Saving money is normally applauded. But there's nothing normal about college athletics.
So I doubt Tennessee football fans will schedule a parade or set an old sofa on fire to celebrate the announced salaries of their new coaching staff. "Vols save money" just doesn't have the same ring as "Vols beat Florida."
Don't get the wrong idea. It's not as if the new staff will be working for sportswriters' wages, although the News Sentinel's Dave Hooker might be just a freelance gig away from catching quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw.
Hinshaw will make $150,000 a year. Head coach Derek Dooley will make $1,800,000. The staff will make $4,525,000.
That doesn't mean anyone will have to moonlight or charge for speaking at local civic clubs. They can all get by just fine in East Tennessee.
But "getting by just fine" isn't what SEC football is about. It's about bigger and better. It's about bragging.
No one brags about bargains when it comes to SEC football. Fans expect to pay outrageous prices for tickets, parking places, and stadium beverages. And why wouldn't they? What's a few extra bucks at the concession stand when ESPN is paying billions to televise SEC football?
Fans get excited about sticking it to a desperate scalper outside the stadium. They don't get excited about posting on an opposing fans' Web site: "We pay our coach only half as much as yours."
Alabama's Nick Saban and Florida's Urban Meyer will make more than twice as much as Dooley. I won't even mention how much LSU coach Les Miles makes because you wouldn't believe that a man who is incapable of watching a game and a clock at the same time could cash a check that big.
Bobby Petrino at Arkansas and Mark Richt at Georgia will make about a million dollars more a year than Dooley. Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt is comfortably over $2 million a year.
You don't have to stray beyond the campus to appreciate UT's sudden frugality in football. Former UT coach Phillip Fulmer made more than Dooley. So did Lane Kiffin, last year's head coach. Kiffin and his staff were paid $5,325,000 last season, $800,000 more than the new staff.
Monte Kiffin, last year's defensive coordinator, got $1.2 million, plus a $300,000 retention bonus for coaching all the way through December. Justin Wilcox, this year's defensive coordinator, will make $600,000.
Ed Orgeron, who was the assistant head coach and recruiter coordinator under Kiffin, was paid $600,000. Charlie Baggett, Dooley's assistant head coach, will get $375,000, and recruiting coordinator Terry Joseph will make $175,000.
But it's not as though UT has become the athletic thrift store for the SEC. UT's Pat Summitt is the highest paid coach in women's basketball. Men's coach Bruce Pearl is making $1.9 million this year, and his contract will average $2.32 million a year during the six years of his current deal.
Did you ever think a UT basketball coach would make more than the football coach?
Somewhere in Florida, former AD Doug Dickey's jaw just hit the beach. Fulmer got out just in time, huh?
Maybe a cheaper coaching staff is nothing for self-respecting SEC fans to brag about. But there could be an upside.
Since UT is cutting coaching costs, it surely will want to pass the savings along to fans in the form of lower ticket prices. A notification letter to season-ticket holders is probably already in the mail.
John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
National Signing Day 2010
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
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Comments » 10
NCVOL09 writes:
Did John Adam's make a clear point in this article? I honestly believe he was criticizing UT for not overpaying their football staff, but I'm not sure if he was serious.
tnaseevol writes:
I hope they get really good raises this December.
We're almost in the cellar as far as pay goes. JA must be kidding to even think UT will lower ticket prices(I know he's being sarcastic)!
BTW what happened to our BB Vols? Never did I think it would be this BAD!
FWBVol writes:
John, great jab at Les Miles.
UT4ever writes:
another Adams gem written in the wee hours of the night on used toilet paper......maybe Adams will also be receiving a pay cut, or a pink slip!!! HOHOHOHHOOO!!!!
Lostvolinhighweeds writes:
He probably consulted Lane Kiffin to acquire that little tid-bit.
VOLinATL writes:
John, normally I like your work, but this was a waste of time.
FearTheVols1252 writes:
I think until Dooley proves himself in SEC competition, it’s a more than fare price. I’m sure if he does well next season he’ll get a hefty raise!
Brillovol writes:
I think you're right about the raises in December. We are nowhere near in the cellar for pay, however. Yesterday's article noted that we are 4th in the SEC in pay. With a new and somewhat unproven staff, we are paying based on potential and not necessarily on prior results. If in 3 years we win the SEC, we will be first or second in the league in total salary. That's just the way it goes.
As for the BB boys, 20 wins 5 years in a row is GOOD! Give up the argument.
vut56#231073 writes:
When I comment on JA posts, it is usually negative and I regret being so labeled. He may be a fine father, president of a PTA and tithe. However, again, what purpose did this serve. All the info provided is public info, been posted in the KNS before and this is just a pointless rehash. In a race, in wins-losses, in wealth, someone is high and someone is low; everyone else falls in between. Other than his jab at Miles, this article make no point other than, perhaps, UT underpaid this staff. Again, a pointless approach as all sides agreed to their deals and seem happy to have them; end of story.
rkastens writes:
I think the salaries seem fair. As JA pointed out in the article (Les Miles), paying a coach lots of money doesn't equate to wins. And no, don't think for a moment ticket prices are coming down. Nice try.
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