Around the ACC: Louisville upping the ante on coaching salaries; NCAA’s Miami investigation on hold
Louisville isn’t in the ACC yet. That won’t happen until 2014. But the Cardinals are already upping the ante on the league’s head coaching salaries.
ESPN’s Brett McMurphy tweeted Wednesday that Louisville and head coach Charlie Strong agreed to an eight-year contract worth $3.7 million per year. That makes Strong the seventh highest-paid coach in the country (of schools that release salary information), trailing Alabama’s Nick Saban, Texas’ Mack Brown, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, LSU’s Les Miles and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
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It also laps the field in the ACC, where Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher is the highest-paid coach at $2.75 million per season. (Miami, as a private school, doesn’t release Al Golden‘s salary figure. Boston College and future member Syracuse are the same. Pennsylvania has some of the worst Sunshine Laws in the country, so Pittsburgh’s coaching salaries are not public either.)
Here’s a list of ACC head coaching salaries per year (pre bonuses), with as much updated information as possible (many of the figures are from 2012, unless a new contract has been signed or a raise announced). Since Pittsburgh and Syracuse are coming on board this year and Louisville in 2014, I’ll throw them on the list too and remove Maryland. In parentheses is each school’s athletic department revenue in 2011, the most recent available data.
- Charlie Strong, Louisville — $3.7 million ($87 million)
- Jimbo Fisher, Florida State — $2.75 million ($78 million)
- Mike London, Virginia — $2.552 million ($78 million)
- Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech – $2,491 million ($66 million)
- Larry Fedora, North Carolina — $2.448 million ($75 million)
- Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech — $2.445 million ($54 million)
- Jim Grobe, Wake Forest — $2.254 million ($42 million)
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson — $2.05 million ($61 million)
- Dave Doeren, N.C. State — $1.8 million ($51 million)
- David Cutcliffe, Duke — $1.788 million ($67 million)
- Steve Addazio, Boston College — N/A ($64 million)
- Al Golden, Miami — N/A ($60 million)
- Paul Chryst, Pittsburgh — N/A ($56 million)
- Scott Shafer, Syracuse — N/A ($51 million)
Considering that revenue figure for Louisville is under the money received from the Big East’s less lucrative TV contract, it stands to figure that, financially at least, the Cardinals are going to be a force to be reckoned with once they enter the ACC.
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In other news, the NCAA made a surprising announcement today that after uncovering improper conduct on the part of its investigators, it has put a hold on the investigation into Miami. That means the NCAA will not move forward with a Notice of Allegations until all the facts about the issue are known.
Here’s a longer story about the ordeal. Here’s a key quote from it, courtesy of NCAA president Mark Emmert: “If there is any information that was obtained improperly, absolutely it would be thrown out.”
What does that mean for Miami? It’s tough to say. Certainly not all of the information obtained was through improper methods. But there’s no way of knowing how much was legit and how much wasn’t at this point.
As for the Hurricanes, who many thought would get the NCAA hammer, they’ve already self-imposed two consecutive postseason bans in anticipation of penalties. I’d imagine scholarship sanctions are still in the works, considering the magnitude of the case, but would the NCAA consider any additional postseason ban, especially in light of this new information? Just basing it off penalties other schools have gotten, it seems like that would be unlikely.
January 23, 2013 - 2:15 PM
Can you believe that Paul Johnson makes less than Mike London? Wow, that was an eye opener.
Can you do a study on the highest paid Tight End coaches in the ACC? I bet Stiney would be at the tops!
How do the ” big boys ” continue to cheat and get away with it resulting in a slap on the wrist ?? In the ACC, UNC and Miami should be hammered, but they slide thru with minor penalties. If VT or WF or another mid range school did what those two schools did, they would be on the verge of the death penalty. Miami should get the death penalty based on multiple past cheating !!!!!!
It’s been on hold for 2 freakin yrs!
Hey Hokierama – without knowing what Stiney will actually be making, you probably shouldn’t comment. Besides, he’ll have the title of recruiting coordinator as well.
I have to laugh at the NCAA. This is just snowballing…from Pennsylvania who sued the NCAA over the sanctions from the governor’s office to this. I am just going to kick back and have a good, hearty laugh at the NCAA’s expense.
Emmert the Reformer? More like Emmert the Knucklehead.
Strong – ridiculous – will leave or be fired in 2/3 yrs.
