The situation regarding the men’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) has been resolved. Whether we agree with the decision or not is inconsequential. A new coach has been hired and as former coach Nolan Richardson described the outcome, “there’s a new sheriff in town.” Our household wishes him the very best of success but we can’t help wondering how they arrived at the $2.2 million dollar salary.
It is logical to assume the expectation is very high for the basketball program’s future. There are two ways to look at anyone’s salary - is it based on future expectations or is it being paid for last year’s performance? In coach Anderson’s case, my guess would be there is great anticipation of a very quick turnaround in won-lost percentage and a full-house at Walton Arena.
Expectations are very high in the Southeast Conference regardless of the sport and salaries for winning coaches are commensurate with success. Contract buy-outsand/or firing are also a sort of retribution for disappointment or failure to meet those sometimes undefined, expectations. That is why we have paragraph one, it wasn’t about salary, but empty seats.
You and I may have no influence in the selection of coaches for any level of athletic performance - even the coaches of Little League teams for children or grandchildren. But that doesn’t keep us from having our own expectations. A review of non-sports related decisions that affect me with major impact and how little influence I have on who the decision maker actually is, suddenly scared me.
When we get into national politics, the candidate for either major party is always a choice between persons I didn’t select. In a state-wideprimary my choice must be between candidates of one party for all offices. My success at picking the winning candidate is very poor and the winner, after election, frequently fails to live up to my “expectations” for integrity, voting record, etc. My expectations are perhaps too high, fail to take into account that I am a minority, or I have overlooked the pressure applied to that individual by other more influential interests.
Isn’t it probable that our frequently selfish expectations have lead this nation into the situation we face today? Believing that politicians and special interest groups are going to make decisions which provide a better life for you and me just may be one of those unrealistic expectations.
They tend to put re-election very high on their own list of “expectations” and the power/influence/contact part of the undefined compensation package is extremely heady stuff. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that life style? But, as ourcurrent president is finding out, voters can be very fickle when their expectations aren’t met - hence very low approval ratings and voter backlash. It is interesting if you look closely at how the appeal was made to the voters - promises in areas that no one individual could deliver based on the office’s limitations but promised none the less. So, we expect unemployment to drop to 5 percent and GDP growth to suddenly jump up to pay off our mounting national debt.
Very unrealistic expectations for an economy suffering as we suffer.
Even though we contribute to it during our working years, we have come to expect a monthly retirement income through the government-directed Social Security program. We also expect lifetime healthcare during our retirement through Medicare. There is a great deal of discussion about the long-term solvency of these programs whose fate really lies in the hands of elected political leadership. As mentioned above, our expectations for elected leadership frequently conflicts with their actions. Will these programs be available for my sons 20 years from today or are required changes going to be so dramatic that their expectations for retirement are going to be unrealized?
Is it possible the whole world’s economic upheaval will lead to some serious soul searching about “expectations” in our American Dream?
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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.
Opinion, Pages 3 on 03/30/2011