As a result of a Knight Commission request in 2017, the NCAA changed its annual financial report to require separate reporting for bonuses paid to college football coaches for postseason appearances and wins. The data disclosed following this change was made available for the first time with the FY2018 reports.
The change is meant to create more transparency by member institutions for financial bonuses to its football coaches when participating in bowl games as noted here. This change is aligned with the Knight Commission’s goal to achieve greater transparency for athletics finances.
A statement by the Knight Commission following this successful recommendation can be found below, and also in its October 2017 news release:
“The Commission was pleased to get a positive response from the NCAA to its Aug. 4 request to reverse a recent change in financial reporting requirements that had eliminated transparency for bonuses paid to college football coaches by grouping them with dissimilar postseason expenses. The change will require separate reporting for the bonuses paid to college football coaches for postseason appearances and wins.”
Below is a graph that summarizes the information reported by public FBS institutions for the 2018 fiscal year (click on image to download):
