This article made the rounds yesterday. Well, mainly, this chart did:
| School | Support staff pay |
| 1 Georgia | $4,481,974 |
| 2 Alabama | $2,949,321 |
| 3 South Carolina | $2,886,986 |
| 4 Tennessee | $2,823,177 |
| 5 Auburn | $2,821,608 |
| 6 Ole Miss | $2,664,181 |
| 7 Florida | $2,640,975 |
| 8 Texas A&M | $2,131,228 |
| 9 LSU | $1,662,278 |
| 10 Mississippi State | $1,478,330 |
| 11 Missouri | $1,254,997 |
| 12 Arkansas | $1,110,559 |
| 13 Kentucky | $1,063,822 |
*Vanderbilt is a private institution and does not have to adhere to public record law.
In fact, Georgia spent more than $4.4 million on its football support staff in the 2015-16 academic year, according to documents obtained from The Advocate. The Bulldogs easily led the league in support staff pay, about $1.5 million more than the second-highest program: Alabama.
LSU was ninth in the league in support staff pay at $1.6 million, and Kentucky was last at $1.06 million.
What went into defining support staff wasn’t made clear, but even Georgia itself admits to a good bit.
For example, Georgia lists 33 under support staff in one section of its website and listed 51 support staff members in its spring media guide, the Athens-Banner Herald reported in a story earlier this summer.
In any event, I don’t think anyone can argue that the athletic department’s financial support for football coaching with Smart is a night and day situation than it was with Richt.
It’s not like Butts-Mehre can’t afford it.
Read that carefully and then look at the bigger expenditure picture.
Conference wide, Georgia is eleventh in head coach compensation, middle of the pack in game payouts, yet third overall in spending. That money is going somewhere (one place being assistant coaches’ salaries).
Add to that the major capital expenditures we’re seeing and I don’t think Kirby Smart has much to complain about in that department.
Get The Picture 
“Profit”, quoth he? What an uncouth word.
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Not for anyone who believes in the free enterprise system.
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But sir, these are noble amateur institutions.
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You got me.
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It was time for a change. Fine. But I still can’t help but wonder what the increased spending on staff and facilities would have done for an experienced 10 win / 40 PPG capable head coach. We’ll never know and we’ll see how a rookie coach benefits from the same. It wasn’t the firing of Richt that bothered me as much as the classless way it was handled and then the commitment to more spending, etc. that wasn’t tried earlier…like after the 2008 or 2012 season.
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Most would have been fired with a job performance like McGarity’s by now. I hope he can at least prove that he got this last hire right.
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You may want to read the letter from former UGA letterman, Carroll Minick, as published by Seth in the AJC. He stipulates many things discussed here as dissatisfaction with our AD in many sports. Interesting.
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Thanks!….and yes, I did. Ultimately, you have to hold those accountable for his performance (G.M.). If that does not work, the contributions & fan support should hopefully decline. Maybe that, along with some well documented letters as you mentioned will get some attention. If this last hire does not work out, there may be no other place to hide.
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I agree I that we would have been help more if Coach Rich’s had gotten support. He could not even get the staff raises they deserved much less hire more support staff. The AA has loosened the purse strings now and I support Coach Smart and hope he has a great season this year.
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Never forget him having to paying some out of pocket.
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“Never forget?” You want me to light a candle?
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“Dude”….this is getting old with you, go stalk someone else.
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Makes 15 comments a day on one football blog…accuses other commenters of stalking him. Brilliant.
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I don’t know you, and you may be a great guy, but your comments make you sound like a tool. Don’t know if you care or not. You might (probably?) like it. But just letting you know.
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And you mostly wait until I post and you pop out of thin air. I think I may have may 4 -5 posts today, 2 have been to you. Two questions:
1) Why does what I post affect your behavior in the way you are displaying?
2) How old are you (chronologically speaking)?
Agree with the poster below, you may be a nice guy…but your comments make you look like a tool. Relax, this is just a blog.
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If Kirby has a shit season, you’ll be lighting a candle without any outside suggestion.
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Nah, we don’t need any candles, just keep throwing dirt at UGA’s legends at every opportunity. One trick pony, and it isn’t a clever trick at all, just more hate from a myopic mind. Even the other haters, majority of them, have moved on, realizing their venom was counter productive to the program.
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Mark Richt got to spend $2M on an OC/DC – one which was the worst hire ever and the other that helped set the program on fire..
Most people get fired over things like that.
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Worse than Marion Campbell and Kevin Ramsey?
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In the same ballpark, debating which is worse is a race to the bottom.
What gets me on the OC hire was the HC, who was an OC, didn’t bother to take the play calling back and at least attempt to move the program forward.
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The numbers for Kentucky in the media rights/SEC distribution column stands out to me. Their numbers nearly match Bama and are 20 million more than anybody else in the conference. Surely that has to be including basketball revenue, right?
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I assume some reporter is going to ask for more details on the support staff number difference, so in 3 months we will get an answer.
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There is no way to tell how much the accounting methodology varies from school to school and no detail information. Comparablity is impossible and the information is worthless.
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Yea I wondered this myself. To think we out do Bama by that margin in support doesnt fit.
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So Tennessee has a 80 million dollar profit in one mediocre year? And every SEC school made profits in the tens of millions at least?
We need to send the SEC ADs to congress.
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I would be interested to know if that includes paying fired coaches.
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Is Ludacris a coach?
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Director of Player Playlists
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Remember when UT athletics were flat broke? That TV money sure has been nice
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Before the most recent increase in football/TV monies, and while they were paying off multiple coaches’ contracts, plus a major stadium renovation. The stadium still sucks, but we aren’t in a position to throw stones. Not saying they didn’t mismanage the department, but it was a temporary dip.
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$4,481,974 for 8 wins, wow. $560,247 per win. AD should have been fired yesterday. If you add the fact that we had to pay an additional $2,800,000 for the tasty cupcakes it’s $910,247 per win. Simply amazing. Oh well if you have to be addicted to something college footballs not too bad.
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Exculpatory evidence for the Georgia Way.
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