Is Steve Spurrier Underpaid?
posted by Scott Hood, Wednesday, July 18, 2007
No question, that’s a pretty hefty sum.
Here’s the question: Is it enough?
When the new contract was announced last December, Spurrier said he was happy with the terms of the deal. Initially, his pay hike did not take effect until July 1st. But once the finances of the USC athletic department improved, athletic director Eric Hyman was open to the idea of paying Spurrier on a calendar-year basis like most football coaches rather than a fiscal year basis.
But if you compare Spurrier’s current salary to the rest of the SEC coaches, he’s still lodged in the middle of the pack. In fact, he’s earning less than half of what the highest paid coach in the league (Alabama’s Nick Saban) makes.
Based on our review of a number of sources, here’s how Spurrier’s current income level matches up with 10 of the other 11 head coaches in the league for the 2007 season.
1. Nick Saban, Alabama - $4,000,000
2. Urban Meyer, Florda - $3,250,000
3. Tommy Tuberville, Auburn - $2,231,000
4. Philip Fulmer, Tennessee – $2,050,000
5. Mark Richt, Georgia - $2,000,000
6. Les Miles, LSU - $1,800,000
7. STEVE SPURRIER, USC - $1,750,000
8. Houston Nutt, Arkansas - $1,049,644
9. Sylvester Croom, Miss. State - $940,000
10. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss - $905,000
11. Rich Brooks, Kentucky - $729,165.
Vanderbilt is a private institution and not required to disclose the salaries of its employees. But I’m confident head coach Bobby Johnson makes less than $1 million per year. In fact, he could be the lowest paid coach in the SEC.
Meyer was richly awarded for Florida’s national championship last season when he signed a new six-year deal with an option for a seventh in June, leapfrogging a number of coaches in the process. Meyer is believed to be the second highest paid coach at a public institution in the country behind Saban.
Fulmer received a two-year contract extension through 2013 earlier this year but won’t see his pay increase. Miles received a raise earlier this year from LSU.
Richt’s contract is unique in that $300,00 (15 percent) of his annual salary is put in a reserve fund that will be paid to him in a lump sum as a “longevity bonus” when the eight-year expires.
There are two ways of analyzing Spurrier’s situation. Based on his unprecedented past success at Florida and his predicted future success at USC (based on coaching acumen and recruiting results), the argument could be made he deserves to be paid among the top two or three highest paid coaches in the SEC.
But there’s one key factor working against Spurrier: USC lags behind most of the “heavyweight” SEC schools in the amount of revenues generated by the football program. According to 2005 figures, USC had $33.1 in football-related revenue that year, while Auburn had $51.6 million and Florida $48.2 million.
And that’s just two schools. Several others make more, as well.
In short, those schools can afford to pay higher salaries to their football coaches.
Some sports economists maintain college football coaching salaries should fall between four and five percent of the school’s football revenue. Obviously, some schools like Alabama exceed that figure.
Of course, when it comes to ranking the salaries of football coaches, all bets are off if Spurrier can deliver a SEC Championship to Gamecock Nation within the next few years. When that happens, Spurrier will assuredly cash in.
Not necessarily by his own choice, either. President Sorensen and top USC administrators would literally throw money at him to keep potential suitors away from Columbia.
If you believe Alabama and Miami pursued Spurrier too aggressively this past off-season, wait until the HBC wins a conference title.
When that happens, Spurrier will instantly become the hottest coaching commodity in the nation, notwithstanding his age.
Then we’ll find out how much USC is willing to break the bank to keep Spurrier.
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Yesterday’s vote by the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees to make Steve Spurrier’s $500,000 per year salary increase retroactive to Jan. 1 means the Head Ball Coach will earn the total sum of $1.75 million in 2007.
No question, that’s a pretty hefty sum.
Here’s the question: Is it enough?
When the new contract was announced last December, Spurrier said he was happy with the terms of the deal. Initially, his pay hike did not take effect until July 1st. But once the finances of the USC athletic department improved, athletic director Eric Hyman was open to the idea of paying Spurrier on a calendar-year basis like most football coaches rather than a fiscal year basis.
But if you compare Spurrier’s current salary to the rest of the SEC coaches, he’s still lodged in the middle of the pack. In fact, he’s earning less than half of what the highest paid coach in the league (Alabama’s Nick Saban) makes.
Based on our review of a number of sources, here’s how Spurrier’s current income level matches up with 10 of the other 11 head coaches in the league for the 2007 season.
1. Nick Saban, Alabama - $4,000,000
2. Urban Meyer, Florda - $3,250,000
3. Tommy Tuberville, Auburn - $2,231,000
4. Philip Fulmer, Tennessee – $2,050,000
5. Mark Richt, Georgia - $2,000,000
6. Les Miles, LSU - $1,800,000
7. STEVE SPURRIER, USC - $1,750,000
8. Houston Nutt, Arkansas - $1,049,644
9. Sylvester Croom, Miss. State - $940,000
10. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss - $905,000
11. Rich Brooks, Kentucky - $729,165.
Vanderbilt is a private institution and not required to disclose the salaries of its employees. But I’m confident head coach Bobby Johnson makes less than $1 million per year. In fact, he could be the lowest paid coach in the SEC.
Meyer was richly awarded for Florida’s national championship last season when he signed a new six-year deal with an option for a seventh in June, leapfrogging a number of coaches in the process. Meyer is believed to be the second highest paid coach at a public institution in the country behind Saban.
Fulmer received a two-year contract extension through 2013 earlier this year but won’t see his pay increase. Miles received a raise earlier this year from LSU.
Richt’s contract is unique in that $300,00 (15 percent) of his annual salary is put in a reserve fund that will be paid to him in a lump sum as a “longevity bonus” when the eight-year expires.
There are two ways of analyzing Spurrier’s situation. Based on his unprecedented past success at Florida and his predicted future success at USC (based on coaching acumen and recruiting results), the argument could be made he deserves to be paid among the top two or three highest paid coaches in the SEC.
But there’s one key factor working against Spurrier: USC lags behind most of the “heavyweight” SEC schools in the amount of revenues generated by the football program. According to 2005 figures, USC had $33.1 in football-related revenue that year, while Auburn had $51.6 million and Florida $48.2 million.
And that’s just two schools. Several others make more, as well.
In short, those schools can afford to pay higher salaries to their football coaches.
Some sports economists maintain college football coaching salaries should fall between four and five percent of the school’s football revenue. Obviously, some schools like Alabama exceed that figure.
Of course, when it comes to ranking the salaries of football coaches, all bets are off if Spurrier can deliver a SEC Championship to Gamecock Nation within the next few years. When that happens, Spurrier will assuredly cash in.
Not necessarily by his own choice, either. President Sorensen and top USC administrators would literally throw money at him to keep potential suitors away from Columbia.
If you believe Alabama and Miami pursued Spurrier too aggressively this past off-season, wait until the HBC wins a conference title.
When that happens, Spurrier will instantly become the hottest coaching commodity in the nation, notwithstanding his age.
Then we’ll find out how much USC is willing to break the bank to keep Spurrier.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.