Another SEC defensive coordinator joins $700,000 club
$700,000-plus appears to be the new going rate for defensive coordinators in the Southeastern Conference.
South Carolina’s Ellis Johnson had his annual compensation doubled to $700,000 yesterday when the executive committee of the school’s board of trustees approved a contract extension that adds two years to his contract (through 2013).
That makes Johnson one of four SEC defensive coordinators who’ll make at least $700,000 this year, joining Georgia’s Todd Grantham ($750,000), Alabama’s Kirby Smart ($750,000) and LSU’s John Chavis ($700,000).
Only one SEC defensive coordinator made more than $450,000 last year.
Smart and Chavis got raises of $390,000 and $250,000, respectively, after being pursued for the Georgia job. Johnson got his $350,000 raise after reportedly being offered the Tennessee DC job by new Vols coach Derek Dooley.
Georgia is paying Grantham, who spent the past 11 years as an NFL assistant, about $425,000 more than it paid former defensive coordinator Willie Martinez ($325,815 last year).
The run-up in SEC defensive-coordinator salaries started last year when Tennessee paid Monte Kiffin, now at Southern Cal, $1.2 million in base salary. But the SEC’s next highest paid DC last year, Chavis, made $450,000.
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216 comments Add your comment
Jona
February 12th, 2010
9:34 am
Because we considered him.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
9:38 am
First without even trying. Does that make me a loser?
Yes Sir!
February 12th, 2010
9:40 am
Jona – Big time loser
Bill
February 12th, 2010
9:43 am
Thanks Coach Richt for running up the salarys…when everyone else in having hard times. Teacher get crap and schools cutting days and coaches and AD’s getting rich. May God Bless your efforts.
Blindog
February 12th, 2010
9:48 am
With all the money the schools make on football,what they pay the coaches is nothing but a drop in the bucket.
anotherdawg
February 12th, 2010
9:52 am
Bill, You might want to thank the Kiffin’s and Tennessee for that. Oh, and may God bless you too!
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
9:53 am
Will this be known as the Georgia DC Stimulus package for college football?
PMC
February 12th, 2010
9:55 am
This is inline with the new TV deal. Schools are making insane money off of CFB they are paying coaches now competitive money to keep them at thier schools.
PMC
February 12th, 2010
9:57 am
Its not like that money leaves the economy anyway. It will either be spent or invested and that will employ quite a few people.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
9:58 am
Kiffin got the ball rolling. Remember, he was paying his father 1.2 million for the same job.
RomeDawg
February 12th, 2010
9:59 am
Hey ga gator, you may want to hire a DC before smack talking! Last time I checked your DC stayed for about a month. Was it a money issue? Being a coach on a staff for Chan Gailey cannot be considered job security.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:00 am
Ellis Johnson had to turn down both Georgia AND Florida to get his raise.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:01 am
Already have a DC in the fold. He’s also from the NFL.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:01 am
ga gator
Neither offered him best I can tell. Just talked about it.
How do we know you really ARE ga gator?
South Georgia UGA Hick
February 12th, 2010
10:01 am
I thnk the precedent was actually set by Texas
when they bumped Muschamp (Assistant Head
Coach in waiting, in waiting, in waiting, HO HUM,
in waiting) to $900,000.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:02 am
Teryl Austin
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:06 am
Well, Ellis Johnson got a raise after “talking” to both Georgia and Florida. That better?
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:07 am
No word on how much they are going to pay Austin. Let’s start a blog pool to see who comes closest.
I’m going with 751,000. fl is so much better than my Dawgs they have to pay more.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:08 am
“Well, Ellis Johnson got a raise after “talking” to both Georgia and Florida. That better?”
Snippy this morning aren’t we?
