Good for him; he’s earned it. But it’s the patented McGarity triangulation that makes the pay story interesting.
Bobo’s increase moves him to fourth in pay among offensive coordinators in the SEC behind Florida’s Brent Pease and LSU’s Cam Cameron at $600,000 and Alabama’s Doug Nussmeier at $590,000, according to various media reports. Cameron is set to make $1.3 million in 2014 and $1.5 million in 2015.
Bobo was the ninth-highest paid offensive coordinator before the increase.
“It’s not the highest in the conference, but it’s among the top three or four and that’s where we felt Mike should be,” athletic director Greg McGarity said. “Mike has played a huge part in not only running the offense but in the development of our quarterbacks. The way he’s been such an integral part of recruiting in general it was a priority for Mark Richt and that’s where we ended up.”
I’m not sure I want to live in a world where Georgia’s athletic director thinks Mike Bobo deserves to be paid about the same as Brent Pease. They sure didn’t get similar results last season.
And then there’s this.
Georgia’s nine assistant coaches will be paid a total of $3.225 million, up from about $2.77 million last season. McGarity said that’s not in the top tier in the conference but is comparable with SEC East rival Florida.
I mean, seriously? I guess when LSU offensive staff is scheduled to make about what Georgia’s staff in its entirety earns next year, McGarity will check with Jeremy Foley first before deciding what to do on the pay front.
And still no word on whether Bobo’s in line for a multi-year deal.
Maybe McGarity figures that everyone should be as loyal to the institution as he is and be willing to take a few less bucks for the privilege of working in Athens. After all, he’s the man who’s making less than all but two of his conference peers – not to mention less than his counterpart at Georgia Tech.
It’s going to make for some interesting decisions down the road as the money flow into the SEC keeps assistants’ deals rising. We’ll see if McGarity chooses to keep up. And if the staff is as loyal as he’s banking on it being.
Get The Picture 
If it comes down to someone Mark Richt really doesn’t want to lose, he’ll pony up. Richt does enjoy a fair amount of loyalty from his assistants, that he does recipricate.. And that loyalty will help.
It’s as if McGarity doesn’t think the really high salaries (like Cam Cameron’s at LSU) are here to stay, and is trying to keep assistant salaries at a supposed equalized point, prior to actually equalizing.
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I doubt it’s as much about Richt’s fondness for an assistant as that assistant’s prospects. It seems we don’t pay for performance, only to avoid the prospect of losing an assistant to another program.
You may be right about McGarity thinking the high salaries will disappear. Although, I’m not sure why he would think that. The TV money is increasing and several teams around the conference have shown the willingness to invest that money in their football programs.
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To be clear, I agree with you and I’m not sure if I have the correct analysis on McGarity’s assistant pay stance or not. But even I think LSU paying 1.5 million for a coordinator is not going to hold up as a standard. Gradually it may get there, but I don’t see programs handing out that kind of money as a standard. Not yet. It also makes me wonder if McGarity sees some kind of regulatory cap on salaries coming down the pipe (or he’s at least hopeful it will).
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LSU is hardly the first to so. Don’t forget what UT was paying Senior and what Malzahn was paid as Chizik’s OC.
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True… but Monte is gone now, and UT and Auburn aren’t throwing out that kind of money anymore… but they are still on the hook for it, huh? lol.
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Bluto, I get your frustration with McGarity being cheap in some aspects, but you’re also constantly mocking presidents and ADs for asking legislators to help them curb spending. Just because your neighbor pays $65,000 for a Camry doesn’t mean you have to as well. I applaud McGarity for practicing moderation here.
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I’m with you, Puff. GM can be cheap at times, and I’m pretty sure I reached my “You know, I really don’t care how you did it at Florida” moment with that quote today, but his handling of Bobo seems reasonable to me. What’s he supposed to do? Double Bobo’s salary? Triple it? Then what?
The Cam Cameron deal at LSU is absurd (I say that as a Raven’s season ticket holder; the level of rage directed at Cameron over a period of years was every bit the equal of Willie Must Go). What if LSU set a pile of fifties of fire? Would that be a master chess move that we’d be forced to counter? Except maybe with hundreds.
Pretty soon Bobo will be a man, he’ll be forty. and he’ll want to take a HC position. Until then, so long as he continues to coach lights out, he should get nice fat bumps like this one, which pretty soon start to add up to some real money
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Evidently, the nuance is getting lost in the snark, so let me see if I can explain my frustration better, Puff.
1. I’ve got no problem with McGarity being prudent with money that isn’t his. As I’ve said, I’m not asking him to become the second coming of Mike Hamilton.
