Will We Pay Our Asst Coaches Enough?

DeepGreen · October 28, 2010

According to football scoop-

Oklahoma: Quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel has received a $50,000 raise to $250,000 per year. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has received a $45,000 raise to $430,000 per season. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables has received a $45,000 raise to 440,000 per season. Jay Norvell, James Patton, and Cale Gundy all received $20,000 raises. Jackie Shipp, Bobby Jack Wright, and Willie Martinez all received raises of $16,500.

Although UNT may be increasing it's assistant coaches' salaries with the new regime coming in, will $1 mil be enough? Not suggesting we can match OU's salary structure, but this just shows how far off we are compared to the OU's of the world. It begs the question, would a Kevin Wilson take on the UNT HC job for $500K or $600K?

Edited October 28, 2010 by DeepGreen

SUMG · October 28, 2010

I think our assistants' pay will be more than adequate. I realize that when comparing our assistants' pay to that of the Big XII schools (or another BCS league)....we pay much less. But the same goes for head coach's salaries. And we're just trying to win The Belt.....not The Big XII.

I think when all is said and done...our head coach will be the highest paid one in The Belt. And I would think our assistants' salaries would be near the top, too.

wardly · October 28, 2010

the following numbers are aproximate, so don't carve them in stone, but i think our oc and dc are paid about $100,000 annually. that is probably ok if your head coach is making about $275,000, but way short if its closer to $500,000, which is probably in the range an experienced hc will cost. if so, we will have to up our oc and dc to around $200,000, and top assistants in the $125,000 range. to bring in an experienced college staff in todays market could increase payroll $750,000 to $1,000,000 annually. just a guess and by golly.

NorthTexan95 · October 28, 2010

the following numbers are aproximate, so don't carve them in stone, but i think our oc and dc are paid about $100,000 annually. that is probably ok if your head coach is making about $275,000, but way short if its closer to $500,000, which is probably in the range an experienced hc will cost. if so, we will have to up our oc and dc to around $200,000, and top assistants in the $125,000 range. to bring in an experienced college staff in todays market could increase payroll $750,000 to $1,000,000 annually. just a guess and by golly.

I thought Canalas was making around $200,000 this year.

Mean Green 93-98 · October 28, 2010

I thought Canalas was making around $200,000 this year.

Nope. I forget the exact amount, but it's right around $100k. He made that kind of change when he was still at South Florida.

Green Nightmare · October 28, 2010

We lost Spencer to Tulsa, I think he was making 85k at Tulsa

NorthTexan95 · October 28, 2010

The Coaches page for football on meangreensports.com lists 11 coaches including the strength coach and Director of Operations. I made a spreadsheet with $600k for HC, $200k for coordinators, and $125k for all other assistants. It comes to a total of $2,125,000. To put that into persective, according to USA Today (see link at bottom) in 2008-2009, the latest data available, UNT paid ALL their coaches a total of $3,255,410.

I would hope that we would be able to at least have a pay scale as I've listed. However, I also realize that there are other costs involved (retirement, healthcare, etc) that may or may not have to come out of the athletic budget. Also, any payments made to Dodge probably will come out of this budget. But if you look at only salary for current coaches we would need about $2.1 million to have this type of pay scale.

1 Head Coach: $600,000

2 Offensive Coordinator: $200,000

3 Offensive Line: $125,000

4 Running Backs: $125,000

5 Wide Receivers: $125,000

6 Defensive Coordinator: $200,000

7 Defensive Line: $125,000

8 Defensive Ends: $125,000

9 Cornerbacks: $125,000

10 Safeties: $125,000

11 Director of Operations: $125,000

12 Director of St & Cond.: $125,000

Grand Total: $2,125,000

HC Total: $600,000

Off Total: $575,000

Def Total: $700,000

USA Today link: USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm?loc=interstitialskip

MeanGreenTexan · October 28, 2010

The Coaches page for football on meangreensports.com lists 11 coaches including the strength coach and Director of Operations. I made a spreadsheet with $600k for HC, $200k for coordinators, and $125k for all other assistants. It comes to a total of $2,125,000. To put that into persective, according to USA Today (see link at bottom) in 2008-2009, the latest data available, UNT paid ALL their coaches a total of $3,255,410.