He has a $5 million buyout that decreases by $625,000 each year. So if an SEC school really wants him, it’ll still go after him. Money won’t be an issue.
https://twitter.com/McMurphyESPN/status/294136194307080192
Hard to believe that London makes more than Beamer and has never beaten him on the field.
If I recollect correctly, Louisville was going after London pretty heavily when he was the coach at UR so UVA had to come up with the ante.
All things cosidered, given he loses more with better talent than anybody in the ACC, Swinney is the surprising number to me.
The funny thing about Clemson and Swinney as that his assistants are well-compensated. He’s smart enough to know he needs good supporting coaches to keep winning 10-plus games. That’s admirable.
Andy, my father-in-law is a Clemson grad and alum, and he explained that Swinney takes the CEO approach to coaching. He basically entrusts the entire defense and offense to the coordinators. Like you said, he’s smart enough to know that.
Swinney’s pay will escalate big time after next season; Clemson will take the ACC hands down. Even GT will not be able to beat out Clemson in the ACC championship. Tigers may be the National Champion when the smoke clears. I can believe that London makes more than Beamer, I just can’t believe he makes more than Paul Johnson.
Swinney goes through assistant coaches like dung thru a goose.
He better pay well.
OMG- OK, I am an original conspiracy theorist. I have the union card. But, there is no way that the NCAA lawyers didn’t know that any information obtained from an attorney in a bankruptcy proceeding (federal court where there isn’t much that is out of bounds to be explored) could ever be used in any enforcement a civil contract (which is what the NCAA does in the case of penalties). No way this was just an oversight or mistake to use a lawyer that was the same lawyer of the guy allegedly involved in the behavior being investigated. Am I getting this wrong? Any such information is at least privileged. Any information obtained in this manner is fruit from the poisoned tree. Miami is going to walk. And, if I were them, I would cut out all of this self imposed sanctions crap, and give the big one fingered salute to the NCAA and ACC, and get on with the program. Are you kidding me? Am I missing something here?
Iowa is nuts to pay Frerentz that kind of dough. He must know where some bodies are buried or something.
Swinney’s pay might have been reduced a tad after the Orange Bowl against West Virginia but he seems to have the Tigers on the upswing now. Definitely hasn’t had any trouble handling VT.
Seems like I remember Beamer not accepting a pay raise unless his coaches got one too. That was a few years ago-wonder if that`s still the case.
Assistant raises are negotiated into Beamer’s contact now, escalating based on postseason appearances. They are:
10% pool if VT plays in BCS title game
8% pool for BCS non-title game
7% pool for Chick-fil-A or Russell Athletic Bowl
6% pool for all other bowl games
5% if no bowl game
What do these guys do with that kind of money year in and year out….? If you can get one of those jobs it is better than hitting the lottery….
set for life…no matter what the won-lost record says….
So everybody got a 7% raise for that less then inspiring Russell Bowl showing? I guess they actually got the raise for the 6-6 record thus getting into the bowl. I wonder if the 3 guys who were fired got their raise.
Wonder what London, Fedora, and Johnson would be paid if they ever won something.
Louisville is nuts to pay that much money but you’ve got to admire their effort. Considering how mediocre the ACC has been top to bottom I don’t doubt they’ll find reasonable success here. UVA has a history of WAY overpaying coaches before they demonstrate any level of success. Prior to Bennett (who I think is an outstanding Bball coach) they’ve thrown a lot of money at basket coaches at the merest hint of success.
VT’s coaching staff is well compensated, no need to try to play the matching game.
P.S. Barry, I don’t think you’re supposed to smoke the ivy.
I don’t think you can criticize the VT pay scale; you have to take a look at how much money the football program brings to the Hokie Nation, probably as much as any school in the nation. It is only fitting that these coaches should get big money, big raises (even Stinespring) and lots of kudos. These guys are slick and they know how to milk the system; probably learned much of this from our current political system. A whole lotta fluff and no substance. Watch the Super Bowl and then you can get an idea of what substance is all about; good players, good coaches, hard work and dedication to the game.
Thanks-we now know the other six schools that can afford LU coach Strong if they want to pursue him down the road.