2. That being said, everything I hear out of his mouth about spending reflects a top priority of protecting profits (kinda ironic, since he runs a non-profit organization) instead of spending money in a way that gets the best results. Go back and read that NYT article I linked to. McGarity asked the coaches for a list of things they’d want under the new recruiting rules. His first response isn’t “hmm, some of that might work and some of that won’t”. It’s “my precious profit margin.”
3. And the need to explain his thinking by pointing out that he’s comparing his spending to what other programs in the conference are spending doesn’t reflect prudence. It’s reflects a bureaucrat who’s ass covering. When the day comes that he loses a valuable coach to another program, he’ll be right there with “we’re doing what everyone else in the conference is doing.” That will be so comforting as Richt looks for a replacement for less money – or gets McGarity to back down and pay the next coach the salary that would have kept the first coach from leaving.
4. As others have already pointed out, all of this comes off as reacting to what other schools are doing, rather than Georgia having a plan. At this point, look at the list of assistants who are suspected to have gotten recent interest from other teams: McClendon, Bobo, Friend, Ball, Garner and Grantham. That’s not a compliment; that’s a market sensing that Georgia’s staff is underpaid. It’s great that Richt has been able to keep things in line with a staff that’s loyal (except for Garner, of course), but you wonder how long McGarity can get away with it.
Bottom line here: after 6 years of OJT, Bobo is turning into one of the most valuable assistants in the SEC. It’s going to piss me off if a Mack Brown or Kirby Smart comes through and offers a huge raise and more security and sweeps Bobo off elsewhere and we’ve got to look at reinventing the wheel again on the cheap. Unless you think OCs with top ten offenses who can recruit with the best of them are falling all over themselves to coach in Athens. There will be little excuse for that with a program awash in revenue like Georgia. But at least we can congratulate McGarity for his prudence.
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I tend to agree Senator, particularly on 1 and 2, but on 4. If they were that underpaid, wouldn’t they have left? The fact that they are all still here is reflective that perhaps their pay is commensurate with the situation, which includes a low cost of living area and stable head coaching situation where you aren’t wondering, as one might at UT or LSU among others, be wondering if your job is in jeopardy on an annual or semi annual basis.
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Totally agree that Richt makes the job more attractive.
But like I said, that’s one thing if you’re Bobo and you’re looking at a spread of less than $100K between your salary and Cam Cameron’s. It’s another when that’s almost a million dollars.
I still can’t wait to see the terms of Garner’s Auburn contract.
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Honestly I’m going to try to be brief but:
(1) agreed
(2) I’m not seeing a NYT link. Help me out here.
(3) Just because he’s practicing beaurocracy doesn’t mean he isn’t prudent. It means he’s savvy on how to keep his bosses happy. Perhaps he sees the programs he’s comparing ours to as more stable with respect to the coaching salary bubble and is using those payrolls as the best indicator of the long term market value of his coaches, not the crazies like LSU.
(4) Of course he’s reacting. He’s reacting to the market, but he’s not going off the deep end. He’s excersing prudence. As for the attention to our coaches not being a compliment: pardon my French but, BULLSHIT! They were “underpaid” two years ago and nobody was calling. They’re getting attention now because we started winning games again. You and I both know it’s a beauty contest. It’s all about who’s hot, not about how much they’re getting paid. Money is not an object. You think Foley looked at Urban Meyer’s salary at Utah and said, “Now there’s a guy who’s underapid. I think we can get a deal on him!” Heck no he didn’t.
As for Bobo’s intentions, I don’t know you from Adam, but most of what you write as assumption, I presume. Maybe Bobo is happy making $600,000 living in Athens with his 5 kids. Maybe he’s made it clear he isn’t leaving until a HC job comes up. I don’t know. But neither do most people habving this discussion. I’m willing to extend benefit of the doubt to McGarity for knowing the situation because his finger’s a lot closer to the pulse than mine is.
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Here’s my link to the NYT article.
I think most of what you write falls into the “agree to disagree” category with me, but two things I can’t let pass. One, Jimmy Sexton does not live in a “money is not an object” world. Two, if you go back and read my last paragraph carefully, I think you’ll see I’m giving McGarity the same benefit of the doubt you are. But that sure doesn’t mean we won’t all be wrong.
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“He’s exercising prudence.”
How does she like it?
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I literally “LOL’d” there DiF. How you been, sport?
By the way I really butchered “exercising” didn’t I? Derp.
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Thanks, Puff. I’m doing pretty well. They let me out for exercise two times a day now that my med levels are within normal limits.
