Excellence will be rewarded at Georgia. That’s been the message since Greg McGarity arrived from Gainesville as the Dawgs’ athletic director. And after back-to-back double-digit-win seasons and a pair of SEC East titles, the recent excellence of UGA’s football staff is indeed being rewarded.
Last month, Mark Richt was given a one-year extension and a bump in salary that took him from $2.8 to $3.2 million. Yesterday it was revealed that all of Richt’s assistants have been handed pay raises, too.
McGarity said:
“(The raises) are representative of the job this staff has done really over the last two years. They kept the ship together. Even though 2010 wasn’t what we wanted to do, Mark and his staff turned it around and did it the right way. This is just representative of a job that’s well done and bodes well for the future.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo — the only man in Athens who takes more heat from fans than Richt — was given the biggest boost in salary from $335,000 per year all the way to $575,000. That makes him the fourth-highest paid offensive coordinator in the SEC behind Brent Pease (Florida), Cam Cameron (LSU), and Doug Nussmeier (Alabama)… three men with a combined two years of experience at their current schools.
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham was given a $25,000 raise to $850,000 which puts him behind only Kirby Smart (Alabama) and John Chavis (LSU) in the SEC.
Offensive line coach Will Friend received a $90,000 raise while receivers coach Tony Ball was given a $50,000 bump. The other assistants all received $25,000 pay hikes like Grantham.
Georgia opens the season with a road game at Clemson and then home dates with South Carolina, North Texas and LSU. If the Bulldogs get off to a slow start you can expect to hear many moans and groans about the salary increases the school’s coaches received this offseason.
