fallon will sponsor an amendment to a budget bill which would limit the pay for coaches at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I to 300-thousand dollars or less. Fallon says if I-S-U can raise all that extra money, it should be spent paying professors who teach students.Fallon rejects the argument that Eustachy is being paid the ‘market rate’ for excellence in a demanding career. He says a coach doesn’t have any more pressure than a college professor would have.Fallon, who holds a degree in religion from Drake University, had no idea his proposal was being made on the eve of Eustachy team’s appearance in the N-C-Double-A tournament’s “sweet sixteen.” He also didn’t realize Eustachy isn’t paid with tax-payer dollars.
