Just curious what does Mike Price at UTEP make?

[OldTimer]

NT stack up in comparison?

[jjpfootball]

Price was hired with a yearly salary of $225,000 and a contract full of incentives.

[Got5onIt]

Price was hired with a yearly salary of $225,000 and a contract full of incentives.

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I remember reading Price has a clause in his contract where he takes home a percentage of home ticket sales. Now if that doesn't motivate a coach to become an ambassador for your program, what will???

[OldTimer]

NT stack up in comparison?

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Price took a terrible fb program...the season before he came they were 2wins 8 loses. His first year he won 8 lost 2 and went to a bowl. This year he has beat U of Houston and New Mexico University...to full stadiums....a very exciting offensive team I have watched those two games on TV...Dish has CSTV. If you are correct that he is getting $200,000 that is less than DD makes at NT.

STill wondering on the Florida Atlantic Coach and Todd George and how they compare.

[Green Nightmare]

Football: UNT aims to fit pay with goals

Study: Football salaries rank second in Sun Belt

08:52 AM CDT on Thursday, September 8, 2005

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

In terms of wins and championships, the North Texas football team’s coaching staff has no rival in the Sun Belt Conference.

That isn’t the case when it comes to coaching salaries, a study conducted by the Denton Record-Chronicle using the Freedom of Information Act shows.

UNT has boosted its coaches’ salaries over the last few years, but still ranks second to Middle Tennessee, the Mean Green’s opponent in its season opener on Saturday.

The study shows:

n MTSU’s coaching staff is making a total of $871,000 with an average of $72,333 going to each assistant coach. UNT’s staff is drawing $774,000 with an average of $63,278 paid to each assistant. The Mean Green’s total jumps to $823,000 if a series of guaranteed incentives for head coach Darrell Dickey are included in the total.

n UNT ranks third in assistant coaches’ salaries behind MTSU and Arkansas State.

n Dickey ranks fourth in the league among head coaches with a base salary of $204,500, a total that includes a yearly annuity payment of $20,000 and a $6,000 car allowance. Guaranteed incentives for maintaining membership in the Sun Belt Conference and appearing on his weekly radio show push the total to $259,500. Dickey’s salary ranks second in the league if guaranteed incentives are counted as part of his base salary. Howard Schnellenberger of Florida Atlantic ranks first in the league at $272,863 in base salary while Florida International’s Don Strock is third at $250,000, both without incentives.

Some members of the UNT athletic department see those totals as a sign of rapid progress. Others view the data as an indication that the program still must improve its salaries to stabilize a Mean Green team that has won four straight conference titles.

“In every area, we are trying to make ends meet,” Dickey said. “We don’t have a lot of money here. It’s a tough situation. We have lost five coaches in the last four years. It’s a situation that hopefully we can address at some point because these guys have done a good job and have worked hard.”

Playing catch-up

One fact both the UNT administration and coaching staff agree on is the school is trying to make up ground quickly to put its football program on par with the rest of the teams in Division I-A.

UNT only returned to the top level of college football in 1995 and has been scrambling to make progress ever since by building facilities and improving its programs.

“We want to be a top Division I program and you need to be able to reflect that in everything you do,” UNT athletic director Rick Villarreal said. “Salaries are part of that. We want to be competitive and among the highest in the conference. We have made a lot of progress and our goal is to continue it, but at the same time we have built new facilities, put in new video equipment and upped the aid for fifth-year seniors. You want to get those salaries up there, but you also want coaches to have the tools that are necessary for them to be able to recruit and be successful.”

UNT opened a new $7.4 million athletic center this year that includes new weight facilities and a football practice field. The school also has begun raising money for a new football stadium. The athletic budget has increased from $7.2 million in the 2000-01 school year to $12.25 million for the fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31.

No program has shone brighter during that span than the football team.

UNT has won the Sun Belt Conference title and played in the New Orleans Bowl in each of the last four seasons. The Mean Green have drawn more publicity than ever before this fall because of the accomplishments of running backs Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas, the last two national rushing champions. The duo has appeared on the cover of USA Today and also been featured in ESPN The Magazine and other national publications.

UNT booster and Houston furniture magnate Jim McIngvale named his friendship with Dickey as a key reason he donated $1 million toward construction of the Mean Green Athletic Center.

Rewarding success

The question UNT faces is how to reward its football staff for its achievements while also addressing the needs of other teams and building the overall program.

“We don’t look at it in terms of where we rank in the conference,” UNT offensive coordinator Ramon Flanigan said. “What we look at is we think we have done a good job here. We are compared to other teams’ win-loss record. If we are judged by that standard, then it would be fair to judge our compensation by the same scale.”

The success the Mean Green have enjoyed, working for Dickey and the atmosphere at the school are some of the reasons defensive coordinator Kenny Evans has stayed at UNT.

“Salaries are not the only thing, but sometimes it’s a little disappointing when you think things are going to happen differently, especially after four championships,” Evans said.

