Columnist Dean Juipe: Shoe deals are absurd, unnecessary

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, May 17, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

First off, a company like Nike -- along with its athletic apparel rivals, such as adidas and Reebok -- is entitled to do what it pleases with its extraneous money. It can disperse it among its executives, it can lavish it on its employees, it can stuff it in a pillow for safe keeping.

But there's something very unwholesome about seeing it wasted on college coaches.

As detailed elsewhere on this page, UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno is among the many who have tapped into this loosely secured gold mine. For no other reason than the fact he coaches the world-renowned Rebels, Bayno has $125,000 annually funneled into his personal bank account by the magnanimous folks at Nike.

Also bestowed upon him by Nike: free gear for the coach's revenue-producing summer camps; free apparel for himself and loved ones; a free annual trip to what is likely to always be an exotic locale; and an endless supply of goodies for his cash-strapped players.

Coaches at the major Division I schools consider these perks as pure gravy. As if they're not already paid enough by their universities, coaches can use these endorsement deals as discretionary funds that assure a financial security most of us can only envy.

Nike sees this as a marketing ploy, albeit one without documentation that supports its tremendous expense.

The downfalls of this system are many and the end result, as far as most objective onlookers are concerned, is a sense of bewilderment if not outrage.

It is, of course, outrageous that this money goes into the coaches' pockets, which is an act that does nothing but jack up the price of athletic apparel.

Tuesday at the Meadows Mall, a decent pair of Nike basketball shoes was going for $90. Two quick thoughts: Not too many UNLV students can afford a purchase like that without thinking twice; and imagine how inexpensive the shoes might be if Nike eliminated the huge stipend it pays to college coaches.

If Bayno enjoys greater success in the years ahead, his fee from Nike will escalate accordingly. Not coincidentally, the price of shoes will also increase.

There are a few universities that have modified their positions on coaches accepting apparel deals, yet many who have studied the subject feel the money still finds its way to the coaches via a serendipitous athletic department or general accounting office. In those cases where change has been implemented (or is at least cosmetic), it was brought on by complaints from the schools' teaching staffs.

UNLV professors and instructors have yet to object to the apparel deals its coaching brethren have lucked into, and, as a result, coaches like Bayno skip merrily down a yellow brick road.

The school does not benefit.

More to the point, do you really care what kind of shoes the Rebels wear and/or will you go out of your way to purchase a shoe manufactured by Nike simply because of its affiliation with Bayno or UNLV?

If you answer "yes" to either inquiry you can henceforth consider yourself mindless and manipulated. You have become the clone that Nike hoped you would when it sent Bayno his $125,000 for the year.