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North Carolina sets salaries for Bill Belichick's first coaching staff

By Zach Barnett       Apr 7, 2025 • 7:54 pm

With the House settlement possibly days away from approval and $20.5 million "salary caps" on the way, playing out against the backdrop of the NCAA basketball tournament, many have theorized that it might be more economically efficient for certain schools to go all-in on basketball at the expense of their football program. If most schools are spending in the neighborhood of $13 million on their football roster, $5 million on their men's basketball team and splitting the rest on their other sports, wouldn't it make more sense to spend $11 million on football and $7 million on hoops? You're not catching Ohio State and Georgia anyway, so why not splurge on that stretch 5 and that floor general point guard?

On the surface, it's not a bad argument, until you get to the counterpoint. And that counterpoint is North Carolina.

If not the ultimate basketball school, UNC is at least on the podium. The Tar Heels have done their own math and come to the exact opposite conclusion: they decided they can't afford not to go all-in on football. Whatever the new world order of college athletics winds up becoming in the next few years, it won't matter how good your basketball program is if football can't pull its weight. Or at least that's the thought.

Time will tell if North Carolina made the right decision to go all-in with a 72-year-old Bill Belichick, but there's no denying they're going all-in.

Aside from the obvious, UNC's staff salaries -- unveiled Monday by WRAL -- represent the blurring of the lines between the "on-field" staff and the "support" staff. Only Belichick and 10 assistants can recruit off campus, but 14 Tar Heels have coach or coordinator in their title, plus an offensive assistant. And, in another sign of the changing times, GM Michael Lombardi is paid more than anyone but the head man. All told, North Carolina will pay its senior football staff $19.312 million in 2025 -- a group that now includes 18 people. 

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Posted

The highest-paid defensive line coaches in college football: 2025 editon

By Zach Barnett   Apr 10, 2025 • 11:14 am

Our look at the defensive backs salary market had more plus signs than a second grade math test. Nearly every Power 4 school employs two secondary coaches these days, and one of them -- typically the assistant in charge of safeties -- carries a co-coordinator or pass game coordinator title, if they're not running the defense outright. Not so up front. 

More often than not, Power 4 head coaches are entrusting their defensive line to one assistant and titling him simply as defensive line coach. If duties are split between a tackles and edges coach, one of those two typically carries a run game coordinator title. 

Our numbers found that Ohio State's Larry Johnson is the highest-paid D-line coach -- no surprise, given that he's going into his 12th season with the Buckeyes, owns two rings and has produced three NFL Rookies of the Year -- but no coach spends more on defensive line coaching than Clemson's Dabo Swinney. 

$1.4 million: Larry Johnson, Ohio State+

$1.205 million: Tray Scott, Georgia

$1.2 million: Freddie Roach, Alabama+

$1.1 million: Nick Eason, Clemson+

$1 million: Chris Rumph, Clemson+

$900,000: Rodney Garner, Tennessee

$893,000: Lou Esposito, Michigan

$775,000: Sterling Lucas, South Carolina

$750,000: Tony Tuioti, Oregon

$725,000: Randall Joyner, Ole Miss

$700,000: Todd Bates, Oklahoma+; Mark Hagen, Louisville; Jason Kaufusi, Washington; Kevin Peoples, LSU; Kyle Williams, LSU

$670,000: Kelvin Bell, Iowa

$650,000: Miguel Chavis, Oklahoma; Jess Simpson, Georgia Tech

$625,000: Pat Kuntz, Indiana

$600,000: Kenny Baker, Texas; Terrance Jamison, Illinois+; Lewis Powell, Utah; Sean Spencer, Texas A&M

$575,000: Bob Diaco, North Carolina

$550,000: Terrance Knighton, Florida State; Travarian Robertson, South Carolina; Buddha Williams, Indiana

