Georgia assistant football coaches Tony Ball, Bryan McClendon, get significant raises
Georgia assistant football coaches Tony Ball and Bryan McClendon received significant pay increases recently, but they were the only members of the Bulldogs’ football staff to get raises following the Bulldogs’ 6-7 season.
Ball
McClendon
McClendon, Georgia’s running backs coach since 2009 and its youngest assistant, saw his pay more than double from $90,000 a year to $200,000 annually, according to documents obtained by the AJC under the Freedom of Information Act. Previously McClendon was one of the lowest-paid assistants in the SEC.
Ball, Georgia’s wide receivers coach and a member of coach Mark Richt’s staff since 2006, will now make $200,000 after earning $165,480 last year.
The raises, which were enacted in February and March, respectively, were the results of “competitive counter offers” from UGA, according to Athletic Director Greg McGarity. Both coaches were offered positions at other schools, but he declined to say from whom.
“All I can say is they were legit offers,” said McGarity, who was attending SEC athletic director meetings in Birmingham on Tuesday. “I think the key is continuity. We had already lost two coaches to other schools. Continuity of staff is important to me and to Mark and we thought it was important to maintain stability, especially.”
Offensive line coach Stacy Searels received a hefty pay increase to take the same job at Texas and linebackers coach Warren Belin left to take a job with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers.
No other coaches — including Richt — are due to receive raises this year, McGarity said.
Ball, who came to Georgia from Virginia Tech five years ago, declined to discuss any other job offers he may have received.
“That’s something I want to keep in-house,” he said. “Those things happen all the time. Obviously, I feel blessed to be at Georgia and excited about the direction under Mr. McGarity and Coach Richt. We’re excited about the future.”
McClendon did not return a phone message seeking comment.
“Salary actions” also were executed for new assistant coaches Will Friend, who came from UAB to coach offensive line, and Kirk Olivadotti, who came from the Washington Redskins to coach linebackers. They will earn $200,000 and $250,000 a year, respectively.
McGarity indicated Ball and McClendon might have received raises anyway.
“They’re well-deserved,” McGarity said. “Both of these men are tremendous coaches who work very hard and were underpaid, in my opinion. We had some momentum going after recruiting and they had a lot to do with that. All signs are pointing up and we needed to be proactive. We will always be proactive.”
Georgia also could not afford to lose two of its three minority assistant coaches. McGarity would not address it but hiring more highly-qualified assistant coaches in a year in which the perception is that Richt’s future is uncertain could have been problematic.
McGarity would not rule out the possibility of additional salary increases in the future.
“Like I said, we’re always going to be proactive,” he said. “If things happen during the season we may feel like we need to do something. I think you have to look at each situation independently, but we’re always going to do what’s in the best interest of Georgia.”
By Chip Towers, The UGA Blog
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276 comments Add your comment
Dixiedawg
May 4th, 2011
9:13 am
If you are not a donor to the Georgia Athletic Association you aren’t paying for his pay raise. The money for the coaches and the athletic programs comes from donations. The football donations support all of the other programs. Basketball is starting to support itself but not quite there. If any of you spent the hours these guys did on the road recruiting, coaching and speaching and such you would soon realize that the pay wasn’t that great. Most rarely see their families. McClendon is one of the top recruiters in the Southeastern Conference. He does deserve a raise. Many of you complaining make more than he does and probably work half as much. I say all of this because I have worked within the athletic dpt as a tutor, manager and other jobs as a student under Vince Dooley and it was non stop for those coaches and anyone else involved. Glad I can now sit in the stands and cheer on my DAWGS.
Auburn fans are horrible...
May 4th, 2011
9:49 am
Dixie…well if all of the Coaches are SOOOO overworked recruiting and speaking that they can’t teach fundamentals like blocking and not fumbling; perhaps the answer is more coaches rather than paying an overworked guy that is not getting the job done, more. Why not hire 2 100k Bryan McClendons? He gets a raise (11% in a year–pretty good compared to the rest of us) and works half as hard–maybe…just maybe leaving time to teach not fumbling and blocking.
Auburn fans are horrible...
May 4th, 2011
9:51 am
Oh yeah…and to buy season tickets, you are required to donate money! Is that still a donation or merely an increase in the price of the tickets?
AltamahaDawg
May 4th, 2011
10:00 am
Why wouldn’t every program hire a lot more coaches if they could? Plenty of program could afford it. A recruiting only position, a guy who only coaches left tackles. Why is a TE coach having to cover punters too? Obviously there are some externally placed restrictions.
SLCDawg
May 4th, 2011
10:02 am
did the offensive line cause all of those fumbles?
SLCDawg
May 4th, 2011
10:04 am
McClendon must really be critical to recruiting
AltamahaDawg
May 4th, 2011
10:10 am
You aren’t “required” to do anything.
Should Dogs be ranked as a Top 20 team? | UGA: The Junkyard Blawg
May 4th, 2011
10:47 am
[...] lot of eyebrows were raised when our Chip Towers reported that Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon had his salary more than doubled in the offseason, [...]
2 field goals, a cloud of Bobo and Richt knows what the hell he is doing
May 4th, 2011
11:06 am
The significant $110,000.00 pay raise
for the running backs coach in this economy,
better bring an undefeated National Championship or Richt is gone.
