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LSU to make Miles highest-paid football coach in SEC

Associated Press
Originally published 03:35 p.m., March 14, 2008
Updated 05:06 p.m., March 14, 2008

NEW ORLEANS — LSU will make Les Miles the highest-paid head football coach in the SEC under a renegotiated five-year contract agreement signed Friday.

Miles will earn at least $3.75 million plus $1,000 a year in a deal that nudges him ahead of Alabama coach Nick Saban and makes Miles one of the nation’s top-paid college football coaches.

Miles also is eligible to receive more money each year, depending on the team’s performance on the field and in the classroom.

The contract adjustment was signed Friday by Miles and LSU System President John Lombardi. The university system’s governing board must approve the deal at its April meeting.

Miles is 34-6 at LSU, with three lopsided bowl victories, since taking over for Saban in 2005.

Saban, who is guaranteed $3.75 million, was the SEC’s highest-paid coach. Miles’ new contract states he will be paid no less than the highest-paid coach at a public university in the conference, plus $1,000.

Miles’ initial contract extension through 2012, agreed to in December, called for him to earn no less than the third-highest salary among all NCAA football coaches nationwide.

But when Miles and LSU began to negotiate a new salary after the BCS title game, they realized they could not verify salaries for coaches at private universities, such as Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame and Pete Carroll at Southern California.

LSU general counsel Ray Lamonica said that if another SEC coach receives a subsequent raise that’s higher than what Miles earns, and if Miles then wins another BCS title, Miles would be entitled to another raise to again make him the conference’s highest-paid coach.

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

       30 Comments

Posted by vol_in_lsu_land on March 14, 2008 at 3:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Miles will prove to be a capable coach in the long run, but he is NOT going to be able to sustain this level of success at LSU IMHO. He is riding on very good talent, some that he recruited, some that Saban recruited. But ultimately his game day coaching/decision making will be his undoing.

Posted by drum56 on March 14, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

terrible coach!!!!!!

Posted by pdhuff on March 14, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Amazing what a ring will do for you. I guess when you get into those kind of bucks, its a status thing. They hoist the Sears Cup.

Whatever the market will bear is what they'll get. The Yankees pay a ton and earn even more off of the bar's PPV packages in NYC area. Ol' Steinbrenner has made beaucoup $$$$$$$.

Posted by TommyJack on March 14, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If they're stupid enough to pay him....Suspect most of the other HC's in SEC would like to give him a big hug.

Posted by Ashley on March 14, 2008 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah that's right fool, he's gets paid middle of the pack money compared to his peers. Your name becomes more fitting with each post.

Posted by General_Watermelon on March 14, 2008 at 5:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Higher than Saban? What IDIOTS!

Posted by General_Watermelon on March 14, 2008 at 5:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Fulmer will probably get a well deserved $675,000 raise to bump him above Petrino, Tuberville, and Richt. I think we should raise the ticket prices so we can make our coaches salary more competitive.
We are so lucky to have Coach Fulmer as the leader of our young men. Remember, he won a National Championship in 1998.

Posted by pdhuff on March 14, 2008 at 5:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Gen Fritter _ nominate your 5:31 pm post for insight of the quarter. If you win, wear your T-shirt proudly, sir.

"Such power should not be in the hands of one man" - Jr Samples.

Posted by 87UTVOL on March 14, 2008 at 5:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Contract requires him to be highest paid. Hey, he won didn't he? If he loses, LSU will spending a lot of money for a long time and will have difficulty ever paying a new coach much less.

Miles should send a thank-you note to Saban. Is Jimmy Sexton Miles' agent? If not, Miles and his agent should send a nice gift Sexton's way too.

Fulmer is going to get a raise. I think Hamilton's already said that. I don't think he'll make over $3M, but he'll be in the $2.6-2.8 range.

We'll start hearing more about Pearl and possible job openings. How much do Roy Williams, Calipari, Pitino, Gillespie make? Given what he's accomplished, I think we'll have to put him close to those numbers. We need to pay him, but surely Bruce will have some loyalty to the Vols. I mean geez, he's a king here. Given all he's got, the grass don't get much greener.

Posted by burntorangeVOLffle on March 14, 2008 at 6:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Three of the coaches above Fulmer do not have a National Title (and lets be honest, the '07 LSU Tigers were the luckiest team ever to make it to the NC game with 2 losses). None have more than 2 SEC titles (same as Phil) yet people will still say he gets paid too much.

Posted by khelton657 on March 14, 2008 at 6:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Burntorangevol - I usually agree with you but maybe not this time. Fulmer doesn't technically "have" a National Title, he "had" one, many years ago..sort of Bill Clinton wordsmithing. He was paid well when he "had" the national title. His current pay should be related to his current performance... which is probably midpack...

Posted by tigervol9802 on March 14, 2008 at 7:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Absolutely amazing what a difference 18 months can make.

