WKU Coach Taggart Gets Big Payday; Not Everyone Happy

Western Kentucky head coach Willie Taggart led the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to a 7-5 record and a second-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference.

And, the WKU Athletics Department is rewarding Taggart by more than doubling his salary with a new contract worth an estimated $475,000 annually.

The raise is well warranted.  Taggart's Hilltoppers went 2-10 in his first season after going 0-12 the year before under former head coach David Elson.  And, this season, after an 0-4 start, WKU won seven of its last eight games, with the only loss to #1 ranked LSU.

But not everyone is happy with the new deal.

One WKU faculty member is pretty outspoken on the new contract, which would make Taggart, a WKU alumnus, the highest paid employee at WKU, including WKU President Dr. Gary Ransdell.

What the faculty member (and for that matter, many faculty members at institutions across the country) fails to realize is a winning football team leads to more applications for enrollment and a better overall student body.

It's been proven time and time again.

You'd think PhD's at Universities would be smart enough to realize this.