Todd Grantham will get 5 year guaranteed deal, $1 million per year at Louisville— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) January 12, 2014
I'm posting this for a few reasons:
1. The assistant salary game has changed. VT's new athletic director better be prepared to pony up.
2. Grantham was born in Pulaski, Virginia, played, and coached at Virginia Tech.
3. In 2009 Mark Richt unsuccessfully tried to hire away Bud Foster: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/hokies-journal/2009/12/foster_staying_a....
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Comments
If everything goes just the wrong way, a lot of things could go south really quickly for us next year.
When I first saw that Grantham left UGA for Louisville, I was amazed that he would take a step down like that. Then I saw it was for $1 mil/year
First the Natty, then we have ACC programs hiring away SEC assistants...paaawwwwwwllllll!
That $1mil is the new reality, especially when you now have head coaches making as high as $8mil a year with Saban's new deal at Bama and you have football programs with these new TV deals bringing in as much as $100 mil a year.(Top 10-15 programs roughly)
USA Today shows at least four coordinators over the $1mil mark, and many more creeping towards it
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/salaries/ncaaf/assistant/
I didn't realize that Coach K made almost $7.5 mil last year at Duke.
After looking at that list, all I could think of was "Bud needs a raise." Same goes for some of our assistants, though as I recall, Loeffler and Grimes are still receiving part of their salaries from Auburn, so they're not actually making $150k, it's more like $400k unless I'm mistaken.
If Bud stays through this coming season he gets a cool 800k. That gives him an extra 200k/yr roughly and puts his comp around $671k/yr. Does he deserve a raise? Absolutely, but he's not hurting for Benjamins.
I know about the perks, but it makes me wonder what all the other guys are getting as perks on top of the base salary. If Bud were truly upset about his situation (financial or otherwise), he'd be long gone. I think a show of good faith on the part of whoever the new AD will be would be good, though, to signal his importance to the program and the willingness of VT to pay him competitively. I'm certain we can afford it.
Very true. Between the new AD and President there will certainly be interesting times ahead. My guess is within 3-5 years we will be looking for the next head coach too.
They all need a raise but I think Gray needs a serious bump in pay. Secondary is our strength every year and he IMO is top candidate to replace Bud as DC if Bud moves on or replaces Beamer after retirement. He should be at minimum the highest paid DB coach in the land.
That's assuming Bud doesn't bring Gray along with him. IF Bud leaves it will most definitely be for a HC job...and as the HC he'll be afforded the opportunity to hand pick his own staff. I'm sure he's well aware of the value in Gray and will want to bring him along.
Anthony Midget is available also as a Cornerbacks coach. He resigned from Penn State last week.
Signed with the Texans to coach Safeties.
ahhh - dern! Good for him though!
Always nice to have more Hokies in Houston.
In that situation I'd offer Gray our DC job. Why would he not take that
If Beamer is around I'd hope that he would...but if I were Gray and Foster moved into the HC position at a notable institution and offered me a DC job I would probably follow him. Especially if CBF were coaching at a university with a more generous cash flow. I don't really see Bud leaving to coach anywhere that isn't at least on par with VT. I think it's safe to assume that when Beamer leaves (and that can't be that much longer...) Bud would have the best shot at replacing him. The only HC job that I know about (disclaimer..I haven't researched it) which interested BF was Clemson. Clemson has more money to pay Gray as DC than VT would probably offer him.
IF Bud Foster left (which I hope he doesn't..obviously) IMO I think it would be for the HC job at a prominent (and probably wealthier) D1 institution.
IF Gray were offered more money to coach under Foster ILO coaching for an arguably short amount of time under Beamer before VT needs to bring in a new HC...he should follow Foster. If Foster/Gray learned anything from CFB it should be that staff stability is pretty darn important. With Beamer's years limited Gray would probably have a better shot at stability with Foster....
Are you comfortable making 67% of your market value?
67% of your value to live in Blacksburg where you are a legend, have the most amount of job security that you could ever have, and have an inside track to be the next head coach in the near future? That's not a bad deal at all to me. There is more to look at then just money. Don't get me wrong, the money is important, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone with roots deeper than Foster's are in the Burg.
How about 50% raise to move to a bigger football town where you will be a legend with a better football program with equal job security and an inside track to be a head coach?
Legend'ness, security and a path to be a HC don't only happen in Blacksburg. Grimes has got a ring, he'd probably like to have a second one. This job would pay him much. He's not thinking about failing and holding onto his job in Blacksburg in shame. He's assuming he will succeed wherever he is.
They're talking about Bud, not Grimes. Bud is only going to leave if he finds a pretty decent head coaching spot, at this point, and I don't see it happening.
Ahh, sorry, I got mixed up on which potential exodus we were discussing. Buds deal is different and much more complicated.
Of course, but where is Bud going to move that has the same level of job security and the inside track to being a head coach? It'd be even better if he got a 100% raise and the same of everything else.
We can make up scenarios all day, but obviously if ever single factor is the same or better then you move. My point is simply that it isn't as cut and dry as being paid 67% of your "value".
Can't say I really like this monetary nuclear arms race for coaches/coordinators in "amateur" sports. It does make me laugh to see how much UVA paid for Tom O'Brien ($600k), Jon Tenuta ($500k), and Steve Fairchild ($465k) to coach a team that was winless in conference play.
I'm not a fan of the current escalting salaries either, it isn't a world where VT can compete well. That said, it could be a bit of a "bubble" and things might normalize some. I remember about 5 years ago everyone was blasting VT for not giving Bud a HC In Waiting title when lots of other top schools were riding that trend in an effort to retain top assistants. Kind of blew up in the face of everyone that did it in some form or fashion. So this arms race for assistants might be a bit of the same thing.
Agreed that it's not ideal for VT to compete in that type of market, and maybe assistant coaching salaries are on a "bubble." The disparity in compensation certainly stands out to me as some assistants rake in around a $1 million/year while other assistants on staff make closer to $250k/year. Factor in that as the $$ continue to roll in and coaches make more and more, players are going to be even more inclined to want a piece of the pie. It will be interesting to see where this all goes.
Why would Bud go to UGA where there is no guarantee Richt has that much longer? If Mark loses his job better believe they clean house.
UGA just raided FSU, hiring Pruitt as their new Defensive Coordinator
I wish Beamer would take a page from the Book of Swinney and understand that he doesn't need the money anymore. Get your assistants raises to lock them in or you're looking for trouble when the yearly coaching carousel comes around.