BAMA AND AUBURN OWN THE GATORS
February 12th, 2010
10:10 am
Who really cares what the Gators say or do. We owned them when they had Strong and Myer.
david
February 12th, 2010
10:10 am
250.000 a year i would like to make that drop in a bucket a year.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:10 am
Yesterday was ROUGH.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:13 am
There’s so much information coming out of Gainesville. Michael Barrow interviewed for the Co-DC job yesterday too.
ugaaccountant
February 12th, 2010
10:14 am
What is wrong with you people? Can’t a successful person earn a raise anymore without throngs of jealous bystanders getting pissed off. If you don’t like capitalism, perhaps move somewhere with the communist government you keep dreaming of.
Otto
February 12th, 2010
10:20 am
LSU is getting ripped off… wow.
As for the others, how much money are these football teams bringing in?
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:22 am
“Yesterday was ROUGH.”
It was painful for me to watch
patrick
February 12th, 2010
10:24 am
UNDER Richt
Vs. SEC foes: 43-22
.
Vs. Top 25 foes: 29-18
.
Vs. Top 25 foes away from home: 18-12
.
Vs. Top 10 foes: 8-6
.
In postseason games (bowls and championships): 9-3
.
In games decided by a touchdown or less: 34-14
.
Record at home: 47-9
.
Record on the road: 27-6
.
Losses to unranked teams: 6
.
Top 25 finishes: 8
.
Top 10 finishes: 6
.
Fact:………UGA was 12-1 in 2002 (prior to bowl selections)
.
Fact ………Fla was 12-1 in 2006 (prior to bowl selections)
.
Fact ………Not UGAs fault there were 2 unbeatens that year. “unlucky”
.
Fact……….Not Flas credit that there was only one unbeaten in 2006. “Lucky”
.
Fact:………Luck (not merit) had more to do with Fla getting an invite to the BCS not that Fla was more deserving to go to a NC than UGA with identical records.
.
Fact:………No SEC team has ever lost a BCSNC game and if UGA would have been invited nothing indicates that it would have been different
.
Fact……….UGA has 2 SEC titles..same as Fla in last 9 years and equal amount of total wins (90) over all.
.
Fact……….UGA has been ranked more times top ten in last 9 years than any SEC team at 6. Fla has only been ranked top ten 3 times in 9 years (real impressive).
.
Fact……….In 9 years under Richt no SEC team has more wins
Fact………..UGA has won 4 str8 bowls….more than any other SEC team.
.
Fact……..UGA has won 11 of last 13 bowls…Thats more than any team (tied with LSU and more than FLA)
.
Fact…… UGA has won 8 or more games in last 13 years…more than any other team in the nation including Fla.
.
Fact…….UGA is clearly as good or better than any SEC team over last 9 years. Only a fool or a fan of the mythical BCSNC selection process (non playoff) would think otherwise.
.
Fact…….UGA had same record when they won the SEC title in 2002 as Fla did in 2006/8 when they won the SEC title. But UGA had the misfortune (luck) to have that record in a year that had 2 other teams with undefeated records.
Hardly an indictment on UGA but rather on the NC selection process.
6 times finished in the top 10
2 times finished in the top 3
3 SEC Championship Appearances
2 SEC Titles
3 BCS Bowls
2 Sugar Bowl wins
90-27 record over 8 seasons – 79% winning percentage (one of only 7 in the history of college ball to have ever accomplished this)
4 str8 bowl wins
7-2 in bowls (big games)
Mark Richt coached QB coach for Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke = 2 Heismans; Head Coach for David Greene = all time winningest college QB until Colt McCoy this year); and coached Matthew Stafford = very rich #1 draft pick)
No Probations
He has my respect.
Period.
patrick
February 12th, 2010
10:25 am
lest Ga Gator and Otto forget
BAMA AND AUBURN OWN THE GATORS
February 12th, 2010
10:28 am
3 defensive coordinators in 3 months, 2 head coaches in 2 weeks, multiple other coaching issues and Gators want to talk about other DC activity. I guess that is deflection from the pain, maybe the Gator fans should be on Ambien, CUM probably has enough to go around. .