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“Clap, clap, clap,clap. Plus he is doing this raise by first insulting everyone’s intelligence. Talk about left-handed compliments! Not a mention of accomplishments by Bobo (with few letdowns). It’s amazing that the SC game didn’t get everyone fired since the emphasis is on the negative!
I know everyone posting has and uses imagination. Imagine yourself as a former UGA QB with great playing credentials becoming a coach at your Alma Mater. The pride he must have felt in finally rising to O coordinator of such a tradition-laden University and delivering year after year. Then, through ignorance of some ego-driven fans, you get maligned when normal criticism by fans eager for you to run their favorite plays becomes a cacophany of oaths and demands for your job. All because some fans and administrators are ignorant of what you have accomplished and put together for us to experience in the future. Are you feeling what Bobo must have felt last year? And for what? The privilege of being castigated and unrewarded for a job well done? In hearing all this unfounded criticism by the great unknowing, what must his family have felt?
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The biggest thing to me is the inconsistency. It would be one thing if McGarity was applying his cheap ways across the board, but a clear exception has been made for Grantham. I don’t understand why Bobo shouldn’t be given a 3-year deal just like Grantham. After all, his unit has been performing better. Basically, McGarity is saying, “If you demonstrate that you are a flight risk, then we will pay you.” That seems to be incentivizing undesirable behavior. Loyalty shall not go unpunished.
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I don’t get the 25k raise for Grantham unless it was contract mandated. I mean, is the 25k going to keep him from flirting with the whole NFL again three weeks before next signing day?
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It looks like all the assistants received at least a $25k raise. Cost of living?
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Hell, he got a 90k raise over a year ago while the remainder of the staff received Jack Shiite. It was warned then that we were playing with dynamite when rewarding a new, yet untested coach while holding his head coach down to post season rewards only. What was the message in the coaching abilities when the D coach gets a 10% raise and low-paid assistant coaches got a pittance along with the head coach? An open door at a Regent’s meeting? A coach who gets angry supporting his players should be held closer than one who has great self-control that gives a differing pride to our program? The newness of the bright penny has worn off.
Grantham shouldn’t have gotten crap for his 77th-ranked D until others have been rewarded for actually winning games. I’m not against Grantham, but would think there are other D coaches who may give a better ground D. Don’t want to lose him simply because he has installed a new D scheme and I don’t want the players to go through learning another one from a differing coach when they don’t know this scheme fully. Certainly do believe that he can accomplish installing a good rushing D before he gets into his 3rd season. If he can’t then maybe he is not as hot as you may have projected.
Where have you been? Bobo, whose O has been winning games by putting points up that Grantham was giving liberally to opponents, achieved an 8th-ranked O. Something is bad wrong in Black Rock when that differing standard occurs and when our AD feels he should be paid a 4th-place SEC wage. According to stats, Bobo is the best O coordinator in the SEC. Why do others get paid much larger sums for being 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the SEC? Using Bobo to try to get salaries down in the SEC is assinine.
How would you like it if you had worked your way to top O in the SEC (after yrs coaching in the best CFB conference) and be treated like a second-class coach for your troubles? Why is there not a hew and cry from UGA fans when the best coach is used as a pay raise guideline for a conference that’s already shown you they will race to pay their coaches more as a way of honoring and retaining them?
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I don’t know if the questions you pose are directed to me or rhetorically to the fans as a group, but I agree with you. You could find my first criticisms of Grantham immediately after the classless Vanderbilt fiasco. My next round of criticism came when he put his hands on the Head Coach who was calling a time out.
By the end of last year’s Tennessee game I took my Grantham idol off the shelf. He’s had 1 very good year and 2 not so good years.
I like him, but I’m not handing out a 25 k raise to him based on fear of him leaving. Apparently he’s going to do that anyway.
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the quote from chip towers said mcgarity compared our staff’s salaries with arkansas, texas a&m, and florida, not just florida. i agree w/ puff. i’ll be surprised if lsu gets their money’s worth out of that staff.
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“It’s not the highest in the conference, but it’s among the top three or four and that’s where we felt Mike should be,”
What a ringing endorsement
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No shit!
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Check out the “pity party” the AJC throws for itself in its article because the Athens Banner Herald got the scoop:
The news of the raises was first reported by the Athens Banner-Herald on Wednesday, which received documentation of the salary changes via an open records request. A similar request made recently by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did not produce any such documentation.
I can’t imagine why the University would leave the AJC hanging out to dry with all of the favorable coverage it gives.
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That is funny. Good on Claude Felton for reminding them that trolls get no favors. I doubt it will help, because, hey, it’s a core business strategy, sut still worth doing.
