USF Assistants' Salaries Rank Among Lowest In BCS

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USF Assistants' Salaries Rank Among Lowest In BCS

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Published: Feb 9, 2006

TAMPA - The fact former University of South Florida co-defensive coordinator Rick Kravitz will receive more money to coach safeties at N.C. State is not a big surprise.

It's the sad reality of being an assistant at USF.

Of the Bulls' three major sports - football, and men's and women's basketball - USF's 15 assistants are among the lowest paid of the 65 Bowl Championship Series colleges.

How bad is it? A survey compared salaries of every assistant in the BCS, and each USF football assistant - Wally Burnham, Rod Smith, Carl Franks, Greg Frey, Rich Rachel, Earl Lane, Greg Gregory and Lawrence Dawsey - ranked at the bottom of the list against comparable assistants from other schools. USF's assistants are making about half as much as the BCS average, and they are perhaps the only Division I-A assistants who don't have school-issued cell phones.

The assistant salary pools are negotiated between USF AD Doug Woolard and each head coach, with the coach determining what each assistant makes (with Woolard's approval). The football coaches pool will increase $100,000 for each of the next seven years.

"That kind of increase will make a significant impact," said Woolard, who is the 12th-lowest paid BCS AD.

While the football assistants rank last in the BCS, Coach Jim Leavitt's $1 million salary ranks 33rd.

"Look where we've come," Leavitt said. "I'd say we're moving faster [in increasing salaries] than anyone. We're probably No. 1 in the country as far as that's concerned."

The basketball assistants also are at the bottom. Frank Burnell is the lowest-paid No. 1 men's basketball assistant in the BCS, while women's assistants Harry Elifson, Jeff Osterman and Amy Wright are the second-lowest. Men's basketball assistants Julius Allen and Greg Gary rank among the 15th lowest.

Robert McCullum is the third-lowest BCS men's basketball coach and Jose Fernandez is the fifth-lowest BCS women's basketball coach.

HURRICANE WARNING: In what will be the biggest home football game in USF history, the Miami Hurricanes visit USF at Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 26, 2009. It's the return trip as part of USF's home-and-home deal with UM.

And if Miami wants to cancel, it won't come cheap: There's a $500,000 buyout.

ODDS AND ENDS: As if the football team's final two road games at Louisville and West Virginia aren't difficult enough, both UL and WVU don't play the preceding Saturdays, and each will have an additional two days of preparation before playing USF. ... Winter Park OT Jacob Sims (6-foot-5, 255 pounds), who had several out-of-state Division I-A offers, will be a preferred walk-on at USF.

USF SHORTS

• The baseball and softball teams open their seasons Friday at home. The baseball team plays 20 of its first 25 games at home. The Bulls face Northwestern in their season-opening series, Friday through Sunday, and are holding their annual alumni weekend. Members of the 1986 and 1996 NCAA Tournament teams will be recognized. The softball team hosts the Best Western Invitational Friday through Sunday and plays 16 of its first 17 games at home.

• Men's basketball recruit Dante Curry, of Poinciana High, is among 100 finalists to be named McDonald's All-Americans. Curry was among 1,000 nominees. The squad will be announced later this month.

MONEY TALKS

A look at how the salaries for coaches of USF's three major sports and Athletic Director Doug Woolard compare among the 65 Bowl Championship Series universities:

Football (BCS rank) USF salary BCS Avg.

Jim Leavitt (33) $1 million $1.17 million

Assistants USF salary BCS Avg.

x-Rick Kravitz (65) $104,000 $209,266

Rod Smith (65) $86,000 $198,425

Wally Burnham (65) $98,000 $169,077

Carl Franks (65) $86,000 $149,917

Greg Frey (65) $70,000 $141,476

Rich Rachel (65) $65,000 $136,107

Earl Lane (65) $62,000 $130,720

Greg Gregory (65) $60,000 $124,310

Lawrence Dawsey (65) $59,000 $116,291

Men's basketball USF salary BCS Avg.

Robert McCullum (63) $284,385 $958,599

Assistants USF salary BCS Avg.

Frank Burnell (65) $95,950 $140,603

Julius Allen (58) $90,792 $119,092

Greg Gary (51) $84,601 $97,008

Women's basketball USF salary BCS Avg.

Jose Fernandez (61) $160,400 $332,370

Assistants USF salary BCS Avg.

Harry Elifson (64) $64,400 $104,974

Jeff Osterman (64) $47,000 $85,692

Amy Wright (64) $39,738 $75,059

Athletic director USF salary BCS Avg.

Doug Woolard (54) $282,772 $382,082

The 65 Bowl Championship Series (BCS) schools consist of teams from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC. BCS rankings in parentheses are compared with the 65 BCS schools and do not include Big East schools DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's and Villanova. BCS Avg. is the average salary for that position among the 65 BCS schools.

NOTE: Except for offensive and defensive coordinators in football, assistants are ranked and compared to other BCS assistants based on their ranking within their respective staffs and not according to the position they coach. Salary figures are from USF and a 2005 national athletic directors salary survey obtained by The Tampa Tribune. Salaries do not include incentive bonuses.

x-Kravitz accepted job at N.C. State on Monday

Compiled by Brett McMurphy

http://www.tbo.com/sports/bulls/MGB40TCHGJE.html

Well we are thrifty, so we got that going for us . . . . .

[Jewbull]

Thats $86,000 too much for Rod Smith, he should be paying us.

[smazza]

so?

when they start winning and/or putting an exciting brand of football on field where people want to pay to see them,the coaches will be rewarded just like every other  profession

when you produce you get rewarded

[smazza]

way too much talk about money

and not enough about football

or getting a qb

[Joe]

This kinda bothers me. Our head coach makes close to BCS average, yet our assistants make WELL below.

I never bought the Kravitz to NC State because of his wife deal, it had a lot more to do with money than anything. I'm almost positive.

[JGBASEBALL92-94]

A demotion for him, but he (a guess) doubled his salary ????????  

[Joe]

JG it really isn't that much of a demotion, the guy wants to be a head coach and he's been the DC forever here without a single mention of a head coaching opportunity.

I'm sure the exposure of the ACC will help, NC State had 8 of their games televised last year nationally.

Further he's getting paid a heck of a lot more.

[Triple B]

Finally some real valid numbers to look at ............ as our revenue goes up, those figures should improve, hopefully.

[exbull]

This goes to further my point about Jim being and I person and not really caring about the people he works with.  How is he ranked 33 yet every single on of his coaches is ranked dead last.  This is absolutely shameful and should not be accepted.  Don't tell me we don't have the money.  BS.  We have $1 million to pay him and every single coach on his staff bet paid less then half of the BCS average.  Pitiful and Shameful.  Teh more I read this crap the more respect I lose for Leavitt.  Fight for your coaches like they fight for you.

[twillybull]

I agree with Smazza, start winning and the money will start piling on.

On the flip side, this is also on us.  If we want our coaches paid more, we need to fill our stadium.  It's getting better, but if we consistently pulled 60K to our home games, this money issue would not be one.  

To ya'll saying you don't believe the Kravitz fiance to NC story, then kiss my keister.  You introduce me to one man that won't give up a job (he's still in his career field) for a great woman, and I'll call him qu**# to his face.