We wrapped up our annual series examining assistant coaching salaries late last month, but by request are extending our survey to strength coaches. And, really, we probably should've been doing strength coaches all along.
It's often said that strength coaches are the most important people in the program outside the head coach, and it's easy to see why. Other than the head coach, no other position "touches" every single player on the roster like the strength coach -- even special teams coordinators don't really coach the starting quarterback. Strength coaches also work with the team near year-round, which means no one knows the ins and outs of all 100-plus players like the strength coach.
As this realization has settled over college football over the past decade-plus, strength coaches have risen in stature across the sport. For one, they're almost never titled "Strength and Conditioning Coach" anymore. It's most often "Head Coach for Strength and Conditioning," "Director of Strength and Conditioning," "Director of Athletic Performance," or something along those lines, in large part because they now head a whole department with a staff of four to five assistants and GAs below them.
Here's a look at where the salary market for strength coaches -- ahem, head strength coaches -- stands, culled from open records, media reports and, when necessary, the USA Today salary database.
$1 million: Rob Glass, Oklahoma State
$950,000: David Ballou, Alabama
$862,000: Mickey Marotti, Ohio State
$725,000: Raimond Braithwaite, Iowa
$700,000: Jerry Schmidt, Oklahoma
$650,000: Mike McDonald, Michigan State
$625,000: Joey Batson, Clemson
$620,000: Wilson Love, Oregon
$600,000: Scott Sinclair, Georgia; Tank Wright, Illinois
$550,000: Torre Becton, Texas; Jake Flint, LSU
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$540,000: Brian Hess, North Carolina
$535,000: Derek Owings, Indiana
$500,000: Jay Butler, Rutgers; Dan Nichol, Minnesota; Nick Savage, Ole Miss; Kiero Small, Purdue
$478,000: Dantonio Burnette, NC State
$475,000: Ryan Davis, Maryland; Kurt Schmidt, Tennessee; Dom Studzinski, Auburn
$455,000: Brady Collins, Wisconsin
$450,000: Corey Campbell, Nebraska; Luke Day, South Carolina; Kurt Hester, Houston; Ben Sowders, Arkansas
$420,000: Josh Storms, Florida State
$400,000: Doug Elisaia, Utah; Tyler Miles, Florida
$395,000: Mike Joseph, West Virginia
$360,000: Keith Belton, UCLA
$350,000: Trumain Carroll, Kansas State
$336,000: Joe Connolly, Arizona State
$326,000: Domenic Reno, Louisville
$325,000: Dwight Galt IV, Virginia Tech
$310,000: Adam Smotherman, Virginia
$300,000: AJ Artis, Georgia Tech; Lance Barilow, Texas Tech; Niko Palazeti, Cincinnati
Missing: Mike Blasquez, Cal; Marco Candido, Oregon State; Cullen Carroll, Arizona; Matt Gildersleeve, Kansas; Aaron Hillmann, Iowa State; Anthony Kincy, UCF; Tommy Moffitt, Texas A&M; Tyler Owens, Washington; Justin Tress, Michigan; Shaud Williams, Mississippi State
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.