$525,000: Anwar Stewart, Kentucky

$515,000: Charley Wiles, NC State

$505,000: Brian Early, Missouri

$500,000: Vontrell King-Williams, Auburn; JC Price, Virginia Tech

$460,000: David Turner, Mississippi State

$450,000: Tony Jerod-Eddie, Texas A&M

$425,000: Diron Reynolds, Arizona State

$410,000: Eli Rasheed, Iowa State

$400,000: Terry Bradden, Nebraska

$385,000: Jim Panagos, Kansas

$375,000: Andrew Browning, Cal; Dennis Dotten-Carter, Minnesota; Buddy Wyatt, Kansas State

$360,000: Zarnell Fitch, Texas Tech; Taiwo Onatolu, Kansas+

$350,000: Luther Elliss, Utah; Jethro Franklin, UCLA

MISSING: David Blackwell, Missouri; Gerald Chatman, Florida; George Helow, Colorado+; Corey Liuget, Maryland; Ryan Osborn, Oklahoma State; Domata Peko, Colorado; Joe Saleve'a, Arizona

 

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Posted

The highest-paid running backs coaches in college football: 2025 edition

By Zach Barnett        Apr 25, 2025 • 8:58 am

After a detour into NFL draft research, we are back with a look at running backs coaches.

While salaries are rising, you'll notice this list lacks plusses and asterisks of other positions. Only one running backs coach, Auburn's Derrick Nix, carries an offensive coordinator title, and there are fewer co-coordinator/run game coordinator titles, and running backs coaches are more likely to carry special teams duties than their peers coaching the O-line or wide receivers. 

This, despite the fact that running backs coaches are now asked to train their pupils in more disciplines than ever. 

$1.05 million: Frank Wilson, LSU+

$900,000: Derrick Nix, Auburn*

$850,000: Tony Alford, Michigan+; Robert Gillespie, Alabama+

$700,000: Shaun Aguano, Arizona State; Chad Scott, Texas

$650,000: Carlos Locklyn, Ohio State; Ra'Shaad Samples, Oregon+

$625,000: Trooper Taylor, Texas A&M

$605,000: Curtis Luper, Missouri

$600,000: David Johnson, Florida State+; Kevin Smith, Ole Miss

$575,000: Marquel Blackwell, South Carolina; Keith Bhonapha, Michigan State+; Jay Boulware, Kentucky+; DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma; CJ Spiller, Clemson+

$560,000: Todd Goebbel, NC State+

$550,000: Kenny Perry, Texas Tech+

$525,000: Scottie Graham, Washington

$500,000: Damiere Shaw, Rutgers; Anthony Tucker, Mississippi State+; Thad Ward, Illinois+

$450,000: EJ Barthel, Nebraska; Josh Crawford, Georgia

$400,000: Brian Anderson, Kansas State; Marshall Faulk, Colorado; Norval McKenzie, Georgia Tech+; John Miller, Indiana; De'Rail Sims, Tennessee

$390,000: Elijah Brooks, Virginia Tech

$375,000: Chris Barclay, Louisville

$360,000: Keith Gaither, Virginia+

$357,000: Natrone Means, North Carolina

$350,000: Alonzo Carter, Arizona; Kolby Smith, Arkansas

MISSING: Mark Atauia, Utah; Jabbar Juluke, Florida; Cory Patterson, Oklahoma State; Larry Porter, West Virginia; AJ Steward, UCLA

Posted

The highest-paid special teams coordinators in college football: 2025 edition

By Zach Barnett         May 12, 2025 • 4 hours ago

In our tour of college football assistant coaching salaries, the stop at Special Teams Depot is always my favorite. The variety of how head coaches deploy their special teams duties is fascinating. Most head coaches name a designated special teams coordinator who also coaches an offensive or defensive position -- most commonly a low-volume position in terms of players on the field at one time, like running backs or tight ends -- who will then delegate certain special teams units to another assistant coach. Some head coaches won't even name a special teams coordinator, divvying up that duty amongst his staff. Some head coaches do that, but will funnel most of their efforts through an off-the-field analyst, though that blurry line has all but disappeared in today's age of unlimited on-field coaches.

And then other head coaches hire a special teams coordinator who has no positional other positional responsibility and makes a lot of money doing it.

