Salaries of Defensive Coordinators in College Football

Will Muschamp was the highest-paid assistant in 2010, as defensive coordinator for Texas.

Salaries for defensive coordinators in college football continue to rise. According to USA Today, the highest-paid defensive coordinators during the 2010 season made more than $900,000. The two highest-paid assistant coaching positions in college football are offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, but defensive coordinators tend to have larger salaries than their offensive counterparts. The USA Today's list of the 10 highest-paid assistants in 2010 includes nine defensive coordinators and only one offensive coordinator.

Base Salaries

According to the USA Today's NSLI Coaches’ Salary Database, the 10th-highest salary among college defensive coordinators belonged to Tyrone Nix, and Nix still earned a $500,000 in base salary in 2010. The five highest base salaries paid to college defensive coordinators in 2010 were: Will Muschamp ($907,000), Kirby Smart ($762,350), Todd Grantham ($760,600), Ellis Johnson ($706,650) and John Chavis ($700,000).

Who's Paying Those Big Salaries?

The highest-paid defensive coordinators hold positions with large football programs. Large programs tend to play in the six conferences, such as the Southeastern Conference or the Atlantic Coast Conference, that have a guaranteed entry into the Bowl Championship Series. Teams in these conferences pay their defensive coordinators higher than average salaries. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the three conferences that paid their assistant coaches the highest average salaries in 2010 were the SEC ($276,122), the Big 12 ($232,685) and the ACC ($187,055). Those figures represent only the public schools as private universities are not required to report their salaries.

How About the Small Schools?

Smaller football programs pay their assistants smaller salaries. According to ESPN, the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the Sun Belt Conference was Florida International University's Geoff Collins, who earned $146,969 in 2010. Although Collins' salary is the highest for a defensive coordinator in his conference, it is still below the average salary in the ACC.

Salary Growth

The salary for defensive coordinators has grown steadily. When negotiating their own contracts, head coaches have started including demands for salary pools for their assistants. St. Louis Today reports that Gary Pinkel, the head coach of Missouri, received a contract extension that only gave a raise to his assistant coaches. Additionally, a defensive coordinator at a prestigious program often can expect to be paid more than a head coach at a lesser program.

References

• ESPN; "Kirby Smart Gets $100K Pay Raise; Jan. 5, 2011
• USA Today; NSLI Coaches’ Salary Database; Dec. 26, 2010
• ESPN; "Assistant Coaches' Salaries Continue Rise"; Andrea Adelson; Dec. 21, 2010
• St. Louis Post-Dispatch; "College Football Assistants' Salaries Soar"; Stu Durando; June 12, 2011
• "STLtoday.com; "MU gives Pinkel Extension, Raise for Assistants"; Vahe Gregorian; April 8, 2011