Here’s a question for you.
Chip Towers reports that Josh Brooks’ salary as Georgia’s new AD is $700,000 in his first year. Apparently, it’s a one-year deal, although Towers says it’s expected Brooks will eventually sign a multi-year contract. Towers also adds this:
He was chosen over “dozens” of candidates, who were vetted by the search firm owned by former Ole Miss AD Todd Turner, Collegiate Sports Association.
Meanwhile, at Tennessee, in a more heralded hire, Danny White has received a considerably greater commitment from his school.
Danny White agreed to a rolling five-year deal to be Tennessee’s athletics director, according to the Memorandum of Understanding obtained by Knox News on Friday.
Chancellor Donde Plowman introduced White on Friday. He was hired Thursday. The MOU was signed by Plowman and White on Wednesday and is to be formalized with a contract within 60 days.
The MOU states that White’s contract will automatically extend for one year at the end of a contract year, so that the contract will always have five years remaining.
White will earn $1.8 million initially, making him the Southeastern Conference’s highest-paid athletics director in terms of recurring annual pay and fourth highest-paid public school AD in the nation, according to data compiled in summer 2020 for AthleticDirectorU by attorneys Robert Lattinville and Roger Denny. USA TODAY Sports procured the contracts for the data in partnership with Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and assisted in the analysis.
Now, there’s no denying the two athletic departments face considerably different circumstances and, accordingly, it’s not unreasonable to think Tennessee had to pay top dollar. Putting out dumpster fires doesn’t come cheaply.
But here’s my question for you: there’s little question that Danny White has had a more successful track record hiring/firing coaches than did Greg McGarity (Brooks is a blank slate in that regard, so it’s unfair to make that comparison). Let’s say, though, for the sake of argument, and with the awareness of the institutional priorities at B-M, that Georgia’s record in that regard continues at roughly the same level going forward. If you were in a position to choose, how much more would you be willing to pay an athletic director who was better at identifying coaching talent than what we’ve been used to, assuming all else being equal?
