It was 8:22 Saturday morning when I awoke to my ringing cell phone. It was the million-dollar man — well, almost.

If you’ve ever met Dan McCarney, you know he has the type of intensity that elicits thoughts of a No-Doz overdose or 10 pots of coffee in 10 minutes. It makes you wonder if his blood pressure is monitored by the second.

This morning was no different. He was wound up. Before 8:30. On a Saturday in the off-season.

I’ve heard the grumblings as I talk with Cyclone fans and others: “He doesn’t deserve that raise!” “They lost to Connecticut!” “Coaches are overpaid!”

The Cyclones did lose to Connecticut. Coaches are overpaid — I’d have to write roughly 61,667 stories this year to make what Mac will next year. But McCarney does deserve his raise.

While speaking with McCarney, I took a big gulp and asked him what he thought about his critics — what he would say to them if they told him he makes too much money. He responded like he couldn’t wait to get it out.

With football providing nearly 50 percent of the revenue in the ISU athletic department, success in football equals success in ISU athletics, at least financially. Football revenue helps fund the other sports at Iowa State.

That’s a lot of pressure and the brunt of it rests upon McCarney. He doesn’t mind. He’s seen football revenue go from $9.1 million in 1999 to $14 million in 2002.

“I’ve got big shoulders, and I’m proud of it,” McCarney said. “I’m not sending out any apologies [for my contract].”

But $925,000? For what?

For being among the best of the best, that’s what. If you noticed the graphic in Monday’s edition of the Daily, you saw that McCarney will get paid less than Baylor’s new coach, Guy Morris.

The Bears have won 24 games in the last eight years, while the Cyclones have won 36.

The Bears have won one conference game since the genesis of the Big 12 in 1996 while McCarney has led the Cyclones to 18 conference wins.

It’s true that coaches get paid too much. ISU athletic director Bruce Van De Velde said he believes it too.

“On the other hand, I don’t think movie actors should be making what they are either,” he said. “Or baseball players.”

Good point.

Van De Velde also pointed out that if McCarney’s contract had not been reworked and the coach had left for another school, he would have to go on the open market to replace McCarney. That would likely mean a contract upwards of $1 million anyway. And that’s for someone who is new to the program and would need time to fit in.

Another good point.

He also mentioned the coach in Iowa City, or Jacksonville or wherever he is now. After going

7-5 in 2001, the administration in Hawkeyeville gave Ferentz a $910,000 contract last summer.

I’m not saying Van De Velde and the rest of the administration in the athletic department have to follow everything Iowa does. In fact, I don’t think Iowa State should do much of anything Iowa does, but this move just plain makes sense.

Most people agree that college coaches, specifically for football and basketball, get paid too much. I do too, but I found an interesting comment by Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds in a May 2001 issue of the Kansas City Star.

“In 1955, we were generating $260,000 in football revenue,” Dodds said of Texas. “And we were paying our football coach $10,000. Today, 80 percent of our budget ($50 million) is generated by football, and we’re paying our football coach $1.4 million.”

Iowa State isn’t Texas, but I’m guessing the percentage shift is similar in Cyclone Country.

The fact is, there aren’t many major-college coaches working for less money than McCarney’s contract will provide him, especially those that have been as successful as McCarney in the last three years.

Despite the embarrassing loss to Connecticut and disappointing outcome in the Humanitarian Bowl, the pressure on McCarney to support ISU athletics is tremendous. He has done his job well in that respect and should be rewarded.

If Iowa State has a losing record next season, the floodgates will open regarding Mac’s salary and there will be more uproar. Until then, let’s stop worrying about McCarney’s salary and focus on what he has produced.

Jeff Raasch is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Odebolt. He is the sports senior reporter for the Daily.