Gophers last in B1G list of assistant coaching salaries

short ornery norwegian

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
21,606
Reaction score
15,501
Points
113
USA Today came out with a list of assistant coaches salaries for the B1G. the figures were obtained through open-records requests. 15 teams are listed. Northwestern and USC are private schools and are not required to report their finances. Penn State does not report due to state laws in Pennsylvania.

the listed figures do not include salaries for strength coaches. those are posted seperately

2024 Big Ten football assistant coaches' total salaries

  1. Ohio State $11,425,000
  2. Michigan $9,384,000
  3. Oregon $8,295,000
  4. Iowa $7,900,000
  5. Washington $7,200,000
  6. Michigan State $6,975,000
  7. Nebraska $6,775,000
  8. Indiana $5,935,000
  9. Rutgers $5,750,000
  10. Maryland $5,475,000
  11. Wisconsin $5,375,000
  12. Illinois $5,325,000
  13. Purdue $4,965,000
  14. UCLA $4,670,000
  15. Minnesota $4,599,000

2024 Big Ten football strength coach salaries

  1. Ohio State's Mickey Marotti, $862,238
  2. Iowa's Raimond Braithwaite, $835,000
  3. Michigan State's Mike McDonald, $650,000
  4. Oregon's Wilson Love, $640,000
  5. Illinois' Tank Wright, $600,000
  6. Washington's Tyler Owens, $550,000
  7. Indiana's Derek Owings, $535,000
  8. Minnesota's Dan Nichol, $525,000
  9. Maryland's Ryan Davis, $500,000
  10. Michigan's Justin Tress, $500,000
  11. Purdue's Kiero Small, $500,000
  12. Rutgers' Jay Butler, $500,000
  13. UCLA's Keith Belton, $455,000
  14. Wisconsin's Brady Collins, $455,000
  15. Nebraska's Corey Campbell, $450,000
------------------------
and just to be complete - what does the Head Coach make at each school? - per The Athletic

1. $10.04-million - Lincoln Riley - USC (4th highest in FBS)
2. $10.02-million - Ryan Day - OSU (5th highest in FBS)
3. $8.5-million - James Franklin - PSU
4. $8.2-million - Dan Lanning - Oregon
5. $7.7-million - Luke Fickell - Wisconsin
6. $7.7-million - Jedd Fisch - Washington
7. $7.25-million - Jonathan Smith - MSU
8. $7-million - Kirk Ferentz - Iowa
9. $6.7-million - PJ Fleck - MN
10. $6.65-million - Bret Bielema - Illinois
11. $6.5-million - Matt Rhule - Nebraska
12. $6.25-million - Greg Schiano - Rutgers
13. $6-million - Sherrone Moore - Michigan
14. $5.8-million - Mike Locksley - Maryland
15. $4.25-million - Curt Cignetti - Indiana
16. ($4-million - Ryan Walters - Purdue ***had a $9.6-million buyout**)
17. $3.25-million - DeShaun Foster - UCLA

(Northwestern - David Braun - ?? - private school not required to disclose financial information)
 

Why's our assistant pool so weak? Gophers were #9 in the Big Ten in athletic revenue, negligibly out of 7th place. PJ is aligned with that ranking. So there's no reason to be dead last in assistant pay.
 

Should this really be a surprise? Hetherman was a first year DC and our OC is just in his second year. Other than Brian Callahan, we don't have a staff that has been here multiple years or has a ton of longevity in their roles.
 
Last edited:


Should this really be a surprise? Hetherman was a first year DC and our OC is just in his second year. Other than Bill Callahan, we don't have a staff that has been here multiple years or has a ton of longevity in their roles.
Fair point. And new coordinators don't necessarily mean bad coordinators, as we have seen.

It's more concerning when we are losing coordinators to lateral moves within the Big Ten, over what appears to be mostly financial reasons.
 


I was just thinking about this the other day. What does the U have to do to get that number up? Almost feel like Fleck needs to get some type of long term deal that puts most of the annual raised to assistants. He's currently signed through 2029.

Lane Kiffin has a 6 year deal that automatically extends one year to keep it at 6 each season.
 

