More on Richt's Pay Raise

Today the Athletic Board gave Mark Richt an $800,000 pay raise. He now makes $2.8 million per year. The AJC ponders whether or not that's enough given that it only puts Richt 5th* in salary in the SEC. That sounds wildly off until you realize that it also puts Richt at 11th nationally in salary. Here's some context courtesy of CoachesHotSeat.com and their contracts page.

Coach	Salary	National Titles or Undefeated Seasons
1. Charlie Weis	$4.2 million	0
2. Pete Carroll	$3.8 million	2
3. Les Miles	$3.8 million	1
4. Nick Saban	$3.75 million	1
5. Bob Stoops	$3.5 million	1
6. Urban Meyer	$3.384 million	1
7. Kirk Ferentz	$3.030 million	0
8. Mack Brown	$2.9 million	1
9. Bobby Petrino	$2.85 million	0
10. Tommy Tuberville	$2.825 million	1
11. Mark Richt	$2.8 million	0
12. Jim Tressel	$2.6 million	1
13. Rich Rodriguez	$2.5 million	0

Points to Consider:

• Jim Tressel, Bobby Bowden, Phil Fulmer, Joe Paterno and Steve Spurrier all have national titles, and they all make less than Coach Richt.
  
  
• Richt is $51,000 away from 9th place, and he's 4.6% away from 7th place.
  
  
• There are only three coaches that make more than Mark Richt that don't have a national title or an undefeated season, and one of them had two Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach.
  
  
• The article doesn't specifically state it, but I think a big portion of Tuberville's salary is covered under the "I'm sorry that you have to live in Auburn" clause.
  
  
• Notre Dame, Iowa and Arkansas are wildly overpaying for their coaches.
  

Personally, I think Richt is worth every penny that we've paid him. But I wouldn't get hung up on his "ranking" versus other coach salaries. You can see from the list above that he's paid an aggressive yet competitive wage based on his outstanding results.

Plus, the next two seasons look very bright. There's no reason to think that he won't continue to move up the rankings if the next two seasons pan out as everyone expects.

PWD

*The AJC says that Tuberville makes $2.8 million which would make Tubs and Richt tied for 5th. Given that the difference between the two is 0.8 percent, I can buy that logic. Although, as a commenter points out, the chart above shows him in 6th place by $25,000.

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