Well the news came out to the base salary of our head coach. Coach Gene Chizik will make at least 1.9 million dollars this season. He has quite a few ways to get bonuses, including on and off field achievements. I do like the bonus for academic achievements. I think that most schools should try that strategy to get coaches to want the kids to do well, not just stay eligible.
$1.9 Million... that got me thinking. How does that compare to other coaches in the SEC. Well, here you go.
Nick Saban $3,900,000
Les Miles $3,750,000
Urban Myer $3,490,000
Bobby Petrino $2,850,000
Mark Richt $2,800,000
Houston Nutt $2,500,000
Lane Kiffin $2,000,000
Gene Chizik $1,900,000
Steve Spurrier $1,800,000
Dan Mullen $1,200,000
Rich Brooks $1,075,000
Bobby Johnson $1,000,000 (reportedly)
Looking at the list I think that Auburn has done just fine. The Tigers are middle of the road in salary, and giving Chizik room to grow with the program. Was Nick Saban worth $3.9M year one? In a word, Nope. Worth it year two? Closer, but still Nope. How about "The Hat" at $3.75M? Maybe... he has won National Championships. Urban? Maybe as well for the same reason. But I have a hard time paying anyone that kind of money to coach kids. What about Kiffin? That dude is making $2M, and making the Vols look like crap on the national media. Oh well, to each their own.
I think that it says something that Chizik came to Auburn and started the recruiting process and even made headlines doing so, without a contract in place. I know that it is more commonplace now, but I at least like the fact the Chizik wanted the Auburn job. He could negotiate the terms later. I think that he truly wanted to return to the Plains.
For what it is worth, Anthony Grant the new basketball coach at Bama makes ($1.83 Million) almost the same as Coach Chizik. Wow, that is a great gig... if you can get it.
War Damn High Salaries