USA Today came out with a list of assistant coaches salaries for the B1G. the figures were obtained through open-records requests. 15 teams are listed. Northwestern and USC are private schools and are not required to report their finances. Penn State does not report due to state laws in Pennsylvania.

the listed figures do not include salaries for strength coaches. those are posted seperately

2024 Big Ten football assistant coaches' total salaries

  1. Ohio State $11,425,000
  2. Michigan $9,384,000
  3. Oregon $8,295,000
  4. Iowa $7,900,000
  5. Washington $7,200,000
  6. Michigan State $6,975,000
  7. Nebraska $6,775,000
  8. Indiana $5,935,000
  9. Rutgers $5,750,000
  10. Maryland $5,475,000
  11. Wisconsin $5,375,000
  12. Illinois $5,325,000
  13. Purdue $4,965,000
  14. UCLA $4,670,000
  15. Minnesota $4,599,000

2024 Big Ten football strength coach salaries

  1. Ohio State's Mickey Marotti, $862,238
  2. Iowa's Raimond Braithwaite, $835,000
  3. Michigan State's Mike McDonald, $650,000
  4. Oregon's Wilson Love, $640,000
  5. Illinois' Tank Wright, $600,000
  6. Washington's Tyler Owens, $550,000
  7. Indiana's Derek Owings, $535,000
  8. Minnesota's Dan Nichol, $525,000
  9. Maryland's Ryan Davis, $500,000
  10. Michigan's Justin Tress, $500,000
  11. Purdue's Kiero Small, $500,000
  12. Rutgers' Jay Butler, $500,000
  13. UCLA's Keith Belton, $455,000
  14. Wisconsin's Brady Collins, $455,000
  15. Nebraska's Corey Campbell, $450,000
------------------------
and just to be complete - what does the Head Coach make at each school? - per The Athletic

1. $10.04-million - Lincoln Riley - USC (4th highest in FBS)
2. $10.02-million - Ryan Day - OSU (5th highest in FBS)
3. $8.5-million - James Franklin - PSU
4. $8.2-million - Dan Lanning - Oregon
5. $7.7-million - Luke Fickell - Wisconsin
6. $7.7-million - Jedd Fisch - Washington
7. $7.25-million - Jonathan Smith - MSU
8. $7-million - Kirk Ferentz - Iowa
9. $6.7-million - PJ Fleck - MN
10. $6.65-million - Bret Bielema - Illinois
11. $6.5-million - Matt Rhule - Nebraska
12. $6.25-million - Greg Schiano - Rutgers
13. $6-million - Sherrone Moore - Michigan
14. $5.8-million - Mike Locksley - Maryland
15. $4.25-million - Curt Cignetti - Indiana
16. ($4-million - Ryan Walters - Purdue ***had a $9.6-million buyout**)
17. $3.25-million - DeShaun Foster - UCLA

(Northwestern - David Braun - ?? - private school not required to disclose financial information)
Weak on the assistants. Although with two new coordinators I am sure there is room to go up. Should be much closer to mid pack IMO...
 

Hetherman raised to $1M with his new 2 year deal.

Big Ten
Highest-paid assistants
1. Wink Martindale, Michigan defensive coordinator: $2.3 million
2. Jim Knowles, Ohio State defensive coordinator: $2.2 million
3. Chip Kelly, Ohio State offensive coordinator: $2 million
4. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon defensive coordinator: $1.9 million
4. Phil Parker, Iowa defensive coordinator: $1.9 million
 

OC is only second year. First year DC.

Ohio St. has Chip Kelly and I think their DC is like an 8 year vet at DC in Div 1.

Michigan has Wink Martindale.

Oregon, don't fully get why they're so high. Their coordinators are not big names ore that experienced.

Iowa, Lester is an Ex-NFL coach and Head coach in college with a lot of experience. Parker has been a DC in College for longer than any active DC. Plus they have an assistant HC.

Washington is paying for the Belichick & Carroll name. Not saying they don't deserve to be in their positions but they probably are getting a pay premium for the name.

Michigan State: Lindgren has like 15 years experience as a OC. We are familiar with Rossi, got 6 years experience so...

I just think the issue is the Gophers went with less experienced coaches which obviously means they wouldn't get paid as much. Maybe this is on purpose trying the be cheap to use money on other things or but so far you have to be pretty happy with Hetherman.
 



