With the Protect College Sports Act expected to pass the Senate this week, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has proposed an amendment that would bar a university from paying any varsity sports coach more than $5 million a year. Filed Wednesday with Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the amendment addresses one of Murphy's chief concerns with the bipartisan legislation.
More than 35 amendments have been filed to the bill, most of which are considered unlikely to be adopted into the final legislation.
Sen. Cory Booker, with Sen. Chris Murphy, has filed an amendment to the Protect College Sports Act to cap coaching salaries at $5 million a year, per a copy obtained by @YahooSports.
- Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) September 23, 2026
It is one of 35+ amendments filed. Most of them have little chance of being accepted. https://t.co/rArzKDcdE8pic.twitter.com/md0mhPISTb
Notably, UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley earns more than $8 million per year, making him the second-highest-paid men's college basketball coach, according to USA Today. His salary exceeds Murphy's proposed limit. Hurley has previously received interest from NBA franchises and turned down a five-year, $60 million contract to coach the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2024 offseason. USA Today's salary database lists Hurley's compensation.
The Protect College Sports Act (PCSA), a bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), seeks to address some of the more radical changes to college sports over the past half-decade. Specifically, the bill offers the NCAA a narrow antitrust exemption to enforce policies such as allowing athletes one transfer without sitting out a year and capping roster spending.
Murphy and Booker, who played college football at Stanford, have been the PCSA's two most vocal opponents. Murphy has argued that the bill places unfair and artificial limitations on college athletes' earning potential while leaving coaches' and athletic administrators' salaries unaffected. The 53-year-old lawmaker has instead proposed that the NCAA recognize college athletes as employees and engage with them in collective bargaining.
During his first media availability of the season Tuesday, Hurley outlined his support for the PCSA, explaining the need for any framework, even if flawed, to restore some sanity to his profession.
"I just want us to get to a point where we're not doing things that are going to negatively affect players from developing these qualities that are really important to their development," Hurley said. "With the bill passing, these kids are still getting paid. They're getting paid handsomely for the fact that they're still-developing, 18-, 19-year-old players. In large part, these are not NBA-level, world-class level players. These are guys coming straight out of high school that need a lot of development, need a lot of coaching, need a lot of development off the court."
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