Earlier this month, in the Before Time, Ohio State made Mickey Mariotti the highest-paid strength coach in college football. Barely.
That move was not surprising, as it came A) amid a flurry of Buckeye raises, and B) went to one of the most established strength coaches in the business. In fact, now that Scott Cochran is no longer a strength coach, Mariotti may very well be the most well-known strength coach in college football. However, on Monday, Indiana announced the hiring of Aaron Wellman as its new strength coach. This is a move that has been in place for a solid week after David Ballou left to replace Cochran at Alabama. "We strive to provide our student-athletes with the best in all aspects of our program and Aaron Wellman's hire does just that," IU head coach Tom Allen said. "Bringing in his elite expertise is a game changer. Aaron has worked at the highest levels in both college and professional football. We are excited for his arrival and believe he will take our strength and conditioning to another level." And the man is getting paid.
We don't know how much Wellman made as the head strength coach for the New York Giants, but we do know how much his predecessor made.
According to the USA Todaycoaching salary database, Ballou earned $400,000 in the same job at Indiana last year, which means Wellman will rake in a 75 percent raise from what IU paid the same job just last month.
And Ballou was not underpaid -- his $400,000 salary tied him for 13th nationally, ahead of what programs such as Oklahoma, Florida and Oregon paid their strength coaches.
The reported $700,000 salary would place Wellman third in the country based on 2019 figures, trailing only Iowa's Chris Doyle and Mariotti. (We don't yet know what Ballou will earn at Alabama.)
Just like Mel Tucker's staff salary pool at Michigan State and Allen's new contract that more than doubles his salary, Wellman's salary becomes yet another data point illustrating how the Big Ten is separating itself from everyone else in college football except the SEC.
And it's a starting point for a new discussion: If Indiana is paying its strength coach those kind of dollars, how much will everyone else have to pay?
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.