Hetherman raised to $1M with his new 2 year deal.

Big Ten
Highest-paid assistants
1. Wink Martindale, Michigan defensive coordinator: $2.3 million
2. Jim Knowles, Ohio State defensive coordinator: $2.2 million
3. Chip Kelly, Ohio State offensive coordinator: $2 million
4. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon defensive coordinator: $1.9 million
4. Phil Parker, Iowa defensive coordinator: $1.9 million

Big Ten
Highest-paid assistants
1. Wink Martindale, Michigan defensive coordinator: $2.3 million
Multiple team NFL coordinator
2. Jim Knowles, Ohio State defensive coordinator: $2.2 million Former head coach Cornell and successful D coordinator and OK St. and Duke
3. Chip Kelly, Ohio State offensive coordinator: $2 million Multiple time NFL and FBS head coach
4. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon defensive coordinator: $1.9 million Lesser experience than the others. Ducks DC since 2022.
4. Phil Parker, Iowa defensive coordinator: $1.9 million A veritable fixture at Iowa.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for the info. My notes are in bold.

All but Lupoi at Oregon are extremely experienced with lengthy FBS and/or NFL experience. They all rate the higher dollars.

I don't think FBS and NFL experience necessarily makes the better assistant. There's just more risk in finding the young diamond-in-the-rough, or successful experience in lower divisions, than there is in hiring someone with an NFL and FBS pedigree.

I'm fine with looking for the talented up and comers that cost less. Maybe finding those guys is one of Fleck's strengths. I'm not so sure someone like Ryan Day has that skillset in his toolbag.

The helmet schools are also under a lot more pressure to hire big name assistants and spend more. What do you think the boosters at OSU, Michigan or PSU would say if they hired a little-known guy from Rutgers as their D Coordinator?
 

Tell PJ that for every time-out called before the last 4 minutes of a half, $250K will be deducted from his salary and put into the Assistant pool. We will be top 5 in no time.
 

Assistant pay is always based on the Head Coach n negotiating for their pay. I guess we see how much PJ values his assistants.
 

Assistant pay is always based on the Head Coach n negotiating for their pay. I guess we see how much PJ values his assistants.
I don't think it's quite that simple. Current OC and DC are pretty inexperienced. They look like they are getting paid fair for their level of experience. Maybe they will be due a raise, particularly the DC. Maybe the fault is with not allocating more money for more experienced assistants to be hired.

It's funny you make it out like PJ doesn't value assistants when Harbaugh was a QC assistant previously and liked him enough to bring him back and give him his first OC job.
 



Looks like Purdue’s new coach is basically getting paid as much as Fleck.
 

Tell PJ that for every time-out called before the last 4 minutes of a half, $250K will be deducted from his salary and put into the Assistant pool. We will be top 5 in no time.
You don’t need to save timeouts for a two minute drill in college. Can’t believe people still are hung up on time out usage.
 

You don’t need to save timeouts for a two minute drill in college. Can’t believe people still are hung up on time out usage.
Why not? The timing rules have been changed and are the same as the NFL now.

FWIW it wasn't nearly as bad this year since we don't run as much and is partially tongue-in-cheek but his 2 minute drill is still baffling at times.
 

You don’t need to save timeouts for a two minute drill in college. Can’t believe people still are hung up on time out usage.
First off all, yes you do, and second, you might want to use them on defense.
 

Why's our assistant pool so weak? Gophers were #9 in the Big Ten in athletic revenue, negligibly out of 7th place. PJ is aligned with that ranking. So there's no reason to be dead last in assistant pay.
Exactly, cmon Minnesota bump up to the middle!
 

You don’t need to save timeouts for a two minute drill in college. Can’t believe people still are hung up on time out usage.
The vast majority of the time he's calling timeouts when we're in over our heads and he wants to avoid a delay of game or some other penalty. In my opinion, we've seen it work to our benefit far more than it hasn't. It's simply nontraditional and some people feel threatened by that for some reason.
 

The vast majority of the time he's calling timeouts when we're in over our heads and he wants to avoid a delay of game or some other penalty. In my opinion, we've seen it work to our benefit far more than it hasn't. It's simply nontraditional and some people feel threatened by that for some reason.
Agree. Rather burn a time-out than give up a big play.
 




Top Bottom