USA Today released their annual piece on assistant coaching salaries today.
Most surprising in the piece is the fact that 15 assistant coaches belong to the elusive $1 million per year club. Of those 15, three of them are on the Michigan staff (Don Brown, Pep Hamilton, and Tim Drevno.
Here's a full list of those 15 coaches, via a screenshot of the USA Today table.
- LSU - Dave Aranda - $1.8 million
- Clemson - Brent Venables - $1.7 million
- Texas A&M - John Chavis - $1.608 million
- LSU - Matt Canada - $1.505 million
- Michigan - Don Brown - $1.3 million
- Alabama - Jeremy Pruitt - $1.3 million
- Auburn - Kevin Steele - $1.2 million
- Alabama - Brian Daboll - $1.2 million
- Tennessee - Bob Shoop - $1.155 million
- Michigan - Pep Hamilton - $1.15 million
- Michigan - Tim Drevno - $1.15 million
- Oregon - Jim Leavitt - $1.15 million
- Florida - Doug Nussmeier - $1.44 million
- Texas - Todd Orlando - $1.1 million
- Wesley McGriff - $1 million
As you can see, three of the highest paid assistants in college football are on the defensive side of the ball in LSU's Dave Aranda, Clemson's Brent Venables, and Texas A&M's John Chavis.
The highest paid offensive coordinator on the list? LSU's Matt Canada at just over $.15 million annually. Interestingly enough, the highest paid Group of Five assistant appears to be Colorado State's Will Friend at $540,000 annual salary.
Also, Dan Wolken points out there are a large number of strength coaching making more than $200,000 annually. Link here to the strength coaches salary information.