I notice that Auburn just gave Gus Malzahn a big raise that makes him the highest paid offensive coordinator in the SEC at $500,000 per year. That’s interesting to me for two reasons. First, while that’s a sum that’s nothing to sneer at, it’s still considerably less than is being paid out under the new defensive coordinator contracts just handed out all over the conference. Second (and somewhat related to the first point), Auburn is the only school in the SEC I can verify that’s paying its offensive coordinator 25% more than it’s paying its defensive coordinator.
Some of that disparity can no doubt be attributed to several conference programs having head coaches who serve as their de facto offensive coordinators to a large extent. Still, things are what they are, and, if anything, based on the last two months, the spread is even more pronounced than it was before.
Why do you think that is?
Get The Picture 
Defense wins championships. The SEC is the home of champions. Ergo we put a higher value on a good DC than a good OC.
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Quote Erk “If we score we may win, if they don’t score we can’t lose.”
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Were you standing and did you remove your hat to write that post?
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Does everybody else put assistant coaches on one year contracts like us?
If not, then the disparity between defensive and offensive coordinator pay might be easily explained by (i) offensive coordinator contracts aren’t generally up for renewal, (ii) there hasn’t been a Mark Richt effect thru the offensive coordinator ranks, and (iii) the OC’s are generally wimps who won’t threaten to leave.
If everybody is on one year contracts, then the Mark Richt effect, or lack thereof, is my only guess.
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I remain skeptical about Malzahn, he may end up being terriffic but $500K is more than generous for someone so unproven. He hasn’t been at one place long enough (except HS) to get his players and system synchronized. Maybe Auburn is giving him a nice raise but letting this be a “probation” offering with the promise of more to come. AU still looks “iffy” to me for 2010 although they had a nice recruiting class this season. I see them 3rd or 4th in the West based on returning players.
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Does anybody else think its odd that the highest paid OC in the SEC was coaching high school ball 5 years ago? I won’t quibble with the results he’s had at several of his stops, but I don’t know if that says more about his skills or the lack of skills in some of the other conference OC’s.
Even at some of the massive high school programs HC’s get paid in the $75k range. Assuming Malzahn was making even a little above that, you have to admire that kind of upward mobility….. despite the fact that he had to hitch his wagon to several players who were ultimately busts.
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I think there are 2 factors. You hit the biggie when you said some head coaches are de facto OC’s. The other factor is pursuit by other programs. In Malzahn’s case it may have been a pre-emptive measure.
Bobo is UGA homegrown, hired entry level and mentored by Richt (who could mentor somebody else if he wanted to). We didn’t lure him from another program with bags of money.
In addition Bobo is home and isn’t going to uproot if he makes a nice living in Athens with family close by and has as stable a job as one can have in the coaching profession. I can see him leaving to be a head coach one day, but not making a lateral move.
That said, we need to be competitive because nobody likes being taken for granted. I for one will be happy to see us divide the wealth more evenly among the coaches. Personally I’d put most of it in bonuses that are based on the performance of the team and also the offensive/defensive units. But there’s a lot of wiggle room and IMVHO I don’t think anyone else on our staff will get the kind of money Grantham got.
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I don’t understand the love of Gus
He dominated worse teams, couldn’t do jack against good/great teams
Gus without McFadden isn’t all that great
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How much better we are on Defense and Special Teams this up-coming season, compared to an Offense of wasted talent, penalties, fumbles and interceptions will be glaring. Read your posts to this thread, and one would get the impression you are begging for a raise for Mike Bobo who has failed once again this up-coming season to prepare a Quarterback again with 3 freshmen quarterbacks.