Gators 17 Dawgs 3
February 12th, 2010
10:29 am
I’m with ugaaccountant, capitalism created the greatest country in the history of the world.
If you don’t like it, Delta is ready when you are.
Fl Dawg
February 12th, 2010
10:30 am
I heard that David Pollack interviewed for the DC job in Gainesville yesterday.
Blue Max
February 12th, 2010
10:31 am
Patrick, you forgot the part about Richt being 2-9 against UF.
Blue Max
February 12th, 2010
10:32 am
BAMA AND AUBURN OWN THE GATORS , you sound kind of like the ga gator imposter.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:32 am
It’s a three step process to recruiting and securing a #1 football recruiting class. Strong brings them in, Edwards keeps them in Gainesville and now Austin will coach them up.
JB
February 12th, 2010
10:32 am
Soon you will hear the NCAA propose the “Richt Rule”………..Yes , you guessed it. Assit coach’s under contract can only receive an increase of 30% of current pay to turn down a CONTRACT OFFER to go to another school………..you say, that’s no big deal…. Hears the kicker… If he does leave, The hiring school has to pay the DIFFERENCE of the new schools coach that you hired away.
Ok, we hire Chavios for 700,000. LSU hires Todd Grantham for 700,000. Chavios was making 400,000. UGA owes LSU 300,000 for the next year only. That’s how you stop this circus.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:33 am
Gee…thanks Patrick. We’ve all copied that post and made it our background on our desktops.
colorado bulldog
February 12th, 2010
10:33 am
Gators hired the Secondary Coach of Arizona? Wow things must be bad in Gainesville. Arizona’s pass defense ranked 23 of 32 teams. Ouch. I hope they didn’t give him a comparable salary to the rest of these guys.
Alidog
February 12th, 2010
10:33 am
Any body heard the rumor about Bobo stepping down?
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:34 am
Any body heard the rumor about Bobo stepping down?
Are you starting it? I’ll pass it on.
word up
February 12th, 2010
10:35 am
i agree w/patrick. i understand that bulldog fans want championships. but if we start griping about mark richt this year and put him on the hot seat, i will cry. he is by far the best coach since vince dooley. period. sometimes a rebuilding year can stretch to a little bit more than a year. i think we’ve been spoiled by his instant and continuing success. hunker down dawgs, and finish the drill! we will be lifting the crystal football in less than 3 years. that, or we will continue to be the best 10 win team in the country.
JB
February 12th, 2010
10:35 am
Florida, welcome back to earth. See you at 10-2, maybe.
ga gator
February 12th, 2010
10:35 am
With the potential of having three co-defensive coordinators in Heater, Austin and Barrow, I doubt Austin is making that much money.
Blue Max
February 12th, 2010
10:36 am
colorado bulldog, I agree the hire sucks, but it sucked having Zook as a coach and he still had a winning record against the puppies.
patrick
February 12th, 2010
10:37 am
Blue Max….Yes the Florida head to head is a problem. However, You cant have an “Achilles heel” if you are not an “Achilles”. Strange you focus on a single …no the single…. poor stat and yet ignore the overwhelming evidence of Richt dominating success at UGA. Why is that?
Otto
February 12th, 2010
10:37 am
Alidog, No? Sources?
JB why stop what circus? Nothing is out of hand. Does your rule expand to jumping between the NFL and NCAA?
Fl Dawg
February 12th, 2010
10:38 am
ga gator, I actually heard that they are getting money under the table in a Swiss Bank account that exceeds 800K apiece.
Jona
February 12th, 2010
10:38 am
Thought he was sole DC. My bad. I personally don’t like defense by committee. But that’s just me. I adjust my guess to 181,000.
Blue Max
February 12th, 2010
10:38 am
Gators!!!!!!!
Blue Max
February 12th, 2010
10:39 am
Because stats are for losers and until he brings you a NC, then he is a loser, Unless you are just happy with being second in the east most years.
ga gators
February 12th, 2010
10:40 am
Gators!!!!!!!!!