Just a few years ago, it was relatively big news when salaries of strength coaches hit the half-million dollar mark. The landscape in that regard has quickly changed.
It started with Iowa's Chris Doyle making $515k back in 2015, before Alabama's Scott Cochran's contract called for him to make $525. Then in 2016, Iowa gave Doyle a $80k pay bump to $595k, making him higher paid than nearly 30 FBS head coaches at the time, and paying him in line with both of what the Hawkeye coordinators were making at the time.
The latest database of strength coaches from USA Today that was released today now shows a total of eight coaches in the $500k club.
- Chris Doyle - Iowa - $725,000
- Craig Fitzgerald - Tennessee - $625,000
- Mickey Marotti - Ohio State - $613,060
- Scott Cochran - Alabama - $585,000
- Jerry Schmidt - Texas A&M - $575,000
- Joey Batson - Clemson - $510,000
- Rob Glass - Oklahoma State - $500,000
- Ben Herbert - Michigan - $500,000
The highest paid coach outside of the Power 5 ranks is Pat Moorer at South Florida, with a salary of $300,000, which is good for the 25th highest paid strength coach.
Nearly every major college head coach will point to their strength coach as the single most important hire that they make, and their salaries are quickly being reflected as such.
Earlier today, USA Today also shared their database of assistant coaching salaries, which you can see here.