I know the attention today is on Tennessee and Rodney Garner. If the Vols were alone in their desperation fueled spending spree, it's one thing. It's another thing when broke ass Auburn jumps in, too.
This week, Auburn hired Curtis Luper as running backs coach. As a stand alone press release, the Tigers hiring a position coach away from Oklahoma State would be a big "ho-hum." However, the Birmingham News reports that Luper's salary will jump from $228,000 to $400,000.
$400,000 for a running backs coach? Great googly moogly. There isn't an assistant coach in Athens making that kind of scratch. That hire more than the wacky Orgeron $650k or Kiffin Sr $1.2 million signals to me that everyone is about to get P-A-I-D.
Also, the same B-ham News article reports that Auburn and Miami are interviewing Trooper Taylor. Taylor is currently the co-offensive coordinator for the high-flying Oklahoma State Cowboys. He's best known in these parts for being an ace recruiter and RB/WR coach for the Vols. It'll be interesting to see where he lands.
Update: Charles Goldberg has more info.
PWD
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26 comments:
It's another thing when broke ass Auburn jumps in, too.
However, the Birmingham News reports that Luper's salary will jump from $228,000 to $400,000.
DOES NOT COMPUTE
All the SEC schools are about to get that extra money from the huge ESPN TV contract. We might want to open our pocket books or we might be passed by.
I guess this is the beginning of the Assistant Coach Gold Rush to the SEC. Any Assistant coach worth a damn will leave the Big-whatever - ACC Big Whatever and PAC 10 to get PAID too.
Kiffin is almost diabolical in a way. Sure, he's making less than Miles, Meyer, Richt, etc. He's surrounding himself with the best asst's money can buy. They'll be loyal because they can't go anywhere else and get that money.
If he has early success they could be in the driver's seat for a while.
As for the Trooper Bio, I thought he was best known for flopping around the sidelines like a complete ass clown with his hat on backwards as one might see on your average, mall loitering, 14 year old, pizza faced kid.
+1 ChicagoDawg
If Auburn & Tenn. are going to break the bank for a position, that position should be QB coach.
You can say that again, Grady... er, I mean Paul.
Just think, if Auburn paid Luper that much, that probably means that Searels turned down a wad of cash to stay at UGA, right?
Also, I know the SEC just signed the big deal, but didn't I hear that UGA is the most profitable or most financially secure athletic program in the SEC? And Tenn was actually running a deficit?
Tenn. wants Garner simply to get back into the metro-ATL recruiting scene.
Before Garner came to UGA, Tenn. used to get its pick of North GA HS recruits. With the extremely notable exception of Berry, that hasn't been the case recently.
I seem to recall that Tenn. has the highest recruiting budget in CFB.
I guess that has to do w/ the fact that Tenn. has little HS talent, and they must recruit nationally (or at least regionally).
I'd love to know what Ganer is gonna say to the same recruits he's pushed hard to come to UGA above anywhere else when he takes the job at UT? Is he gonna bad-mouth UGA? How can he tell them one minute to come to Athens and the next tell them to come to Kville?
And no one else seems to want to say this so I will. We, like everyone else, heavily recruit African-American kids. I wonder what the impact will be losing an African-American Coach.
For those that think he's easily replaceable, you're kidding yourselves. A loss of Rodney will be huge in the Atlanta market, especially. With Saban, Clemson, Auburn, and Tech encroaching in that area more having him pull away recruits for another team could be devastating.
I can't speculate on the impact Garner leaving will have on the 2009 recruiting class, although I doubt it affects more than 2-3 players.
As far as the black coaching issue, you haven't made a point. Are you suggesting that this will get spun into a Garner-left-UGA-because-they're-racists thing? Because the very obvious response is that all of our coaches' paychecks are signed by a black man.
I don't look forward to recruiting against him in Atlanta, but we all knew this day was coming. I'm only surprised it took this long, frankly.
What? Of course not idiot, Just saying for young black men (recruits) it definitely means something to be recruited by and then coached by a black man. The loss of a black coach will be a significant loss.
You really are a dumbass Tommy.
Right, Anon 6:14.
All hail John Lilly! He is better than Garner.
We are about to see all coach's salaries, whether they are worth it or not, go through the roof because of this.
Anon 6:14,
You know....we can and likely will replace him with a black coach right?
No, Paul, he's right. There are no more black position coaches left on the planet. We've recruited our last black player. Doomed, doomed, doomed.
really pwd? since you're on top of things please enlighten us with CMR's list of candidates who African-American & just as much of a top recruiter & coach as Garner.
Like the rest of us, you don't know anything either. And its not for sure that we'd hire another black coach.
I think 8 of the 12 SEC coaches directly responsible for DTs in the SEC are black. Look around at our neighbors in this part of the country, you hire from your neighbors.
BTW -- Most coaching staffs in the SEC have more than 2 black assistants. If RG leaves, it's a pretty safe bet that we'll hire a black guy.
It is what it is.
But to say we're going to get beat in recruiting if RG leaves just because we're losing a black coach is silly.
PWD
I think the point presented is that some recruits' families may be more at ease with a black recruiter in their living rooms promising to take care of their kids, and not that one more or less black coach on staff makes a difference
And I tend to agree.
It may be possible that Tennessee and Auburn have made such a mess of themselves that it takes that much money to convince a good/tenured coach to leave his job and go there.
Trooper Taylor is best known in these parts for being an asshat.
I did not realize, until reading the enlightened commentary offered up here tonight, that the UGA Athletic Department is staffed by a bunch of Southern, buzz cut sporting, highway patrol sunglass wearing, pickup truck drivin, Confederate flag wavin' crackers with matchsticks hanging out of their mouths -- except of course for CRG. I have no idea how any other school in the South is able to pull together a roster without having CRG on their staff, but I could almost swear I see them filling their available schollys each spring, and as best I can tell by looking out on the field, some of the kids look to be almost black. Oh well, I guess it is for them to know and us to NOT find out, because, clearly we won't be able to do it. Oh well, pull out your hockey sweaters men!! We are getting out of the football business if Kiffin & Son can pull this off.
Well, I give you a name: Travis Jones. Travis played D-line for the Dawgs in the early '90s, was a d-line coach & recruiting coordinator under Saban and has been w/ the Saints for the last 4 years. He is also African-American and a DGD. I think he'd be happy to get back in red & black.
Unfortunately sUGArdaddy, we find ourselves in a bit of a logic loop, if what I have read is indeed the reality. The problem is that we won't be able to recruit any black coaches to come here if we don't have CRG on staff. I mean, we would not be able to recruit any black kids without him, because apparently he is the only credible African-American in the Athletic Dept., so I suspect that coaches are not immune to this problem. Of course, I am not sure what we do with our current AD, our Head BB Coach, our RBs Coach or our WRs Coach (psst...just between you and me, I think they may be BLACK...shh...let's keep it on the down low)
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