And now for something completely different. Virginia Tech made the assistant coaches' 2011 salary information public a couple of days ago, so why not rank them in terms of compensation value, replaceability difficulty, recruiting prowess and by any other subjective criteria you feel is applicable. One is the highest ranking and I'm really only considering what they've done over the ten wins a year era.
- Bud Foster - DC/LBs - $436,817: His on the field coaching is worth every penny and then some. What he does on Saturdays more than makes up for being a mediocre recruiter.
- Torrian Gray - DBs - $187,525: I'm sure there's a valid explanation of why Gray, who's been on staff since '06, always has an above average to elite secondary, and is one of our, if not our, best recruiter makes as much as the new guys.
- Charley Wiles - DL - $226,439: The quality of our defensive lines have dipped slightly since dominate units in 2005-06. However, that has as much as to do with talent, depth and injuries than anything else. Plain and simple, he's a football coach.
- Kevin Sherman - WRs - $187,491: Have we really ever had a bad group of wide outs? Has he recruited an elite player?
- Shane Beamer - RBs/AHC - $187,525: I'd like to put him higher based on his diverse background, success at South Carolina, but I'm going to see how year one goes first.
- Cornell Brown - LBs/DL - $187,525: Aside from the graduate assistant position he held at Tech from 2006-07 he has no college coaching experience, but you can't undervalue his NFL experience and he's a Beamer guy. We're all assuming he'll be a great recruiter because he's a former All-American and young, but like Shane I need to wait and see.
- Mike O'Cain - QBs/OPC - $234,052: It took him a little longer than expected, but he coached Tyrod into the best player in the ACC. He landed a 2012 commitment from top quarterback prospect TJ Millweard, but hasn't done much else recruiting wise since joining the staff in 2006.
- Bryan Stinespring - OC/Tackles and TEs - $324,056: He was actually improving as a play caller until the Frankinator chopped his legs out from under him. He's a tremendous recruiter who can move up the list if he helps gets the offensive line turned around.
- Curt Newsome - OL - $187,525: He's helped us land big name recruits, Tyrod Taylor, Nick Acree, Nick Dew, Vinston Painter to name a few. However, the offensive line has underperformed each year during his tenure.
H/T to @zames150 for the idea and do leave your ranking below.
Comments
188K in Blacksburg is a buttload of money, but I still don't see how Torrian doesn't make more than some of his counterparts including a 1st year assistant.
1 - Torrian, based on results/$
2 - Bud, only 2nd because I beleive Torrian is underpaid
3 - Wiles, never really heard anything negative about him, not the greatest recruiter but always seems to pull gems from florida
4 - Stiney, I thought he had a solid stretch in 2010, and until anyone else proves otherwise, he is our closer and that is worth the $$$ by itself
5 - Shane, if he recruits anything like he did at South Carolina he will rocket up the list, plus how hard is it to coach DW? run, David, run - done
6 - Sherman, always seems to pull a few solid recruits and our wide receivers only really underperformed one year and they were all freshman
7 - Newsome - his lines have sucked, but I like him better than O'Cain
8 - O'Cain - I'm just not a fan
9/NA - Cornell - I thoroughly expect him to be much higher on the list this time next year, but there is no data to judge him on
the newbies are unproven
so props to you Joe for not ranking them like a pre-season poll (aka Florida State- I heard they're back this year and in contention for a National Title).
I'm curious though, and I really have no idea how we compare nationally on such a subjective measure...but don't we have the coolest assistants? We've got the Godfather Foster and the Frat Pack in Grey, Beamer, and Brown.