How much for a coach? NU officials mull question
Go back almost a decade, back to a meeting where University of Nebraska officials were trying to figure out how much to pay their new head football coach, Frank Solich.
It seems odd now, in this age where someone like Nick Saban is being rewarded half of Guam to coach football, but back then there was a very real debate on whether Solich should be paid $200,000 a year to coach the program then sitting atop the college football world.
“We could pay him much less and he’d be thrilled to be here,” one NU regent said in the meeting.
That regent ultimately cast the lone dissenting vote, with everyone else believing that yes, Solich should receive the big bucks.
Of course, those bucks don’t look near as big now. Why, just months ago, we were reporting that Bill Callahan had signed a contract for $1.75 million a year to coach at Nebraska.
If that amount sounds absurd, it’s worth mention that three other coaches in the Big 12 were making even more than Callahan when the ink dried. In fact, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was making more than twice as much. At the time, Callahan’s salary ranked him 17th nationally.
Just three months later, Callahan’s salary would now rank him 21st, according to coaches’ contracts available on the Web site coacheshotseat.com.
New Baylor head coach Art Briles just signed a deal paying him $1.8 million a year. Yeah, that’s right: Baylor and $1.8 million. Same sentence.
It is not yet known how much new Husker head coach Bo Pelini will make. NU officials said earlier this week it might take a week or two for the details of the contract to be finalized.
On Sunday, when he was announced as Nebraska’s coach, Pelini seemed unconcerned about there being any major snags. “That’ll work itself out pretty soon,” he said.
That’s a good answer, considering a money-hungry coach is not exactly something that would seem to endear one to NU interim athletic director Tom Osborne.
“I haven’t really met a candidate yet who I thought was really driven by money. That always turns me off a little bit if I feel that their main interest is how much of a salary they can get,” Osborne told the Husker Sports Network last week in the midst of his coaching search.
“Now, having said that, it does seem that the going rate on salaries has really kind of gone through the roof maybe a little bit. A little bit amazing.”
So what do you pay a first-time head coach walking into a pressure-cooker such as this Nebraska job?
Seems like you start at $1 million and play with the digits a bit.
There are now eight coaches in the Big 12 and 54 college football coaches nationally making more than $1 million.
Paying big for coaches only recently became the rage. In 1999, only five coaches were making more than a million.
Osborne, who retired from coaching before the boom in salaries, made $138,240 during the 1996-97 fiscal year, receiving a $50,000 bonus in 1997 when he won a national championship.
Osborne now makes $250,000 a year, a raise from 10 years ago, but still the lowest salary of any of the Big 12 athletic directors. The university’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman, is making an annual base salary of $266,136.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made $333,333 a game in 2007 — not bad for a guy who won just three games. That’s more than $1.3 million a victory. Good work if you can get it.
To compare, The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released a study that found 182 presidents and chancellors of public universities were, on average, making almost $400,000 annually.
In other words: Most university presidents are making about the same as Florida International’s head football coach.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
It seems odd now, in this age where someone like Nick Saban is being rewarded half of Guam to coach football, but back then there was a very real debate on whether Solich should be paid $200,000 a year to coach the program then sitting atop the college football world.
“We could pay him much less and he’d be thrilled to be here,” one NU regent said in the meeting.
That regent ultimately cast the lone dissenting vote, with everyone else believing that yes, Solich should receive the big bucks.
Of course, those bucks don’t look near as big now. Why, just months ago, we were reporting that Bill Callahan had signed a contract for $1.75 million a year to coach at Nebraska.
If that amount sounds absurd, it’s worth mention that three other coaches in the Big 12 were making even more than Callahan when the ink dried. In fact, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was making more than twice as much. At the time, Callahan’s salary ranked him 17th nationally.
Just three months later, Callahan’s salary would now rank him 21st, according to coaches’ contracts available on the Web site coacheshotseat.com.
New Baylor head coach Art Briles just signed a deal paying him $1.8 million a year. Yeah, that’s right: Baylor and $1.8 million. Same sentence.
It is not yet known how much new Husker head coach Bo Pelini will make. NU officials said earlier this week it might take a week or two for the details of the contract to be finalized.
On Sunday, when he was announced as Nebraska’s coach, Pelini seemed unconcerned about there being any major snags. “That’ll work itself out pretty soon,” he said.
That’s a good answer, considering a money-hungry coach is not exactly something that would seem to endear one to NU interim athletic director Tom Osborne.
“I haven’t really met a candidate yet who I thought was really driven by money. That always turns me off a little bit if I feel that their main interest is how much of a salary they can get,” Osborne told the Husker Sports Network last week in the midst of his coaching search.
“Now, having said that, it does seem that the going rate on salaries has really kind of gone through the roof maybe a little bit. A little bit amazing.”
So what do you pay a first-time head coach walking into a pressure-cooker such as this Nebraska job?
Seems like you start at $1 million and play with the digits a bit.
There are now eight coaches in the Big 12 and 54 college football coaches nationally making more than $1 million.
Paying big for coaches only recently became the rage. In 1999, only five coaches were making more than a million.
Osborne, who retired from coaching before the boom in salaries, made $138,240 during the 1996-97 fiscal year, receiving a $50,000 bonus in 1997 when he won a national championship.
Osborne now makes $250,000 a year, a raise from 10 years ago, but still the lowest salary of any of the Big 12 athletic directors. The university’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman, is making an annual base salary of $266,136.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis made $333,333 a game in 2007 — not bad for a guy who won just three games. That’s more than $1.3 million a victory. Good work if you can get it.
To compare, The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released a study that found 182 presidents and chancellors of public universities were, on average, making almost $400,000 annually.
In other words: Most university presidents are making about the same as Florida International’s head football coach.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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