Assistant Coachces salaries are out of hand

[CoachCB]

I posted this on one of the Gator boards I frequent (so it's written w/ some mention of UF coaches):

Coaching salaries for assistant coaches has really taken off the last several years.

Since 2009, salaries for assistants have increased 29%. The average pay for assistants at FBS schools in 2013 was $201,000.

In 2006, when Jeff Bowden was OC at FSU his salary was $141,000. Imagine what the DB or WR coach was making! This $141K salary was essentially the going rate for BCS OC's in 2006.

In 2012 six schools had $3 million assistant-coaching staffs. In 2009, there was one: Tennessee, at $3.3 million. In 2013, there was 12…and several other very close.

Our OC, Greg Roper, is making $600K. Charlie Weis was paid $765,000 by UF! If he had stayed for a 2nd season he would have gotten a $100,000 raise! Additionally, Weis received a $100K signing bonus from UF. [url]http://www.gainesville.com/article/20110225/ARTICLES/110229618[/URL] (DJ Durkin made $500K in 2013).

Michigan just hired Alabama’s OC, Doug Nussmeier, and bumped his pay $150K from what Bama was paying him (to $830K). Al Borges made $630K last year as Michigan’s OC. Nussmeier has never had an offense ranked higher than 30th overall (did Brent Pease?).

Last year the DC at Purdue (Greg Hudson) made $395K, which is more than 8 Division 1 head coaches….and $5K less than 8 other D1 head coaches (mostly MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt coaches).
Michigan State just bumped DC Pat Narduzzi’s pay to $904K.

Former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney (and UF D-line coach under Meyer) is making $600K as head coach at North Texas (the same that Greg Roper is making as UF OC).

The salaries have literally skyrocketed since 2007.

When Greg Mattison left UF in 2008 to take the DC job in Baltimore he did it for financial reasons (because he wasn’t making enough at UF and the NFL offered a pension).

[url]http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20080210/NEWS/37419397[/URL]

“For Mattison, it was an emotional decision to leave UF and Meyer but the offer and the promise of financial security was too good to pass up.” (from the article)
He now makes over $750K at Michigan.

Everett Withers was making $580,000 as co-DC at Ohio State in 2013. He left to take the head coaching job at James Madison ( 1AA/FCS school in Virginia)….and is now making $325K! Talk about wanting to be a head coach badly! The previous coach at JMU made $222K (and he won the 2004 1AA National Championship!).

The SEC had the highest average salary in 2013 at $315K, the Big 12 was next at $290K.

Here’s a list of the highest assistant coaches salaries in 2013: [url]http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ncaaf/assistant/[/URL]
Chad Morris (Clemson OC): $1.3 million
Kirby Smart (Bama DC): $1.15 mil
John Chavis (LSU DC): $1.1 mil
Mario Cristobal (Bama OL): $475K (a position coach!)
Mario Price (Louisiana-Monroe WR’s): $20,000/year

Many, many assistants on the list making under $60K.

LSU paid it’s assistants a total of $4.565 million….while New Mexico State paid it’s assistants a total of $688,943.

Good story on assistant coaches salaries and perks: [url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/12/12/college-football-assistant-coaches-contracts-bonuses-perks/3997539/[/URL]

Story on assistant coaches salary surge (June 2013): [url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2012/12/18/assistant-coaches-salaries-bowl-subdivision/1777719/[/URL]

Bargains and busts in assistant coaches salaries (from 2013 season): [url]http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2013/12/13/5206984/ohio-state-football-coaching-salaries-luke-fickell-stan-drayton[/URL]

• Generally speaking, the teams at the top of the assistant coaching spending chart saw a lot of success on the football field. The top 10 schools in coaching spending went a combined 91-28. The only clunker on that list? #10 Arkansas, who didn't win a single SEC game and finished 3-9, a showing that might be described by Twitter as #karma. The top ten spenders, in order, were LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Texas, Auburn, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia and Arkansas.

• That trend remains generally true if you expand the list to the top 25 reported spenders. Only five of the top 25 spending teams finished with a losing record: #10 Arkansas, #11 Florida, #19 Virginia, #21 West Virginia and #25 NC State. For what it's worth, if Notre Dame, Penn State, USC and Stanford reported data, it is almost certain that NC State wouldn't be in the top 25, and West Virginia might not have either.

• Arkansas and Virginia appear to be the two biggest spending busts on the entire list. Arkansas spent $3,233,000 on their coaching staff, which is more than Oregon, Florida State, Oklahoma State or UCLA, but won a paltry three games. The $550,000 spent on offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Jim Chaney seems like less of a sound investment, especially since a coach the caliber of Florida State defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, or Arizona State offensive coordinator Mike Norvell, was cheaper.

 

[MackDonald]

Obviously the money is there that allows the athletic departments to pay those kind of salaries, and, if it isn't, the heavyweight programs raise-it. These obscene salaries are indicative of the pressure these programs are under to
win (Florida and Michigan come to mind with the later raiding the Alabama treasure trove hiring the OC and raising his salary from $150K to $830K); That's quite a large pay hike....I wonder if Nussmeier will be able to afford a new automobile or truck. These are indeed strange times with our U.S economy in a quagmire, college football keeps spending money like drunk sailors.

 

[cloverleaf]

Good read Coach!

Agents are playing many of these big school athletic directors like a fiddle. Saban's agent (Jimmy Sexton) got him bumped from $5.4 million to over $7 million by playing up the Texas job. Saban wasn't going to Texas but Bama panicked and gave him the raise.

As Mack said, "college football keeps spending money like drunk sailors." Guess who pays for it? Take your family to a game this season and see what it cost you.