He goes from a controversial fumble call away from either he or the AD being fired to the highest paid coach in the SEC.....

You got to love America.

I wonder what LSU fans thing about this.

Posted by thesavageorange on March 14, 2008 at 7:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

General_Fritter ,How much do you think UT will pay CPF after he raises the Sears Trophy next yr?

Posted by Silent_Fulmer on March 14, 2008 at 7:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Talk about getting thrown into a dumpster, LOL!!!!

Posted by Ashley on March 14, 2008 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah that's right fool, he's gets paid middle of the pack money compared to his peers. Your name becomes more fitting with each post.

Posted by Foolmore on March 14, 2008 at 5:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Go check out what he makes compared to other SEC coaches. It's middle of the pack. Hint...think before you post.

Posted by Foolmore on March 14, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Let's see....

1. Miles 3,751,000
2. Saban 3,750,000
3. Meyer 3,384,000
4. Petrino 2,850,000
5. Tuberville 2,825,000
6. Richt 2,800,000
7. Fulmer 2,200,000

Last time I checked 7th was middle of the pack. Eat it.

Posted by burntorangeVOLffle on March 14, 2008 at 8:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)

khelton657, is that not one more than Richt, Petrino, and Tuberville "had"?

I'm not campaigning for Fulmer to get bumped up to the near $3 mill range. (Personally I think these coaching salaries are getting out of hand all across the country)I'm just pointing out that some of his peers that are getting paid more than him don't even have the same accomplishments in their careers. Or even Spurrier who must be getting less than Phil even though he "had" a NC and 6 SEC titles on his resume.

Posted by jimr07 on March 14, 2008 at 8:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Posted by Ashley on March 14, 2008 at 4:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yeah that's right fool, he's gets paid middle of the pack money compared to his peers. Your name becomes more fitting with each post.
brother you hit the head on the nail. i was in hopes he would take a course to raise his iq to double digits.

Posted by pdhuff on March 14, 2008 at 8:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Spurrier deserves even less than what he's getting for thinking he could win a SEC crown at SC. Last fall's fall was incredible.

Don't hear near as much of his "lip" as we used to.

Posted by CatScratchFever on March 14, 2008 at 9:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Question vols....How would you feel about Pearl making more than Fulmer? Is it purely economies of scale or should it be each respective coaches market value?

I have heard from a friend associated with Indiana sports that they are going to offer Pearl between 2.75 and 3 mil at the end of the season. Over 7 to 10 years....that is a lot of money.

Posted by ncvol17 on March 14, 2008 at 10:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

No wonder donation requests keep going up as well as ticket prices.. Soon only doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs will be able to afford football tickets. The rich will pay the rich and the others will buy ESPN and watch these mega salaried coaches coach from home...

Posted by anthony on March 14, 2008 at 10:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey, here i s a chance for adams for do one of his famous research analysis articles for us fans , you know, the one where , what are the records in the next 12 years when a coach received a big raise. Or should he have gotten such a big raise, and why isn't this money used on the children!!! Instead of blowing it on some big pompus fat as............football coach.

Posted by bustervols on March 14, 2008 at 10:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

He will be gone in a year. What a LOSER!

Posted by CrankE on March 15, 2008 at 7:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Well I guess LSU is just damn proud to have their damn expensive coach, coaching their damn strong team.

Middle of the pack is what we should expect. In 1999, when the national championship trophy was still fresh, wasn't Fulmer the highest paid coach in the conference? Whether LSU was lucky or loaded is irrelevant. The pay follows the performance, not the other way around.

Posted by slovog on March 15, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Over 15 years, UT's head football coach has had his team at an average SEC ranking of 3rd. That is according to conference rank and final standings in the AP polls compared to other SEC teams.

Last year, UT's coach had his team in the SEC championship game, and his team was the 3rd highest ranked SEC team in the final AP poll.

Foolmore posted the order of pay and it shows that UT's coach is 7th in terms of pay.

I guess when you look at the numbers, and leave your emotions out of it, UT's head coach is a bargain considering what he is being paid. Looks as if he deserves a raise.

Posted by pdhuff on March 15, 2008 at 10:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)

slovog - if he gets a raise based on what happened nearly 10 years ago, it's been a long time coming. That peaked the average.

If you base it on reality, top ten finishes, ONE, since 2000, maybe he's making enuf the way it is. We'll see this fall.

Posted by givehim6 on March 15, 2008 at 1:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If coaches salarys keep going up, teams will start wearing advertisemements like arena ball does.

Posted by slovog on March 15, 2008 at 11:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Look at what I wrote. If you read carefully, it is based not on 1998, but on Fulmer's career. And on the season of 2007.

If you want REALITY, then the REALITY is that, even counting Fulmer's last 4 years (just the way you guys like to pick out certain years), which include his one losing season, his team averages 4th. His pay is seventh.

You can't get around it. He is paid at a lower level than his team has performed.

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