I would hope that we would be able to at least have a pay scale as I've listed. However, I also realize that there are other costs involved (retirement, healthcare, etc) that may or may not have to come out of the athletic budget. Also, any payments made to Dodge probably will come out of this budget. But if you look at only salary for current coaches we would need about $2.1 million to have this type of pay scale.

1 Head Coach: $600,000

2 Offensive Coordinator: $200,000
3 Offensive Line: $125,000
4 Running Backs: $125,000
5 Wide Receivers: $125,000

6 Defensive Coordinator: $200,000
7 Defensive Line: $125,000
8 Defensive Ends: $125,000
9 Cornerbacks: $125,000
10 Safeties: $125,000

11 Director of Operations: $125,000
12 Director of St & Cond.: $125,000

Grand Total: $2,125,000

HC Total: $600,000
Off Total: $575,000
Def Total: $700,000

USA Today link: USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ncaa-finances.htm?loc=interstitialskip

I hope we don't skip on a Special Teams coach again...

Mean Green 93-98 · October 28, 2010

Here is a list of coaching salaries: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2009-coaches-contracts-database.htm

You can look at assistant coaches' salaries by school. If you compare our alleged $1 million for assistants with what Houston pays, we'll be right there with them.

NorthTexan95 · October 28, 2010

Here is a list of coaching salaries: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2009-coaches-contracts-database.htm

You can look at assistant coaches' salaries by school. If you compare our alleged $1 million for assistants with what Houston pays, we'll be right there with them.

That's a great link. So my numbers would involve a significant raise for all the coaches.

Edit: In fact, using the numbers from that link we wold need only $967,000 to match the salaries of the assistants (not counting the St & Cond coach or the Director of OP). So, basically, we need an extra $1 million to reach the levels I have in my previous post.

Edited October 28, 2010 by NorthTexan95

jazzer88 · October 28, 2010

Considering the economy, these numbers are far more important to the coaching search than the opinions of students, faculty, fans, or alumni. Folks, we're talking a ton of money in an era where state support is declining yearly. Please keep this in mind when considering a "national" or "big name" hire. I'm pulling for a big name, but it just doesn't seem likely. Big coaches demand big money and I don't think UNT is in a big money position. We gambled on Dodge, not necessarily because of his HS success, but because he was cheap and had potential (I admit it). Today, the economy (including state funding) is even worse. I hate to say it, but I think UNT may have to gamble again.

Mean Green 93-98 · October 28, 2010

Considering the economy, these numbers are far more important to the coaching search than the opinions of students, faculty, fans, or alumni. Folks, we're talking a ton of money in an era where state support is declining yearly. Please keep this in mind when considering a "national" or "big name" hire. I'm pulling for a big name, but it just doesn't seem likely. Big coaches demand big money and I don't think UNT is in a big money position.

I assume you missed it, but recent reports indicate we will be prepared to offer $600-750k for a head coach and $1 million for assistants.

We gambled on Dodge, not necessarily because of his HS success, but because he was cheap and had potential (I admit it). Today, the economy (including state funding) is even worse. I hate to say it, but I think UNT may have to gamble again.

There is never any guarantee that whoever you hire will be the right man for the job. But this is one time where UNT needs to be as sure to get it right as possible. 3-4 more years of 2-3 wins could be disastrous for the future of the program.

Edited October 28, 2010 by Mean Green 93-98

jazzer88 · October 28, 2010

I didn't miss the "report." In my experience, reports can be overly optimistic or ill-informed. Especially in this case where there's so much emotion involved. Considering the administrative chaos that UNT is undergoing (believe I know this to be true), until we know for sure what UNT is offering we should be very cautiously optimistic.

In regards to your second point, I couldn't agree more, but the same was true five years ago and look who was hired. It's a money thing.

Dang it! How do you folks get those snazzy grey/quote boxes!!! Curse the mysteries of technology.

Edited October 28, 2010 by jazzer88

glick1980 · October 28, 2010

Considering the economy, these numbers are far more important to the coaching search than the opinions of students, faculty, fans, or alumni. Folks, we're talking a ton of money in an era where state support is declining yearly. Please keep this in mind when considering a "national" or "big name" hire. I'm pulling for a big name, but it just doesn't seem likely. Big coaches demand big money and I don't think UNT is in a big money position. We gambled on Dodge, not necessarily because of his HS success, but because he was cheap and had potential (I admit it). Today, the economy (including state funding) is even worse. I hate to say it, but I think UNT may have to gamble again.