 

[CoachCB]

Mack, Nussmeier got a $150K raise....he was making $680K at Bama.

The thing that stands out to me is that in 2006 the OC at Florida State was being paid $141,000. In 2013, the OC at Clemson (a fellow ACC school) was paid $1.3 million! Unreal!!

I'm a military officer. I got a 1% raise this year!

 

[Coachfreak]

While it does seem kind of ridiculous, it comes down to economics. There is plenty of money flying around in the college football world. At the major D-I schools, there is a demand for great coaches, head and assistants. While it seems like there is an endless supply of football coaches, there isn't. Increased demand has bid up the price for a top quality OC, DC, etc. The same principle is true in professional sports. There are only so many 7-footers who can shoot, rebound, score, etc. in the NBA. The principles of scarcity, supply, demand, and the allocation of resources play a big role in why football assistant coaches' salaries have risen so dramatically the past few years.

 

[cloverleaf]

Nice to see Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio get some love. Dantonio has done a pretty good job with the Spartans of late and was making less than $2 million a season. Not much when compared to many of the other head coaches at major universities. Dantonio recently got a bump to $3.64 million per season making him the 4th highest paid in the Big Ten behind Meyer, Franklin, Ferentz.

Spartans defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi also got a nice raise from $512,500 to $904,583. The next highest paid assistant on the staff makes $379,167. Most MSU assistants are in the $250,000 range.

 

[CoachCB]

While it does seem kind of ridiculous, it comes down to economics. There is plenty of money flying around in the college football world. At the major D-I schools, there is a demand for great coaches, head and assistants. While it seems like there is an endless supply of football coaches, there isn't. Increased demand has bid up the price for a top quality OC, DC, etc. The same principle is true in professional sports. There are only so many 7-footers who can shoot, rebound, score, etc. in the NBA. The principles of scarcity, supply, demand, and the allocation of resources play a big role in why football assistant coaches' salaries have risen so dramatically the past few years.

Agreed...but for an OC in 2006 to be making $141,000/year...then in 2012 an OC at a similar school is making almost TEN TIMES that amount? That's not economics, that's "out of control".

I'm in the military. I got a 1% raise this year.

 

[MackDonald]

Agreed...but for an OC in 2006 to be making $141,000/year...then in 2012 an OC at a similar school is making almost TEN TIMES that amount? That's not economics, that's "out of control".

I'm in the military. I got a 1% raise this year.

Sorry for the late reply COACH.......I did not know you were in the Military....I salute you Sir.

You get a 1% raise while these bureaucrats and politicians sit on their fat-asses and receive huge salaries and expense accounts
greater than the base-pay our people in uniform. Out of control indeed. I know this is a football-forum but I had to vent
as to how, out-of sync, our society is when it comes to priorities.

 

[CoachCB]

Mac, agreed. I'm an officer and my raise was less than $1,000 this year! I can't complain though, w/ the DC area housing allowance (tax-free) I make a pretty decent pay check. I was a professional firefighter for 12+ years in Jacksonville, Florida and in the Reserves. I was recalled to active duty a few times post-911 and decided to stay on this last time I was recalled. My contract ends soon, they might extend me again, might not. I'll either go back to the JFRD or stay here in the DC area and get a civilian job.

 

[MackDonald]

Mac, agreed. I'm an officer and my raise was less than $1,000 this year! I can't complain though, w/ the DC area housing allowance (tax-free) I make a pretty decent pay check. I was a professional firefighter for 12+ years in Jacksonville, Florida and in the Reserves. I was recalled to active duty a few times post-911 and decided to stay on this last time I was recalled. My contract ends soon, they might extend me again, might not. I'll either go back to the JFRD or stay here in the DC area and get a civilian job.

Good luck to you Coach.......which ever-way you choose to go. In any event, keep your keen and perceptive insight coming to the Rx College Football Forum;
At least we have some of our priorities in line .....ha.....

 

[cloverleaf]

Ditto that Mack..........you and coach are two of my gangs favorites.

Both of you are true CFB men and great for this forum!

 

[CoachCB]

Thanks Mac & CL. Appreciate your inputs. Let me know if you ever get your old asses to DC!

 

[Conan]

Obviously the money is there that allows the athletic departments to pay those kind of salaries, and, if it isn't, the heavyweight programs raise-it. These obscene salaries are indicative of the pressure these programs are under to
win (Florida and Michigan come to mind with the later raiding the Alabama treasure trove hiring the OC and raising his salary from $150K to $830K); That's quite a large pay hike....I wonder if Nussmeier will be able to afford a new automobile or truck. These are indeed strange times with our U.S economy in a quagmire, college football keeps spending money like drunk sailors.

Truedat Mack. But they are also making more of it than ever. (Even though they are the red, white and blue-bucks that your mother warned you about.) Also keep in mind that to many of the Pac-12 schools, this is brand new money. Not only are they benefiting from a raise in TV revenues, but they are also benefiting from a monstrous raise in TV revenues -- say roughly $10 million per school that never before existed on any budget line in the past. That amount doesn't include Pac-12 network money which has yet to be determined but could run just as high. Even Colorado who won't see their share for several years stands to come out way way ahead of anything they have ever seen before.

 

[Conan]

So let's get drunk like a bunch of drunken sailors and have us a wild time. It's my goddaughter's birthday today and I am in a partying mood. Good luck y'all. I hope that I have all the luck that I need for the evening, hopefully the state owned and operated slots and poker machines are also feeling loose tonight.

 

[MackDonald]

That new Avatar of yours Conan.....ouch. Where do you dredge-up those pretty girls. You really should show a little respect for your elders; You know us older guys can't handle pressure like that....ha.....I hope the birthday celebration goes well.