How much money do the Southern Miss football coaches make? A look at their salaries
Southern Miss athletic director Jeremy McClain made a commitment to increase the salary figures for whoever he hired as the next football coach and his assistants, and a look at the numbers shows that he delivered on his word.
New USM football coach Will Hall has a base salary of $800,000 — a $300,000 increase over his predecessor, Jay Hopson.
As for Hall’s staff, salaries for his 10 assistants and others who have jobs in an off-the-field capacity add up to $2.1 million, McClain said. Hopson’s staff received about $1.8 million in 2020.
There is no up-to-date database that compiles salaries for Conference USA or any of the other Group of 5 conferences, but McClain estimates that USM’s salary pool for assistants ranks in the top three in C-USA.
None of the contracts that the Sun Herald has obtained for Hall’s assistants are multi-year contracts. Each signed deal is set to expire on Feb. 28, 2022.
Hall will act as his own offensive coordinator, leaving him some room to spread that money around among the rest of the staff.
Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong, who served last season as the inside linebackers coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, has an annual base salary of $250,000. He is set to receive $311,508 over the duration of his contract. He will have some other perks that come with the job, including the use of one courtesy automobile.
USM has gradually increased the salary pool for the football program’s assistant coaches over the last couple of seasons. A year ago, Matt Kubik made a base salary of $300,000 as offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro’s base salary was $200,000.
In 2017, Pecoraro and cornerbacks coach Dan Disch were the highest paid members of the staff at $125,000 each.
Armstrong’s salary likely puts him in the middle of Conference USA’s defensive coordinators when it comes to contracts.
Recently hired North Texas defensive coordinator Phil Bennett will receive a base salary of $350,000 in a two-year deal, the Denton Record-Chronicle reports.
This past season at Middle Tennessee, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer earned a base salary of $330,000, based on a report from the Murfreesboro (Tennessee) Daily News Journal
At UTSA in 2020, former USM football player and assistant coach Tyrone Nix signed a deal that was scheduled to pay him $210,000 as defensive coordinator, according to a report from the San Antonio Express-News.
Salaries for Southern Miss football assistant coaches
▪ Austin Armstrong, defensive coordinator/inside linebackers — Base salary of $250,000 ($311,508 total).
▪ Lance Ancar, director of strength and conditioning — Base salary of $150,000*
▪ Tad Blaylock, director of football operations — Base salary of $110,000*
▪ Cayden Cochran, tight ends coach — Base salary of $75,000 ($91,488 total).
▪ Mark Criner, outside linebackers coach — Base salary of $120,000 ($149,524 total).
▪ Jeremy Darveau, offensive line coach/run game coordinator — Base salary of $210,000 ($227,500 total).
▪ Jordy Joseph, running backs coach — Base salary of $85,000 ($104,094 total).
▪ Brandon Lacy, defensive line coach — Base salary of $100,000 ($122,464 total).
▪ Desmond Lindsey, receivers coach/passing game coordinator — Base salary of $175,000 ($213,678 total).
▪ Greg Meyer, special teams coordinator — Base salary of $130,000 ($161,985 total).
▪ Dan O’Brien, safeties coach — Base salary of $120,000 (149,524 total).
▪ Chad Williams, cornerbacks coach — Base salary of $110,000 ($133,913 total).
*Salary is based on letter of intent offered to coach, contract has yet to be fully executed.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