Regardless of how head coaches split up their duties, the work still has to get done: six separate units whose relatively low snap count often has an outsized impact on winning and losing football games. Special teams often touch the entire roster except the starting quarterback, and an injury to a starting cornerback, offensive lineman or tight end could affect multiple units without warning. 

$1.2 million: Jeff Banks+, Texas

$950,000: Mickey Conn, Clemson*; Mike Reed, Clemson*

$850,000: Joe DeCamillis+, South Carolina

$800,000: John Papuchis+, Florida State

$775,000: LeVar Woods, Iowa^

$700,000: Joe Lorig, Oregon; Sharrieff Shah, Utah

$625,000: Mike Ekeler, Nebraska^

$575,000: Jay Boulware+, Kentucky; Grant Cain, Indiana

$560,000: Todd Goebbel, NC State

$550,000: Stu Holt, Virginia Tech; Kenny Perry, Texas Tech+

$530,000: Erik Link, Missouri

$450,000: Charlie Ragle, Arizona State+^

$400,000: Kirk Benedict, Georgia; Patrick Dougherty, Texas A&M; Cliff Odom, Mississippi State; Mike Priefer, North Carolina

$375,000: Jay Nunez, Alabama; Jake Schoonover, Ole Miss

$360,000: Keith Gaither, Virginia

$350,000: JB Brown, Michigan; Robby Discher, Illinois; Matt Mitchell, Wisconsin; Taiwo Onatulo, Kansas

$345,000: Bob Ligashesky, Minnesota^

$275,000: Karl Maslowski, Louisville

$225,000: Evan Crabtree, Tennessee; Doug Deakin, Oklahoma^; Andre Powell, Maryland

MISSING: Kyle Cefalo, Cal; Joe Houston, Florida; Chad Lunsford, Auburn; Craig Naivar, Arizona; Chris Petrilli, Washington; Sean Snyder, Oklahoma State

+ - Assistant/associate head coach

* - Co-coordinator

^ - Standalone special teams coordinator

No dedicated special teams coordinator: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, LSU

 

Posted

The highest-paid linebackers coaches in college football: 2025 edition

BY ZACH BARNETT      May 13, 2025 

In today's age of unlimited on-field coaches, the defensive side of the ball has grown faster than offense. It's extremely rare to have a single secondary coach in 2025. It's also rare to employ a single coach across the defensive front, and inside/outside linebackers coaches are also common. I can't think of a single Power 4 staff with one D-line coach, one linebackers coach, and one secondary coach. And so while plenty of staffs have two coaches across a position group, the rate of "walk-around" defensive coordinators has also grown. 

Given that linebackers are still the center of the action, we've included the majority of the "walk-around" DCs here, unless a given coach spent the majority of his career in the back end prior to shedding his positional responsibilities. 

$3.1 million: Jim Knowles, Penn State*

$2.5 million: Blake Baker, LSU*; DJ Durkin, Auburn*; Wink Martindale, Michigan*; Matt Patricia, Ohio State*

$2.25 million: Pete Golding, Ole Miss*

$2 million: Bryant Haines, Indiana*; Tosh Lupoi, Oregon*; Glenn Schumann, Georgia*; Clayton White, South Carolina*

$1.9 million: Tom Allen, Clemson*; Pete Kwiatkowski, Texas*

$1.85 million: Brad White, Kentucky*

$1.6 million: Joe Rossi, Michigan State*

$1.55 million: Kane Wommack, Alabama*

$1.5 million: Zac Alley, West Virginia*

$1.3 million: Steve Belichick, North Carolina*; Todd Grantham, Oklahoma State*

$1.25 million: Travis Williams, Arkansas*

$1.2 million: Jon Heacock, Iowa State*; Sheil Wood, Texas Tech*

$1.1 million: Jay Bateman, Texas A&M*; Johnny Nansen, Texas+

$1 million: John Butler, Nebraska*; Coleman Hutzler, Mississippi State*; Mike Scherer, Purdue*; Seth Wallace, Iowa+

