The 2018 season was the most prolific and efficient passing season on record in college football. As such, when building a staff, stopping the pass is, obviously, a major piece, lest your team get torched week after week.
But how major?
A FootballScoop study found the top 10 highest-paid defensive backs coaches earn north of $400,000, but not as much as the 10 highest-paid offensive line coaches.
Behold, the latest in a series examining the biggest salaries for position coaches across major college football. Information courtesy of the USA Todaycoaching salary database and based on publicly available contracts.
1. Charlton Warren, Georgia -- $600,000
2. Criag Naivar, Texas@ -- $500,000
2. Chris Partridge, Michigan@ -- $500,0000
2. Paul Rhoads, UCLA -- $500,000
5. Maurice Linguist, Texas A&M -- $450,000
5. Keith Hayward, Oregon* -- $450,000
5. Anthony Poindexter, Purdue* -- $450,000
8. Mike Reed, Clemson -- $440,000
9. Roy Manning, Oklahoma -- $425,000
10. Anthony Campanile, Michigan -- $415,000
* - Also a co-defensive coordinator
@ - Also a special teams coordinator
Other notes:
-- The emphasis of this exercise is to study position coaches, not coordinators. That said, it bears mentioning that South Carolina's Travaris Robinson ($1.2 million) is technically the highest-paid defensive backs coach in the country. We're trying to find the price point for coaches whose primary responsibility is to coach cornerbacks and safeties, not call plays.
-- Yet again, Alabama and Ohio State are nowhere to be found. The Buckeyes actually led this list in 2018 with Alex Grinch's $1.158 million salary, and new hires Jeff Hafley and Matt Barnes have yet to have their salaries revealed. Alabama defensive backs coach Karl Scott, on the other hand, remains employed but nowhere close to the top 10 at just -- "just" -- $350,000 a year. No one coaching football for a living at the Power 5 level is underpaid, but if they were, Scott would have to be among the most underpaid coaches in the sport.
-- Three new hires made the list in Georgia's Charlton Warren, Michigan's Anthony Campanile and Oklahoma's Roy Manning.
-- Oklahoma announced Manning's salary on Jan. 30, bumping Michigan State's Paul Haynes and LSU's Corey Raymond from the list, who each made $410,000. Actually, that's not true. Haynes made $410,002.