So Barry, you’re surprised London makes more than Beamer yet “shocked” he makes more than Johnson? Is he the same Johnson who has yet to win an ACC championship? The same Johnson who is 1-4 against VT? A season or two more like last year and London might not be around. A few more years of mediocrity and Johnson might be next…
It is not about how many championships that are won (there are so many variables that cause that to happen in the first place and it is not always that the best teams win the championship) but it is about the quality of leadership. Johnson is a leader with some grit and substance, Beamer appears to be confused most of the time. London is close to being lost and confused. Statistics are very misleading, your good record could be the result of beating all of those cupcake teams.
And Barry, GT is one of those cupcake teams!
Johnson is made of substance alright…a gooey substance Bud Foster molds into a ball and throws in the trash
My point is that GT played college football powers Presbyterian and Middle Tennessee State in 2012 and we have aggressively scheduled Elon and Alabama A&M for 2013! So there. And, we cancelled the last two games of a four game series with BYU because they bring down our strength of schedule.
By the way, since we play two non-cupcakes in Elon and Alabama A&M from the FCS (old I-AA) we have to win SEVEN games to be bowl eligible in 2013! But we’re NOT backing away from that challenge since we almost had a winning record this year. We WILL NOT need a NCAA waiver next year to paly in a bowl game. I’ll go out on a limb and stake my reputation on it.
Bring back Austin Peay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have already bought my tickets to NC game.
Lets cut to the chase…all these guys are overpaid. In the scheme of things why should one coach’s salary be based on what the others are paid. Any working stiff (unless you are in a union) does not know what the guy working beside him is making, much less what the guy 100s of miles away makes. If you like the offer take it. It is not keep looking. So if some one wants $3.7 million a year, he should interview for the job a Louisville. Don’t give a coach a raise because someone else makes more. Can’t you see it a scam.
LIKE GA -ECH (PRONOUNCED GAAACK)
Yes Barry, statistics are misleading, especially those that demonstrate that VA Tech owns the Wanna Bees in most sports, especially football. And yes, sometimes the best team does not win the championship, but then again, spoken from someone who isn’t familiar with winning championships and thus, has no credible or realistic perspective other than to offer up excuses. Keep believing your own hype. Maybe someday someone else besides yourself will.
Totally off subject, but I’ll post it here anyway.
Trevor, how did you like that beatdown that the Canes put on Puke last night? A thing of beauty! In the post game interview, Coach K looked like he’d been crying in the locker room. What a shame!
Beamer “looks confused”? And Johnson was thinking clearly I suppose when he hired Al Groh?
I’m becoming very suspicious of this “Barry” entity. On Casey’s blog there is another troller who is infamously a provocateur and it is suspected by many there she is in fact Dan stirring things up to boost the posts. Does anyone suspect that this might be the case with “Barry” and Andy? Anyone? Andy? Some of these posts come from so fantastical they could not emanate from a normal, rational person.
It’s not me. I can assure you that. Perhaps it’s Ronny Tuiasosopo.
I think its Manti T’eo
Who believe that Miami is so corrupt that not only does it corrupt itself but the NCAA besides? If they gave football players strippers to play with what did they give the NCAA investigators? How did the investigators get the info that was bad? Question the player’s strippers?
The revenue numbers are what interested me. Louisville would typically be considered almost a fringe Top 25 program. Yet, you look at the revenue, and it is very impressive. For a program with the image of theirs, it’s massive. I’ve read a number of Chadd Scott’s articles about UofL’s athletic department, and it helps explain some of the numbers.
I’d also look at the numbers for NC State, Pittsburgh, & Syracuse. That helps explain why those schools treat football the way they do. Wake is understandable, it’s a tiny school with limited alum base, etc. Those other schools below the $60 mil mark, though – it kind of explains things. They might talk a good game, but you can see that the commitment is more wide and shallow, than being deep.
Louisville could evolve into a dominant program in all ACC sports. They’ve got the finances, and the commitment level. It will be interesting.
Dabo Swinney did indeed defer a lot of income to hiring high profile assistants. Chad Morris is still at Clemson because he’s getting paid $1.3 mil to be the OC. Contrast that to Stinespring’s approx. $350K last year. Swinney saw the value in offering Morris such a huge contract. Swinney could probably make Beamer level money, but he gave that to Morris, instead. I forget his DC’s salary, but it is heavy, too. Just not Chad Morris heavy.
