The 2021-22 coaching carousel resulted in 29 new head coaches at the Football Bowl Subdivision level for 2022. Of that total, 15 are first-year head coaches. That includes those who served as a head coach on an interim basis, which a few of them did last season.
The compensation packages of those first-year head coaches (not all of them disclosed) underscore the difference between the have and have nots of college football, not that any of these gentlemen is sweating over the inflated price of a gallon of unleaded.
Certainly, Brent Venables is not.
In the summer of 2018, and six years into his tenure as Clemson’s defensive coordinator, Venables signed a five-year, $11.6 million extension through 2022. He signed another extension last summer that went through 2026 and increased his annual pay to $2.5 million, highest among the nation’s assistants.
Things just kept getting better for Venables. In December, the 50-year-old agreed to a six-year, $43.5 million package to take over for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. That works out to a little more than $7 million per year and is loaded with incentives, perks and bonuses that include $600,000 annually as part of a retirement plan.
The bulk of Venables’ annual compensation comes from “unrestricted private funds” and will increase by $100,000 each year.
Dan Lanning is the Pac-12’s fifth-highest paid coach thanks to his six-year, $29.1 million deal at Oregon. The 35-year-old, whose salary escalates from $4.6 million this year to $5.1 million in 2027, was the defensive coordinator at Georgia the past three seasons.
The perks are many when it comes to big-dollar college football coaching deals. Lanning, for instance, “will be provided with a membership to the Eugene Country Club if such a membership is available (and if not available then an available membership with a country club of Coach's choice in the Eugene area).”
Lanning, also has an $800 monthly vehicle stipend should a courtesy vehicle not available for his use.
Not far behind Lanning, is Brent Pry, who spent 11 years on James Franklin’s staffs at Penn State (2014-2021) and Vanderbilt (2011-2013). The former defensive coordinator agreed to a six-year, $27.5 million deal to take over the top job at Virginia Tech. At 51 and the oldest first-time head coach at an FBS school in the latest cycle — 66-year-old UMass coach Don Brown previously was head coach of the Minutemen and Northeastern at the FCS level — Pry’s deal starts at $4 million the first two years and increases to $5 in the final two years. Among the perks are two new cars to be replaced every two years.
The other half of the Hoos ‘N’ Hokies rivalry will also have a new face on the sideline. Another former Clemson coordinator, Tony Elliott, accepted the job at Virginia and at a rate of six years and $25.95 million. The 42-year-old Elliott, who was the co-offensive coordinator with Jeff Scott through 2019 before running the Tigers’ offense on a solo basis when the latter left to take over at South Florida, was on Swinney’s staff for 11 years.
Ten football season ticket and eight basketball season tickets are part of Elliott’s compensation.
Texas Tech and Joey McGuire agreed to a six-year, $20.2 million pact that starts at $3 million this year with $100,000 tacked on each year. The 50-year-old Texan was coaching at the high school ranks as recently as 2016 before accepting his first collegiate assignment as Baylor’s tight ends coach in 2017. He spent the past five years on the Bears’ staff in various capacities, including associate head coach.
Washington State’s Jake Dickert had the interim tag removed at the conclusion of last season and received a five-year, $13.5 million deal that works out to $2.7 million per year. As the defensive coordinator under Nick Rolovich, who was dismissed in October, Dickert was earning $563.750, according to USA Today. The 38-year-old Dickert’s first job at the FBS level was coaching safeties under Craig Bohl at Wyoming in 2017. He became the Cowboys’ DC in 2019 before joining Rolovich in Pullman the following year.
Among first-year head coaches whose compensation packages average less than a million bucks per year is Sonny Cumbie’s at Louisiana Tech. The 40-year-old’s deal with the Bulldogs is five years and $4.85 million, which is a little more than he made as Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator last year. The former Red Raiders’ quarterback took a pay cut when he left TCU and returned to Lubbock last January upon agreeing to a three-year, $2.7 million deal to be the OC under Matt Wells. Cumbie was making north of $1 million per year running the Horned Frogs’ offense under Gary Patterson.
Louisiana’s Michael Desormeaux is being paid $3.875 million over five years, or a little less than $800,000 per year, to coach his alma mater. Potential bonuses include $10,000 for each win over a Power Five program. The former Ragin’ Cajuns quarterback, who was elevated to co-offensive coordinator (with Tim Leger) last year under Billy Napier, made his head coaching debut in the New Orleans Bowl (win over Marshall) after Napier departed for Gainesville. Two years ago Desormeaux, 38, was being paid $145,000 to coach Louisiana’s tight ends.
