Alvarez: Tackling the topic of assistant coach salaries
January 29, 2016 | Football
Pay for football staff has become 'convenient narrative' as coaches come and go
Wisconsin Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez writes a regular column for Varsity Magazine. This week's issue can be found here
BY BARRY ALVAREZ
UW Director of Athletics
MADISON, Wis. — I really like the hire Paul made. Justin Wilcox has been a defensive coordinator for a lot of good programs and had success. Paul did his due diligence, spoke to a number of people that he knew and respected and really made sure he found the right fit for our program. We have a lot of returning talent on that side of the ball and I'm confident we will have a good defense next year.
Much has been made about salaries for assistant coaches during this offseason. I am very aware of where we rank both in the Big Ten and nationally as far as salary is concerned. I can't speak for what other schools do, but I know my responsibility is to do what's best for Wisconsin and our student-athletes.
Having been in the profession for as long as I was, and now viewing it as an administrator, I know that there is always a lot of movement among football coaches each year. It has been going on for as long as I can remember. And different coaches change jobs for different reasons. No two situations are exactly the same. It's too simplistic to say someone moved from one job to another for one reason. Now, I'm not naïve to the fact that money is one of the factors that coaches consider when taking a job. But there are a number of things a coach considers when making the decision to move his family and we don't begrudge anyone for making a decision that they think is in their family's best interests.
However, the convenient narrative that has been forwarded about Wisconsin not paying its assistant coaches enough, and that causing us to lose quality coaches, simply is not true. We have had a lot of coaching turnover recently but it has not been caused by money. In fact, even if you look as far back as 2000, you would be hard-pressed to find an assistant coach other than Dave Aranda who left for a similar position at another school and for a significant raise. The large majority of changes have either been coaches moving up the coaching ladder (jumping from college to the NFL, position coaches becoming coordinators or coordinators becoming head coaches) or coaches who were not retained due to a change at our head coach position.
Wisconsin is not the only place that has lost assistant coaches. If you look around the country, there is constant movement within the profession. Among the Power Five conferences, more than half of the 64 schools had a change in either their offensive or defensive coordinator, or both, this year. In both the Big Ten and SEC this year, nine of the 14 schools will have at least one new coordinator. Everyone loses good coaches. The question is, how do you sustain success when that happens? We have a pretty good track record around here of being able to do just that.
This is a good place to be. I know that because I've been here for more than 25 years. But I also know that because of the number of calls I get from highly-respected people within the profession whenever we have an opening. People want to work here. And we've been able to hire good coaches. But much like recruiting student-athletes, we need to look for the best "fit" when hiring coaches. Just because someone is a "hot" name or a website ranks them as a five-star recruit, doesn't necessarily mean they will be successful here.
When talking to recruits, we talk about the entire package of Wisconsin Athletics and the University of Wisconsin. The same thing goes for coaches. We have a great program, one of the most consistent winners in the country. We've got the longest bowl streak in the Big Ten, 14 straight years. We're one of just 10 Power Five conference programs to win at least 70 games over the seven seasons. We've won more Big Ten titles than anyone other than Ohio State over the last 23 years. That type of sustained success is hard to find. We've got great kids here, kids that are fun to coach and want to learn. It's a world-class university. In addition, Madison is a great place to raise a family. All of that makes it a great place to work.
Because we've been successful, that has opened up opportunities for our assistant coaches. We've had a number of very good assistant coaches over the years that have been a part of our success. They get recognized for that. Two great examples are Paul and Joe Rudolph. We had some great offenses during Paul's last stint as the offensive coordinator. A lot of people came after him. Eventually he made the decision that the best move for him professionally and for his family was to make the jump to become the head coach at Pitt. Joe has Pennsylvania roots and Paul offered him the chance to become an offensive coordinator. Both guys will tell you they were complicated decisions, with many layers, even though some on the outside may think it was a no-brainer. We want to hire good coaches and when you do that, eventually they will move one.
I thought our coaches did a heck of a job this season. Getting to 10 wins is not easy, especially with the injuries and youth we had on both sides of the ball. That's the reason I've recommended increases for Paul and his staff, because I think they earned it. We have a good coaching staff, and we will continue to have good coaches because this is a great program and a great place to be.