$950,000: Ron Roberts, Florida*

$925,000: Brian Jean-Mary, Michigan+

$900,000: DJ Eliot, NC State*

$875,000: Sam Siefkes, Virginia Tech*

$800,000: John Papuchis, Florida State+; Mike Tressel, Wisconsin*

$775,000: Sterling Lucas, South Carolina

$750,000: Austin Armstrong, Houston*

$720,000: William Inge, Tennessee

$700,000: Mike Stoops, Kentucky; Chidera Uzo-Diribe, Georgia

$600,000: Chuck Morrell, Alabama

$525,000: Roc Bellantoni, Auburn; Derek Nicholson, Missouri

$485,000: Chris Simpson, Kansas+

$475,000: Brian Michalowski, Oregon; Vic So'oto, Cal+

$450,000: Nate Dreiling, Oklahoma; Rob Dvoracek, Nebraska; Colton Swan, Utah

MISSING: Robert Bala, Florida; Danny Gonzales, Arizona; Blake Gideon, Georgia Tech; DK McDonald, Kansas; Ted Monachino, Maryland; Zach Sparber, Rutgers; Brian Ward, Arizona State

* - Defensive coordinator

+ - Co-coordinator/special teams coordiantor/assistant or associate head coach

 

Posted

The highest-paid tight ends coaches in college football: 2025 edition

By Zach Barnett       May 15, 2025 

The goal of this project is to catalogue and isolate the specific value of position coaching in major college football. How much is that position worth? How much is the head coach paying for position coaching, and how much is for additional duties like co-coordinator, run game coordinator, and the like?

At the tight end we have two examples, and both are by accident.

Nebraska and Oklahoma demoted Marcus Satterfield and Joe Jon Finley from their coordinator and co-coordinator positions (NU hired Dana Holgorsen to run its offense; OU hired Ben Arbuckle), but Satterfield and Finley remain on staff and, so far as we know, their salaries remain the same. The other tight ends coaches at or above $900,000 either serve as their staff's offensive coordinator or they wear more hats than a baseball team on a 3-city road trip. Vince Marrow is Kentucky's associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and NFL liaison. At Texas, Jeff Banks is the assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. 

At a position that often puts one player on the field, our salary range here is more than $1 million. 

$1.4 million: Marcus Satterfield, Nebraska

$1.3 million: Vince Marrow, Kentucky+

$1.2 million: Jeff Banks, Texas+

$1.15 million: Freddie Kitchens, North Carolina*

$1.1 million: Josh Henson, Purdue*

$900,000: Joe Jon Finley, Oklahoma; Todd Hartley, Georgia+

$775,000: Des Kitchings, Virginia*

$750,000: Shawn Elliott, South Carolina+; Drew Mehringer, Oregon+

$675,000: Russ Callaway, Florida*

$650,000: Keenan Bailey, Ohio State

$638,000: Kyle Richardson, Clemson+

$625,000: Chris Thomsen, Florida State+

$600,000: Bryan Ellis, Alabama; Jordan Paopao, Washington

$575,000: Grant Cain, Indiana+

$550,000: Matt Lubick, Kansas+; Taylor Mouser, Iowa State*

$525,000: Freddie Whittingham, Utah+

$500,000: Ben Aigamaua, Auburn; Jon Cooper, Mississippi State+; Joe Cox, Ole Miss+; Brian Wozniak, Michigan State+

$400,000: Brett Bartolone, Colorado+; Steve Casula, Michigan; Abdul Hodge, Iowa

$370,000: Robby Discher, Illinois+

$357,000: Nate Letton, Wisconsin

$325,000: Josh Stepp, Cincinnati; Morgan Turner, Arkansas

$275,000: Josh Cochran, Texas Tech; Eric Koehler, Minnesota; Gavin Locklear, NC State

$265,000: Ryan Wallace, Louisville+

$250,000: Alec Abeln, Tennessee; Alex Atkins, LSU+

$225,000: Michael Nysewander, West Virginia

* - Offensive coordinator

+ - Assistant head coach/co-offensive coordinator/special teams recruiter/recruiting coordinator

MISSING: Nathan Brock, Georgia Tech; Derham Cato, Missouri; Brent Davis, Virginia Tech; Hal Hunter, Maryland; Josh Miller, Arizona; DJ Tialavea, Oklahoma State; Luke Wells, Kansas State

 

Posted

Salary information revealed for Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

By Zach Barnett     May 15, 2025 • 5 hours ago

Notre Dame paid just over $7.4 million in total compensation to head coach Marcus Freeman in the calendar year 2023, according to tax documents obtained by USA Today's Steve Berkowitz on Thursday.

