Wednesday, March 2, 2011

NEW ASSISTANTS WELL PAID

Gator Gridiron
Roger Franklin Williams

Earlier this week Rachel George of the Orlando Sentinel published the salaries of Florida's new assistant coaches. Leading the list was acclaimed Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis with a 2011 salary in the neighborhood of $750,000.

While audible gasps of shock and exasperation were heard in some circles, Gator Gridiron has a different, more pragmatic take.

In a nutshell, if Coach Muschamp and his new staff are able to put Gator football back into the extreme upper echelon of college football consistently---compete for the SEC title every year and resume status as a consistent top 10 program while competing for a National Title every 2-3 years---then Coach Muschamp, Coach Weis and the other coaches will be very deserving of their healthy salaries. If, on the other hand, the new regime falls short, then, yes, those lofty paychecks were obviously too much.

For example, Steve Addazio, who sickenly was reported to have made in the $300,000. range as OC, would have been grossly overpaid at minimum wage.

The pay scale for assistant coaches as well as head coaches has exploded in the last decade, due to a number of factors. While Weis' 3/4 million salary is at the top of the range of a top notch OC, it is certainly not outrageous, based on the recent pay scale for top notch assistants.

If Coach Weis can come close to duplicating the success he had as OC of the New England Patriots...and yes, I know that was pro, not college...then this Gator (and I'm sure plenty of others) will consider a measley $750,000 a year to be a bargain.

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