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And we continue to build the wall of worry.
So here we are, no one left. Several got offers, interviews, or sniffs and in the end they all stayed and everyone makes a little more money. Bobo just got a $20k/month raise. Are we really going to act like that is chicken feed for a coach 18 months ago everyone was quite sure was one of the worst in the country?
We just need to hope that everyone has a great spring practice, no one has their lunchbox switched with Spicoli’s and we can make it to Death Valley without any starters out.
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We play LSU at home this year.
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I think he’s referring to Clemson.
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I know. It was a subtle joke. The real Death Valley is in Baton Rouge.
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bullshit
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Ahhh dang it. Editted out my parenthesis. Was supposed to say:
:::::::::::cough::::::::: bullshit :::::cough::::::::::::
So much for a sublte return.
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?
Good grief man. Get a hold of that anger.
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I think he meant Clemson Death Valley.
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And “everyone ” was shown to be hopelessly WRONG. So wrong thinking by some fans should be used as a guideline for coaches pay?
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He just got a quarter of a million dollar raise. To put it another way, he just got a 65% raise. or a $20k/month raise. He did good work, he got a raise.
I dare say the Bobo clan got an extra hotdog each this week in celebration.
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That one significant raise in several years isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. Wonder what Richt recommended for him? Should we rescind Grantham’s 90k raise last year to bring things back toward a fair level of compensation? I complained about all of this last year. It was such a kick in the teeth for people we would like to encourage in their UGA coaching endeavors. My anger at all the fal-de-ral last year has not abated.
When Grantham got a hefty raise last year, everyone else should have also. I’m not too impressed with an AD who responds to naysayers instead of leading (with cojones) in the correct direction.
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Rodney Garner – out of sight, out of mind.
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details, details
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Except for the one they may not of wanted to stay then.
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I keep seeing this assertion made, but nobody ever has any proof that Richt wanted RG gone.
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True, but Richt’s not one to say “We’re glad he’s gone” to the media either. The reports of him misscheduling recruiting visits, the fact that every time in the past we matched but not this time, the swiftness of the replacement, it just seems easily argued that Richt wasn’t fighting to keep him.
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That’s why I want to see the terms of the Auburn contract. If they’re similar to what he had, that strengthens the argument. But if Auburn gave RG a raise and a multi-year deal, not so much.
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Also we are UGA. We have almost alwways looked down our nose at the great unwashed over in the west…now suddenly we should be taking financial advice from them?
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Boy, you’ve missed my point.
McGarity shouldn’t be taking financial advice from any of his peers. He should be smart enough to do what’s best for Georgia on his own.
And to riff off your vibe, why would we want an AD who has to take a quick peek at what Foley’s doing every day before ordering breakfast?
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Now you have the full drift of my complaints. I want an AD who leads and doesn’t get immeshed in the political gears, but rather thinks for himself. We lead in the correct direction for our University, not by the whims of the conference or others who can only react and not think.
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I feel fine in believing that McGarity is making the decisions that he thinks are best for UGA. Seems like half the posts on here recently have been snarky reactions to him not following the herd, so forgive me if your point was lost.
Again, we kept all (but 1) of our coaches who had other interest. We gave raises to everyone and it appears that the split on those raises was guided by CMR, which is how I would expect it to be.
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Quite the contrary, actually. Not following the herd, that is.
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Does anyone wonder now why CMR was paying some of the staff out of his pocket. My school is truly so tight with money that George Washington screams.
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I don’t see anyone wildly underpaid there. But I think that is more a function of some guys getting counter offers. It’s not a strategic point of McGarity’s to land at the 3rd or 4th position. He explained his “strategy” after the fact.
Why?
There is no strategy.
As a buddy of mine said, “if you make me put together a resume, I’m not sending it to just one place.”
McGarity is playing with fire by by not having a plan for much of anything. So far he ha been lucky on staffing as it relates to retention.
Not that anyone asked…but the LSU salaries are so out of whack I ignore them.
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The thing about the LSU money that worries me is that we may look back on it a couple of years from now and realize they were just being proactive.
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Proactive with new money they see coming in that will truly make us seem like pusillanimous pikers before this season is over.
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Hey, that surplus doesn’t build itself.
McGarity drove by the other day as I was walking down Lumpkin. HIs vanity plate reads “PRFTMGN”.
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It should have been “PPPPPPP” as a daily reminder.
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Maybe McGarity feels that if he’s not getting paid enough, no one should.
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/61486/breaking-down-the-salaries-of-sec-ads
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At least Greg can say (like those of us who were raised in the Deep South), “Thank God for the State of Mississippi.”
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