College football having million dollar assistants is a trend that started almost a decade ago with guys like Chad Morris at Clemson, Monte Kiffin at USC, Cam Cameron at LSU and Kirby Smart at Alabama.
That sparked a chain reaction to where the top coordinators in the game were quickly making $1 million annually. In fact, by 2018 there were 21 assistant coaches in the million dollar club, and now we have a few top coordinators that have hit or eclipsed the $2 million per year mark.
The Group of Five had their first million dollar assistant in UCF defensive coordinator Randy Shannon last February. Shannon is now working as a senior defensive analyst at Florida State.
Now Rutgers has a coach joining the ranks of million-dollar assistant coaches, according to a report from NJ Advance Media.
Offensive coordinator Sean Gleeson and defensive backs coach Fran Brown, two of Greg Schiano's top assistant coaches, recently received one-year extensions and raises.
Gleeson will make $1 million this fall, marking the first time in Rutgers program history that an assistant coach will earn a million per year. Under his previous contract, he was set to make $855k. He will then make $1.025 million in 2022 and $1.05 million in 2023.
If he were to leave prior to the end of February 2022, Gleeson would owe a $1 million buyout, which drops to $350k the next year and $250k the year after. No buyout would be owed if he were to leave to become an FBS or NFL head coach, the report adds.
The raise puts Gleeson in the same salary ballpark as what Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard pulled in last fall (just over $1.128 million) and just above Michigan State offensive coordinator Jay Johnson ($975k).
Brown earned a raise of $100k to $675k this fall. He will make $700k in 2022 and would owe 20% of his salary as a buyout if he were to leave after this season and 40% if he were to leave for another Big Ten program. Rutgers will waive the buyout if he were to leave for a job considered a promotion.
Due to an annual rollover clause, director of sport performance Jay Butler had a one-year extension trigger back in March that will pay him $500k this fall.
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