Dickey signed a new contract this year that did not include a raise, although he did have a clause added to his deal that would give him a $100,000 payment if he completes his contract that runs through Dec. 31, 2008.

UNT’s assistant coaching staff received a total boost of $22,000 this season.

Villarreal received a $15,000 raise.

Villarreal said part of the reason UNT’s salaries trail those of Middle Tennessee’s coaches is that several members of the Blue Raiders’ staff have been at the school for extended periods, although Middle Tennessee’s highest paid coaches are relative newcomers.

Keeping them in the fold

Keeping his coaches has been a yearly dilemma for Dickey, who traces the problem partly back to the pay increases that are available for coaches who leave for staffs at higher profile schools.

The Mean Green have lost Gary DeLoach (UCLA), Freddie Kitchens (Mississippi State), Spencer Leftwich (Tulsa), Sam McElroy (Tarleton State) and Eric Wolford (Arizona) to other college programs over the last four years.

McElroy left UNT after the 2004 season to become a head coach. The other four coaches are working as assistants.

“It’s not just money,” Dickey said. “Guys leave for more established programs and better conferences. It’s part of the profession. I just hope we can hang on to coaches when it comes down to just a financial issue.”

The cost of turning over coaches is hard to quantify, but there is little doubt it has been a detriment to the Mean Green to some degree.

Most of UNT’s assistants who have left departed in the middle of recruiting season. When an assistant coach leaves while recruiting a player, UNT simply subs in another assistant to continue wooing the recruit.

The Mean Green’s offensive line has worked under three assistant coaches since 2002.

“It’s been a pretty smooth transition,” UNT tackle Joel Foster said. “You just have to get used to each coach’s personality. We have been pretty fortunate to have good assistant coaches.”

UNT has kept an impressive staff despite the challenge of ranking behind Middle Tennessee in coaching salaries and lacking a significant advantage over several other teams in the league.

“I am sure that at some point the salaries will match up with the other teams across the country,” Evans said. “We are having to make so many changes. We are improving our facilities, the school is growing like crazy, and we have to hire people in every area to keep up with it. Salaries are one thing they would like to address, but haven’t been able to yet.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

Edited September 27, 2005 by Green Nightmare

[catman12]

Didn't Florida Atlantic get beat 66-23 this past weekend or something...by Arkansas State???

In my mind that is FAR worse than either of our losses to Tulsa or Kansas State. Tulsa was disappointing, Kansas State was supposed to whip our ass, but if we lose to Arkansas State by 40+, then it's time to seriously question where Dickey has to program headed.

I don't know why you mention the Florida Atlantic coach in your post when they got their hides tanned by another Sun Belt team.

[greenminer]

I don't remember the exact numbers for Price. I could be wrong, but I want to say he gets a dollar for every ticket sold and something like another 10 bucks for each season ticket.

I also saw him doing a commercial for a local car dealership (a Hummer was in it)... I imagine there's TONS of perks for this guy. The city practically worships him.

We might sell out the rest of the way. That's 52K+ people/game.

[OldTimer]

"

I don't know why you mention the Florida Atlantic coach in your post when they got their hides tanned by another Sun Belt team."

Because he took a non existant program and in a couple of years .............beat North Texas last year.

[untbowler]

At least get your facts right it was FIU who got blasted by Arky State, but FAU did lose to ULM on Thur/Friday so that is pretty bad in of itself.

[emmitt01]

"

I don't know why you mention the Florida Atlantic coach in your post when they got their hides tanned by another Sun Belt team."

Because he took a non existant program and in a couple of years .............beat North Texas last year.

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You're exactly right...he took a senior laden team, full of players from their days in 1AA (when they didn't have to follow the 1A eligibility and transfer rules), and beat North Texas. Very impressive indeed.

[Monkeypox]

bump...

[FirefightnRick]

At least get your facts right it was FIU who got blasted by Arky State, but FAU did lose to ULM on Thur/Friday so that is pretty bad in of itself.

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I know it wasn't, but even if it was FAU that got beat that bad by ASU, it would not have compared to our loss to Tulsa. FAU is in their 1st year of 1-A and are 2-0 against NT counting our loss to them last year in Denton. No one within reason expected two new born teams like(FAU AND FIU) to come in and start beating people immediately, even though that is EXACTLY what FAU did in 2004.

Rick

Edited November 16, 2005 by FirefightnRick

[untbowler]

I know it wasn't, but even if it was FAU that got beat that bad by ASU, it would not have compared to our loss to Tulsa.  FAU is in their 1st year of 1-A and are 2-0 against NT counting our loss to them last year in Denton.  No one within reason expected two new born teams like(FAU AND FIU) to come in and start beating people immediately, even though that is EXACTLY what FAU did in 2004.

Rick

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My post was not directed at you FFR.

The FAU losses, USF loss, FIU debacle should be considered inexcusable b/c all 3 teams have been around less than 10 years.

Also looking at the salary thread we are 2nd behind MUTS, so that throws out everyone saying we underpay our coaches compared to the conference mates.