Auburn fans are horrible...
May 4th, 2011
11:08 am
I realize there are limits to the size of the coaching staff and number of GA’s one team can have. But is there any rule about designated upperclassmen baby sitting football players off the field to free up coaches to coach? I’ll bet there is not.
Altamaha…required literally means “to demand as necessary or essential.” By Webster’s definition, you are indeed required to donate to the Hartman Fund to buy season tickets.
Matt
May 4th, 2011
11:33 am
Grossly overpaid- duh. Why else would McClendon get a raise?? Almost last in rushing last year within the SEC. You don’t double the pay of people who are doing crummy job.
Schmekdawg- I don’t care if he got the raise for getting Crowell or not. That kid could be a bust and then you doubled his salary for nothing. You pay people based on results.
Dog Food Online − Should Dogs be ranked as a Top 20 team?
May 4th, 2011
11:52 am
[...] lot of eyebrows were raised when our Chip Towers reported that Georgia running backs coach Bryan McClendon had his salary more than doubled in the offseason, [...]
AltamahaDawg
May 4th, 2011
11:59 am
Not in the real world Matt. The overwhemlming majority of people in this country are compensated the going rate for the position they hold.
To all the Haterade Drinkers
May 4th, 2011
12:12 pm
As an earlier poster alluded to, McClendon’s contributions come heavily on the recruiting side of the fence. Coaching at the college level is more than just position responsibilities.
The running game has suffered NOT because McClendon’s efforts as a coach weren’t up to par, but because the O-line play has suffered.
I don’t know what favor Searles called in to get his job at Texas, but you all are fooling yourselves if you don’t think he would have been replaced had he not gotten that job.
The REAL Irony of all this talk is the very people who criticize McClendon for being a RBs coach when he played WR and claim they know what’s best for UGA and any other program in many cases have never even dressed out and played football. Those that did are like Napoleon Dynamite’s uncle “man if coach had put me in, I know we could have won state!” You people are a joke, your knowledge of the game is at a pre-school level at best, but keep running down the coaches, players, and everyone else who’s ACTUALLY doing the job if it makes you sleep better at night.
Cheers and continue to enjoy the Haterade!!
FLA DAWG
May 4th, 2011
12:12 pm
I know more than you think and the lead being dragged in Athens to make changes because of diversity and other excuses has caused the problem we face.
The big picture is to care for the Cash Cow and in Athens you know that is UGA Football. Another year similar to last in any way will turn us into a GT……………………….perhaps that’s what Adams has had in mind all along.
AltamahaDawg
May 4th, 2011
1:52 pm
Well, I never said how much I think you know, so not sure how you can place that quantifying. Now, If I had to take a guess, I’d say you don’t know as much as you think you do, but that’s not what I said. I said that you don’t know as much as McGarity knows about this situation.
Effie's of Athens Boarding House
May 4th, 2011
2:41 pm
Kinda reminds me of the big raise darling Damon Evans got before the red panty raid.
damngooddawg!
May 4th, 2011
4:31 pm
What??? In the first place how did Tony Ball get on the coaching staff after his disasterous quarterbacking career at Tech. What were they thinking…..Reggie???? Oh, never mind….
FLA DAWG
May 4th, 2011
9:01 pm
Alta,
Your posing as an insider and for years taking the opposite viewpoint to support what has obviously been a disasterous program has become an ongoing joke. But during preseason we all need a laugh!
AltamahaDawg
May 4th, 2011
10:26 pm
Maybe I would be less of a joke if I base every single comment on a purely emotional responce, and stay away from the rational stuff. Did you actually have a dispute of anything I said today? Just checking.
Oh yea, full disclosure, I am not an insider. Not even close. There ya go. I do know a couple of former players, and a former coach, live deep deep in the middle of Bulldawg country, have contact with dozens of Dawg fans on a weekly basis, but I think that’s just normal for most that have been around awhile.
$110,000
May 4th, 2011
11:25 pm
$110,000 raise??? for what? competing offer? OK—let him take it—he can’t coach a lick.
FanSince59
May 6th, 2011
9:55 am
Let me guess. Merit pay raises. Rationalize it this way. Richt is grossly overpaid, so why shouldn’t his assistant coaches be grossly overpaid as well?
Chuck Norris' Beard
May 6th, 2011
11:57 am
Is this some sort of massive joke? These two should have been fired, and I would have GLADLY let them go. Running game has sucked, and the only reason we had any receiving game was AJ (which had nothing to do with coaching). The fact that these two idiots got raises is amazing.
AltamahaDawg
May 6th, 2011
12:12 pm
And we all knew Durham was headed for the league from the moment he arrived.
ugab
May 6th, 2011
11:36 pm
WTF! Our rbs have no clue how to hold on to the ball. So uga gives a coach a raise. I do not care bout garners and mcclellands recruitin. We can hire someone with that kind of money to recruit and coach too. Dawg fans are tired of seeing alabama and the rest of the countries college teams with little talent out coached. I can teach a rb to hold on to the ball. MRs idea is to not let them play. WTF
Bulldog blog killed the anon poster
May 8th, 2011
12:39 pm
This is just plain stupid. Get raises for a 6 – 7 season with a no excuse loss to Mickey Mouse U in a bowl game. UGA is in big big trouble.