The attempted redshirt of Washaun Ealey until the 3rd quarter of the 5th game when he ended up our leading rusher, and the actual redshirt of Knowshon Moreno so we only got to see him 2 years stand out on Offense. But, did you know that Washaun Ealey for all he did last season, only started 2 games and not even the last 2 ? Marlon Brown we could not teach to play wide receiver last year, but we played him for 2 passes of 15 yards against the vols. We did not throw the football to Marlon Brown the entire rest of the season. 2 passes, and we lose a year. Marlon Brown balked at all this in the newspaper, followed by UGA Offensive Coaching Staff being unable to Sign ANY of the All-Star Recruits in the State of Georgia this season. He is supposed to be good, but we cannot teach him to be wide receiver and can teach AJ Green. Or was AJ Green already All-America because a great running back was given the cushy job of coaching AJ Green ? Which is it ? What about Tight End Aron White ? He caught all of 3 total passes all of his freshman year. For that, he was made the Starter. Orson Charles had 23 catches his Freshman Year last year, but was held back as the Starter because of Aron White’s 3 catches all season long the year before. In the 12th game of a 13-game season last season, Orson Charles became the Starter, finally. The running back who was made Starter despite his fumble costing us the Georgia tek game the previous year, Richard Samuel, we are asking to move to Linebacker setting his career back another year, in fact, his high school coach says he is not ready to play Linebacker and needs to Redshirt to learn the position. I bet you our Defensive Coordinator can teach Richard Samuel how to play the position of Linebacker. Our Quarterback in this system for 5 years now this coming season, Logan Gray is being asked to move to wide receiver. He is balking at that. It is not like our Offense is good at evaluating talent.
Bryan McClendon, our wide receiver when he played football, is Running Backs’ Coach. John Lilly, a quarterback when he played football, is our Tight Ends’ Coach. Tony Ball, a Great Running Back when he played football, is our Wide Receivers’ Coach.
Give a raise to our Offensive Coaching Staff so that they do not run off and become a lateral move somewhere else ? Is that really what you are calling for here ? Your comments are confusing at best.
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2006 with Matthew Stafford and Neil Callaway Offensive Coordinator :
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79 NCAA Number 79 Passing Offense
90 NCAA Number 90 Total Offense
70 NCAA Number 70 Most Penalties
22 FUMBLES
16 INTERCEPTIONS
1 DUI by the Offensive Coordinator.
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2007 UGA with Matthew Stafford Mike Bobo Offensive Coordinator :
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84 NCAA Number 84 Passing Offense
74 NCAA Number 74 Total Offense
85 NCAA Number 85 Most Penalties
18 FUMBLES
10 INTERCEPTIONS
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2008 UGA with Knowshon Moreno Mike Bobo Offensive Coordinator :
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56 NCAA Number 56 Rushing Offense
116 NCAA Number 116 Most Penalties
19 FUMBLES
10 INTERCEPTIONS
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2009 UGA Mike Bobo Offensive Coordinator :
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80 NCAA Number 80 Passing Offense
75 NCAA Number 75 Total Offense
113 NCAA Number 113 Most Penalties
23 FUMBLES
17 INTERCEPTIONS
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7-11 Coach Richt Era vs Florida & vols prevents getting out our Division.
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* 5 National Championships :in Coach Richt Era :
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2 each by Florida in Coach Richt Era
2 each by LSU in Coach Richt Era
Reigning National Champions Alabama in Coach Richt Era
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UGA 4th best in SEC 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009 :
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29-06 FLA* vs SEC 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.
23-11 ALA *vs SEC 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.
21-12 LSU* vs SEC 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.
20-12 UGA* vs SEC 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.
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Are you asking for the Offensive Coaching Staff to be given a raise at UGA, or not ?
It is one or the other, and should be clear from your comments.
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Hey you’ve been on Dawg Opinion too huh. I can’t say I disagree with you on this one though. The O just seems to score on the second rate teams but then do nothing against the UT’s Ala’s UF’s of this conference. With the exception of Coach Ball, he did coach WR’s at VT, it seems we have under hired.
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Speaking of choose one or the other…. So do you think it’s a good idea to redshirt players or do you think it’s a good idea to play them as freshman even if they may not perform well? Oh wait, we should only burn redshirts for those who perform well.
Unfortunately, nothing is ever black and white and white as you’ld like it to be.
****Disclaimer: I only bothered to read the first half of your post
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Thomas Brown, while I often find some of your posts outrageous and off point, that was a pretty detailed indictment of our offensive staff.
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CMR is the mentor. CMR is the one who hires and fires. CMR knows who and what he is looking for. Maybe Ya’ll can get rid of CMR and CMB; but, I have my doubts about that. Meanwhile stop beating a dead horse & learn to live with it. I did.
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