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Assistant Coaches Are Now Making More Money Than You’ll Ever See, Too

Mar 11, 2010, 9:21 PM UTC

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Like everything wrong in college football, thisâ†µis all Lane Kiffin’s fault: â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥The trend of rapidly accelerating pay for major-college head footballâ†µâ‡¥coaches is being replicated - and then some - for their topâ†µâ‡¥assistants.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥With many contracts being negotiated or finalized, nearly a dozenâ†µâ‡¥schools in the NCAA’sâ†µâ‡¥120-school Football Bowl Subdivision have made deals under which theyâ†µâ‡¥will be spending at least 38% more on their offensive or defensiveâ†µâ‡¥coordinator in 2010 than they did in 2009.â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µTennessee, of course, tried to mitigate the fan outrage at hiring aâ†µneophyte coach with nothing but Al Davis’s burning undead rage andâ†µ“hot wife” on his resume by bringing in Kiffin’s insanelyâ†µexpensive defensive coordinator and father Monte, recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron (pictured), and an all-star staff that was the mostâ†µexpensive cast of assistants ever assembled. â†µ

â†µâ†µNaturally, other schools in the vicinity perked up at this Sputnikâ†µmoment and have enthusiastically joined the arms race: â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Georgia has agreed to pay former Dallas Cowboys defensive line coachâ†µâ‡¥Todd Grantham $750,000 to be its defensive coordinator; that’s 130% moreâ†µâ‡¥than it paid Willie Martinez, who was fired.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥National champion Alabama’s defensive coordinator, Kirby Smart,â†µâ‡¥spurned an offer from Georgia before Grantham’s hiring and received aâ†µâ‡¥108% raise to $750,000.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥LSU’s John Chavis and South Carolina’s Ellis Johnson are makingâ†µâ‡¥$700,000.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Virginia, Clemson, Illinois and Nebraska each will pay a coordinatorâ†µâ‡¥at least 50% more in 2010 than it did in 2009. â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µYou’ll note that it was Georgia’s increasinglyâ†µfrantic defensive coordinator search that’s responsible for much ofâ†µthe good fortune above: Georgia pursued Smart, a Georgia grad, andâ†µChavis. They got shot down by both and Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster, whoâ†µgot aâ†µtotally sweet raise this article misses, before settling onâ†µGrantham. â†µ

â†µâ†µThis only goes one way, of course. Next year a high-profileâ†µcoordinator job will open up and there will be an insane bidding warâ†µthat sees several hot candidates offered boats and helicopters and whatâ†µnot. So it goes. You can insert any complaining about all theâ†µmoney that flows into college sports not going to the people whoâ†µactually make it here. â†µ

â†µâ†µI do hope someone in the Ed O’Bannon case drops this article on theâ†µNCAA at some point in what should be a deliciously protractedâ†µhorse-whipping. That image-use lawsuit keeps growingâ†µby the day: just recently O’Bannon was joined by the 1966 Texasâ†µWestern team that beat Kentucky to win the national title and someoneâ†µfrom Larry Bird’s 1979 Indiana State team. The NCAA is currently sellingâ†µthat Magic-Bird title game for 25 bucks a pop. â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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