The timeline is interesting, because it’s my understanding that the 1980s is when college tuition began rapidly increasing [1]. Granted, there’s many other factors like govt backed loans, but inflated coach salaries seems to coincide [2]. The 1980s seemed to mark the beginning of an era when college was run more as a business than a purely educationally minded institution. I’m not sure society is better off for it.

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/college/2017/06/09/private-co...

[2] https://www.bannersociety.com/platform/amp/2019/8/15/2073219...