There are a lot of layers to the staff salary/revenue discussion. They all merit a look. The SEC began 2-3 years ago really jacking up assistant salaries, and it has spread to a lot of other conferences. With UofL’s inclusion, the ACC is going to see the same effect.
I believe there are at least 3 “Barry from Ivy’s” on this message board. One of them is probably Jerry and the other might be VT Redwolf, who knows?
I think Barry is Maxwell Smart myself.
Crooked what makes you think Swinney is the only coach that gives up salary and other souces of revenue to their assistants? A major college coach in Blacksburg does it all the time.
#44 FH, put down the Kleenex and stop weeping. Just because I mention a different coach in the conference pushing for his assistants to have higher salaries makes you leap to the usual apologist defense?
What makes you think I ever said Swinney was the only coach doing this? Your eagerness to defend something that wasn’t being argued displays itself once again, per normal.
I didn’t insult Beamer or Stinespring, I just pointed out the salaries Swinney & Morris negotiated. Chad Morris is the highest paid OC in the nation, thus the obvious pont. I referenced Stinespring’s for perspective since he was the OC at the school that’s the focus of this blog, so stop gnashing your teeth as though I lambasted Frank over something. Try to take a breath and have perspective instead.
It occurs in locations other than Blacksburg, and sometimes more pronounced than in Blacksburg. I understand you think that’s impossible, but it does occur. Would you like to discuss the larger point about coaching salary influence, or just continue to scream about something that was never a topic? There is college football beyond Lane Stadium, and it actually impacts what occurs in Lane Stadium. Why not discuss it?
This racket is similar to congress. Congress uses other people’s $$ and pass it along for pork. In coach negotiations, the AD (or whoever negotiates with the coach) gives up the high $$ because its not his money and he is not worried about it. A 5% raise for a 6-6 season…was someone smoking crack when that deal was made?
What makes Louisville’s revenue even more remarkable is when the size of the fan base is considered. There is an excellent article from the NY TIMES,The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos)
by Nate Silver, 19 SEP 11, that ranks college teams by fan base. Ohio State was no. 1 at 3.1 million. It was a decent attempt to take into account TV market size, alumni, etc. Tech was 13th at 1.3 million (behind Ga Tech and Clemson). Louisville was 74th at a little over 300K! Where is all that money coming from? And, more importantly, how much did Louisville spend? According to Google, a little over $74 Million in 2012. Agree with Crooked Road, That’s a lot of coin that they are willing to spend, and evidently are getting at least their money back. How are they doing this with a really small fan base?
Really cool website Desert, thanks for mentioning it.
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/the-geography-of-college-football-fans-and-realignment-chaos/
Does nobody have any thoughts as to why Louisville has well over 10% more AD revenue than any ACC school, despite being in the broke Big East? Nobody wants to ponder exactly what their AD is doing to lead his program in garnering such revenue? Nobody wants to consider the number of corporate donors they get while being located in Kaintuck? Louisville’s got a ‘small’ football stadium, and they still get so much revenue? Anybody wonder what they’re doing right, and if there are lessons to be learned? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
Andy, thanks for covering some very topical areas, even if your customer base doesn’t always fully appreciate the value.
#47 DH, thank you for caring. I read something that said the UofL AD was proficient in playing the undercard and securing corporate donations based on the rivalry between UofL & UK. That needs to be considered, especially with the proximity of Louisville to ‘major corporate donors’.
How’s the UofL AD doing it? Somebody needs to check that out. VT doesn’t have a plethora of high dollar corporate networking connections, but can’t we learn something out of this?
Also, how about the spending, and the other forms of revenue generation? Aren’t those at least a little interesting? Look at UofL’s non-rev sports, how do they do compared to ‘the rest of the ACC’? It seems to do pretty well.
All kinds of discussion available…
Does the state of Kentucky fund state college athletics?
More fodder for discussion, for those that care enough to see the bigger picture…
http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/51603/miami-hits-home-run-with-hire-of-james-coley
Do any states fund college athletics? I know it can sometimes be a semantic argument. I know some athletic programs ‘borrow’ money from the academic side, while others siphon money to the academic side. That doesn’t change the amount of revenue generated, though, because those with lots of whipped cream can afford to spoon over some to the other side, regardless of which side of the buffet you’re standing.
The NCAA can’t even investigate. No wonder it is a joke of an organization.
crooked, yes, Connecticut does, and others may do so. UConn’s football stadium was funded by tax dollars.