We are building a $78 million football stadium. If we aren't going to offer competitive salaries and field a good team, why would they make such an investment in the football program?

Edited October 28, 2010 by glick1980

forevereagle · October 28, 2010

In regards to your second point, I couldn't agree more, but the same was true five years ago and look who was hired. It's a money thing.

Dang it! How do you folks get those snazzy grey/quote boxes!!! Curse the mysteries of technology.

We hired Dodge just under 4 years ago, and at the time, it seemed to be a decent hire.

There is a Reply button under each post, that will give you a quote box. Enjoy.

NorthTexan95 · October 28, 2010

Ok ... so my numbers that I posted above are probably very unrealistic and way off what we have to work with. Using the link from Mean Green 93-98 I've averaged the salaries for head coaches and all football assistants for five conferences: MWC, CUSA, WAC, MAC, and Sun Belt. If we could have a $2.1 million budget we would be above the average MWC salaries as of 2009. (note: the numbers below are from 2009 and schools have nine assistants instead of the eleven I used above).

....................HC......ASSISTANTS..........TOTAL

MWC.........$869,000...$1,160,000.....$2,029,000

CUSA........$801,000.....$935,000.....$1,736,000

WAC.........$605,000.....$863,000.....$1,468,000

MAC.........$342,000.....$709,000.....$1,051,000

Sun Belt ...$281,000.....$665,000.......$946,000

UNT ('09) ..$279,000.....$650,000......$929,000

I think a much more hopeful goal is to shoot for the WAC numbers. That would give us a head coach at $600,000 ... two coordinators at $200,000, and seven assistants at $66,000 per year. However, if CUSA is where we would like to be then I would love to be able to hit that salary level now.

mean_green15 · October 28, 2010

If you want to pay the assistants more, there is a simple solution. Donate to the Mean Green Club and buy club seats...it is that easy.

DeepGreen · October 28, 2010

Ok ... so my numbers that I posted above are probably very unrealistic and way off what we have to work with. Using the link from Mean Green 93-98 I've averaged the salaries for head coaches and all football assistants for five conferences: MWC, CUSA, WAC, MAC, and Sun Belt. If we could have a $2.1 million budget we would be above the average MWC salaries as of 2009. (note: the numbers below are from 2009 and schools have nine assistants instead of the eleven I used above).

....................HC......ASSISTANTS..........TOTAL
MWC.........$869,000...$1,160,000.....$2,029,000
CUSA........$801,000.....$935,000.....$1,736,000
WAC.........$605,000.....$863,000.....$1,468,000
MAC.........$342,000.....$709,000.....$1,051,000
Sun Belt ...$281,000.....$665,000.......$946,000

UNT ('09) ..$279,000.....$650,000......$929,000

I think a much more hopeful goal is to shoot for the WAC numbers. That would give us a head coach at $600,000 ... two coordinators at $200,000, and seven assistants at $66,000 per year. However, if CUSA is where we would like to be then I would love to be able to hit that salary level now.

Not sure what all the CUSA coaches make, but wouldn't the private school on the hilltop sort of skew the numbers with what they pay June Jones?

NorthTexan95 · October 28, 2010

Not sure what all the CUSA coaches make, but wouldn't the private school on the hilltop sort of skew the numbers with what they pay June Jones?

The link I'm using doesn't have any assistant coach information for private schools. In CUSA they don't have the head coach salary for Tulane. June Jones' salary is there but there's two other CUSA head coaches making more money: Skip Holtz and George O'Leary. June Jones isn't alone in raising the average. There's a couple of coaches in the $300,000 range, a couple in the $400,000's ... and then it goes up.

Edited October 28, 2010 by NorthTexan95

MeanGreen61 · October 28, 2010

The link I'm using doesn't have any assistant coach information for private schools. In CUSA they don't have the head coach salary for Tulane. June Jones' salary is there but there's two other CUSA head coaches making more money: Skip Holtz and George O'Leary. June Jones isn't alone in raising the average. There's a couple of coaches in the $300,000 range, a couple in the $400,000's ... and then it goes up.

Private schools do not have the same reporting requirements as public schools.

Edited October 28, 2010 by MeanGreen61