Some interesting information in the USA Today survey of assistant coach pay. Survey is public institutions only, so no information on Duke or Miami or Stanford but plenty enough data for perspective.
My take: the sky is not falling. We remain behind market pay of schools like VT which I think should be a "comparable" for us. But we are able to retain our coaches we know to be good. We are far behind all SEC programs. And the gap has widened.
Our assistant coach pay totals $2,504,000 which ranks 44th. Roof's pay of $750k is way above all others on staff. Our median seems to be $220k with a high of Sewak's $242 and low of Rychleski's $188.
Of note, our staff's pay "clusters" more than all others. That is, for many programs you'll find one or two coaches down where our median is, then an upward pecking order with material pay differences, with two or three coaches (presumably technical or recruiting gurus) making $150-350k more than the rest on staff Perhaps our staff, while solid, doesn't have top-of-class recruiters or technicians who must be retained by high dollar handcuffs. Perhaps, but I don't know.
Our comp $ are dwarfed by the Top 20 programs. LSU is tops at $5,741,000 with Auburn #2 and Bama #3 right on their heels. UGA is #4 at $4,807,000
and the rest of the Top 10 is Texas A&M, Clemson, FSU, Michigan, Ohio State and U of S Carolina. The dollars tail off down to #20 Nebraska at $3,150,000.
I suggest that comparing to UGA is to seek despair. They are in an arm's race within an arm's race against SEC programs. Of the Top 20 in staff pay, 10 are SEC. More relevant, I think, for GT to compare to ACC programs.
Comparing to primarily ACC we are hanging in. But barely hanging on. Clemson at $4,329,000 and FSU only $60,000 behind are way above others, but the others are all ahead of us. VT is at $3,257,000 with a median of $290k to GT's $220k. Clemson's lowest paid ($275k) and FSU's lowest paid ($338k) are both higher than our highest paid ($242k). Louisville is a surprising #13 in the national Top 20. NC State is $2,888,000. UVa only a hair above GT at $2,514,000. GT technically is ahead of UNC ($2,082,000) but they aren't paying Chizik and if they were, they'd be in the neighborhood of $3m. It is true that CPJ being his own OC reduces expense but I was surprised that few programs have TWO highly paid ($750k-$1.25m) coordinators. If one is super high pay, usually the other coordinator is no higher than $500k.
We still remain a little above programs I would have thought paid more than we do. Like Texas Tech and Illinois. And we aren't dreadfully behind successful programs like Wisconsin. No question that the cost of doing business (paying coaches competitive salaries) is higher in the south.
Five years ago CPJ was saying the one thing he'd change would be "adding majors". Now he says the main thing the program needs is "money". Likely not only to pay stalwarts more fairly but to upgrade the staff as well. That's just my speculation. For certain he must have more ample and better recruiting support staff.
Good on him for doing so well with minimal resources. Can't expect the guy to keep pulling it off forever.
hmj
My take: the sky is not falling. We remain behind market pay of schools like VT which I think should be a "comparable" for us. But we are able to retain our coaches we know to be good. We are far behind all SEC programs. And the gap has widened.
Our assistant coach pay totals $2,504,000 which ranks 44th. Roof's pay of $750k is way above all others on staff. Our median seems to be $220k with a high of Sewak's $242 and low of Rychleski's $188.
Of note, our staff's pay "clusters" more than all others. That is, for many programs you'll find one or two coaches down where our median is, then an upward pecking order with material pay differences, with two or three coaches (presumably technical or recruiting gurus) making $150-350k more than the rest on staff Perhaps our staff, while solid, doesn't have top-of-class recruiters or technicians who must be retained by high dollar handcuffs. Perhaps, but I don't know.
Our comp $ are dwarfed by the Top 20 programs. LSU is tops at $5,741,000 with Auburn #2 and Bama #3 right on their heels. UGA is #4 at $4,807,000
and the rest of the Top 10 is Texas A&M, Clemson, FSU, Michigan, Ohio State and U of S Carolina. The dollars tail off down to #20 Nebraska at $3,150,000.
I suggest that comparing to UGA is to seek despair. They are in an arm's race within an arm's race against SEC programs. Of the Top 20 in staff pay, 10 are SEC. More relevant, I think, for GT to compare to ACC programs.
Comparing to primarily ACC we are hanging in. But barely hanging on. Clemson at $4,329,000 and FSU only $60,000 behind are way above others, but the others are all ahead of us. VT is at $3,257,000 with a median of $290k to GT's $220k. Clemson's lowest paid ($275k) and FSU's lowest paid ($338k) are both higher than our highest paid ($242k). Louisville is a surprising #13 in the national Top 20. NC State is $2,888,000. UVa only a hair above GT at $2,514,000. GT technically is ahead of UNC ($2,082,000) but they aren't paying Chizik and if they were, they'd be in the neighborhood of $3m. It is true that CPJ being his own OC reduces expense but I was surprised that few programs have TWO highly paid ($750k-$1.25m) coordinators. If one is super high pay, usually the other coordinator is no higher than $500k.
We still remain a little above programs I would have thought paid more than we do. Like Texas Tech and Illinois. And we aren't dreadfully behind successful programs like Wisconsin. No question that the cost of doing business (paying coaches competitive salaries) is higher in the south.
Five years ago CPJ was saying the one thing he'd change would be "adding majors". Now he says the main thing the program needs is "money". Likely not only to pay stalwarts more fairly but to upgrade the staff as well. That's just my speculation. For certain he must have more ample and better recruiting support staff.
Good on him for doing so well with minimal resources. Can't expect the guy to keep pulling it off forever.
hmj
