Schottenheimer's salary released, Rocker and McClendon get raises
ATHENS - After a top 10 finish, and some lobbying from head coach Mark Richt, the salary pool for Georgia's football coaches is going way up.
The salaries of Georgia's two newest assistants, including offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, were revealed Thursday via an open records request. Combined with raises for two current assistants, UGA assistant coaches are set to earn $4.45 million in 2015, up from $3.22 million last year.
Last year Georgia's assistant coaches ranked 13th nationally in salary pool, according to the USA Today database. The new salaries would push Georgia to fourth nationally, although that's not yet accounting for changes at other schools.
Schottenheimer will earn $950,000 annually on a three-year contract. While that's short of the $1 million figure that was expected, it's still well more than what previous offensive coordinator Mike Bobo earned the past two years. Bobo was receiving $575,000 annually before taking the head coaching job at Colorado State.
Schottenheimer's base salary is $375,000, but he will also receive a salary supplement of $575,000 paid in quarterly installments (March, June, September and December.)
Rob Sale, hired as offensive line coach on Saturday, will earn $400,000 annually, also an increase over his predecessor, Will Friend, who earned $300,000. Friend followed Bobo to Colorado State as offensive coordinator.
Meanwhile, two other current Georgia assistants received raises. More could be coming for the four other assistant coaches, but only two have been put on paper thus far.
Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker is now earning $500,000 per year, after earning $300,000 his first season at Georgia. Rocker was also given the new title of associate head coach.
Running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Bryan McClendon is receiving $350,000, an increase from $250,000 this past season. McClendon also added the title of assistant head coach.
Rocker and McClendon received the raises and titles after interest from other schools, per a source. Both preferred staying, but Richt made sure behind the scenes it wasn't an issue.
"A lot of these things are market driven, so to speak," Richt said last week. "There are people that pursue our people at times and there’s just the fact there’s a cost of doing business at times as well."
It was previously announced that defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt's salary was raised to $1.3 million, after earning $850,000 his first season at Georgia. It's not clear whether Pruitt was directly contacted by another school, but there were defensive coordinator openings at Texas A&M, LSU and Auburn.
Pruitt's new salary would place him tied for third nationally on last year's list. Schottenheimer's $950,000 would place him seventh, just $25,000 behind Louisville defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Richt is also expected to receive a raise from his salary of approximately $3.2 million. But it has not been officially confirmed or released yet.
Georgia just wrapped up a 10-3 season, and its No. 9 ranking in both major polls was the seventh time in Richt's 14 years that the team has finished ranked in the top 10.
As for off-field staff, new director of player personnel Todd Hartley will earn $150,000 this year, and new director of operations Josh Lee will earn $125,000. (The salaries of their predecessors was unknown.) It was previously announced that Mark Hocke, the new strength and conditioning coordinator, will earn $200,000, the same salary as predecessor Joe Tereshinski.
This story was originally published January 15, 2015 at 11:36 AM.