In 1969 University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was offered the head-coaching job at the Miami Dolphins for a then unheard of sum of $1.7 million a year. After going back and forth, Bryant decided to stay at Alabama, and continued to coach there until he retired in 1982. His personal policy at Alabama was to take a salary of exactly one dollar less than the university’s president.

Times have changed. Last year, the current Alabama coach, Nick Saban, made $7.2 million, roughly 11 times the salary of Alabama’s...