We'll begin with an obvious statement: The process of recruiting players and building rosters in college football has completely changed in the past five years and so, too, have the staffs that recruit those players and build those rosters. At the highest level, this has led to an explosion in value for certain individuals at the top of the pyramid. But what about for the industry as a whole?
Salaries for assistant coaches have exploded to the point where the median salary for a Power 4 wide receivers coach is now north of half a million dollars a year. What about the personnel side?
Under the theory that sunlight is the best disinfectant, FootballScoop plans to release salaries for personnel staffs at select power conference programs in the coming days and weeks, beginning today with Texas A&M. Often, these staff members have not seen the salary growth of their coaching counterparts or the so-called "stars" of the industry, even as their rolls have gained importance.
Texas A&M employs a 10-person personnel department*, with a general manager and player personnel, recruiting operations, and on-campus recruiting directors. General manager Derek Miller followed head coach Mike Elko from Duke; a Bowling Green graduate, Miller entered the industry as an assistant director of player personnel at LSU in 2014 and headed personnel departments at his alma mater and East Carolina prior to Duke. Senior personnel executive Walter Juliff joined Texas A&M after a 38-year scouting and front-office career at the NFL level, and that experience earned him the second-highest salary in the department. Director of player personnel Allen Gaudet worked under Miller at East Carolina and Duke. Director of on-campus recruiting Kianna Jasper and assistant director of player personnel Shaun Cook also came from Duke.
Assistant director of player personnel DJ Mann joined the Texas A&M staff in January after spending the 10 previous months in the same role at Ole Miss. Mann was the head coach at Lubbock (Texas) Coronado High School prior to that. Scouting assistant DJ Marquardt was previously the director of player personnel at New Mexico State. Assistant director of on-campus recruiting Maya Howard previously held the senior on-campus recruiting position at Temple, and coordinator of on-campus recruiting Lauren Moore is a 2023 Texas A&M graduate. Scouting assistant Joe Joe Headen played for Old Dominion from 2016-21 and was formerly the assistant director of player personnel at Virginia Tech.
(* Kayla Hudson previously served as A&M's director of recruiting operations at $90,000 a year, but has since taken a sales position for a recruiting industry vendor, according to her LinkedIn. Like Miller and Gaudet, she previously worked at East Carolina and Duke.)
Below are the salaries for Texas A&M's personnel department, acquired via open records request.
Derek Miller, general manager: $200,000
Walter Juliff, senior personnel executive: $150,000
Allen Gaudet, director of player personnel: $100,000
DJ Mann, assistant director of player personnel: $90,000
Kianna Jasper, director of on-campus recruiting: $80,000
Shaun Cook, assistant director of player personnel: $75,000
Joe Joe Headen, scouting assistant: $75,000
Maya Howard, assistant director of on-campus recruiting: $70,000
DJ Marquardt, scouting assistant: $65,000
Lauren Moore, coordinator of on-campus recruiting: $55,000