The 2023 season was Freeman's third at Notre Dame, and his second as the Fighting Irish's head coach. The season opened with a 42-3 drubbing of Navy in Ireland, with a memorable last-second home loss to Ohio State and road defeats to Louisville and Clemson. Notre Dame defeated its future starting quarterback Riley Leonard and an undefeated, 17th-ranked Duke team, along with a 48-20 blowout of then-No. 10 USC and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. The Irish's 10-3 season ended with a 40-8 blowout of No. 19 Oregon State in the Sun Bowl. Notre Dame finished the year ranked 14th in both polls.

For that year, Freeman received $6.2 million in salary, $461,000 in bonuses and $704,000 in other reportable income. His $6.2 million salary was $400,000 from what he earned in 2022.

Freeman's salary is set to go up further still. In December, he signed a 4-year extension keeping him under contract through 2030. Freeman signed that deal days before Notre Dame went on a run to the national championship game, including a first-round win over Indiana, a Sugar Bowl win over No. 2 seed and SEC champion Georgia, and an Orange Bowl victory over No. 6 seed Penn State. 

"I am grateful for the support of the Board of Trustees, led by John Veihmeyer, President Fr. Bob Dowd, C.S.C., and Director of Athletics Pete Bevacqua," Freeman said at the time. "The investment they continue to pour into our program is invaluable to our student-athletes and staff. This commitment goes well beyond myself, as they are dedicated to ensuring all aspects of our program are competitive within the upper echelon of college football."

Due to Notre Dame's status as a private institution, we likely won't learn the full details of Freeman's extension until May 2027. And if Notre Dame keeps improving in its next two seasons as it has over its last two, Freeman could very well have a new new contract by then. 

 

Posted

The highest-paid quarterbacks coaches in college football: 2025 edition

By Zach Barnett      May 19, 2025 

At long last, our tour of college football assistant coaching salaries is complete. And as always, it ends with a question: who really is the highest-paid quarterbacks coach in the country?

Is it Lincoln Riley, whose 2023 salary hit $11.5 million? Sure, USC employs Luke Huard as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, but Riley will coach quarterbacks as long as he's coaching. Same for Steve Sarkisian, who will make $10.8 million at Texas in 2025 while also employing AJ Milwee as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach and co-passing game coordinator/assistant quarterbacks coach Michael Bimonte?

Is it Kirk Ciarrocca? Thanks to movement at Utah and Ohio State and a new deal signed back in January, Rutgers's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach is now the highest-paid offensive assistant in the game. 

Is it Nick Sheridan? After a year as Alabama's offensive coordinator, Sheridan shifted to the Tide's co-OC following the hiring of Ryan Grubb, but kept his title as quarterbacks coach and his salary. (He'll make more than Grubb in 2025.)

Or is it Kent Austin and Matt Lombardi? At $600,000, those are the coaches with the highest salaries to be "just" the quarterbacks coach at Auburn and North Carolina, respectively. Austin will coach Auburn's QBs with help from the head man, while Lombardi will likely have more autonomy working under a defensive-minded, "walk-around" head coach in Bill Belichick. It's quite a jump in responsibility and salary for Lombardi, who was previously an analyst at Oregon and an assistant position coach in the NFL. 

As always, the answer to all of the above is, "Yes."

$1.9 million: Kirk Ciarrocca, Rutgers*

$1.75 million: Garrett Riley, Clemson*; Will Stein, Oregon*

$1.7 million: Collin Klein, Texas A&M*; Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State@

$1.6 million: Bobby Petrino, Arkansas*

$1.5 million: Ben Arbuckle, Oklahoma*; Mike Bobo, Georgia*; Gus Malzahn, Florida State@

$1.45 million: Nick Sheridan, Alabama+

$1.4 million: Chip Lindsey, Michigan*

$1.35 million: Bush Hamdan, Kentucky*

$1.3 million: Tim Lester, Iowa*; Kirby Moore, Missouri@

$1.25 million: Jason Beck, Utah*

$1.2 million: Dana Holgorsen, Nebraska@; Brian Lindgren, Michigan State*

$1.1 million: Jimmie Dougherty, Washington*; Philip Montgomery, Virginia Tech*; Mike Shula, South Carolina*

$1.025 million: Barry Lunney, Jr., Illinois*

$1 million: Ryan Grubb, Alabama@; Pep Hamilton, Maryland*; Mack Leftwich, Texas Tech*; Joe Sloan, LSU*

$900,000: Kurt Roper, NC State*

$850,000: Joey Halzle, Tennessee*; Pat Shurmur, Colorado*; Jim Zebrowski, Kansas*

$800,000: Glenn Thomas, Nebraska+

$750,000: Brian Brohm, Louisville*; Chris Weinke, Georgia Tech+; Chandler Whitmer, Indiana+

$730,000: Greg Harbaugh, Jr., Minnesota*

$725,000: Ryan Gunderson, Oregon State*

$700,000: AJ Milwee, Texas+

$600,000: Kent Austin, Auburn; Matt Lombardi, North Carolina

$500,000: Darin Hinshaw, Purdue; Tony Tokarz, Florida State

$475,000: Billy Fessler, Ohio State

$450,000: Shawn Bell, Houston*

$425,000: Kenny Guiton, Wisconsin

$340,000: Pete Thomas, Cincinnati

$275,000: Matt Holecek, Mississippi State; Ryan O'Hara, Florida

$260,000: Taylor Lamb, Virginia

$250,000: Michael Bimonte, Texas+

* - Offensive coordinator

+ - Co-coordinator/passing game coordinator

@ - "Walk-around" coordinator

MISSING: Marcus Arroyo, Arizona State; Seth Doege, Arizona; Danny Freund, Washington State; Sean Gleeson, Missouri; Bryan Harsin, Cal; Kevin Johns, Oklahoma State; Joe Judge, Ole Miss; Rhett Rodriguez, West Virginia; Matt Wells, Kansas State

 

Posted

Florida sets staff salaries for 2025 season

By Zach Barnett     May 21, 2025 

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Florida will pay Billy Napier and his coaching staff nearly $1 million more than it did in 2024, according to documents recently obtained by Gators Online.

There was significant movement on the staff, starting with a change at both coordinator spots from the opening day of the 2024 season. Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and his $1.2 million salary are gone from the staff, and co-offensive coordinator Rob Sale has been re-appointed as simply the club's offensive line coach. Ron Roberts, Florida's "executive head coach" and co-defensive coordinator, is now the Gators' sole defensive coordinator and the highest-paid assistant at $950,000. Below him are two co-coordinators, both new hires: safeties coach Vinnie Sunseri and linebackers coach Robert Bala. Sunseri is apparently more co- than Bala; the former makes $100,000 more than the latter. Deron Wilson returned to the staff after two seasons at Arkansas; he'll make $100,000 less coaching the secondary than Will Harris (now coaching safeties at Miami) did in 2024. 

While Sale took a $150,000 pay cut with his demotion, he's still the highest-paid offensive assistant at $850,000. Russ Callaway, now Florida's sole OC (Napier remains the play-caller) is tied with co-defensive coordinator Sunseri for the fourth-highest paid assistant on staff at $675,000.

While Sale takes a haircut from 2024 to 2025, assistant offensive line coach Jon Decoster is the only other returning assistant to not receive a raise from last season to this one. 

Napier has also brought two coaches onto the "on-field" coaching staff after the NCAA relaxed the rules around countable coaches. Joe Houston (special teams) and Ryan O'Hara were promoted after spending 2024 as analysts. Their salaries in those position was not public information, which accounts for $750,000 of the $850,000 growth from 2024 to '25. (2024 data from the USA Today coaching salary database. All numbers rounded to the nearest $5,000.)

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