On Friday, Virginia Tech football released salary information for Brent Pry’s assistant coaches.
Outlined in Pry’s contract, which was handed out to the media on Dec. 2 at his introductory press conference, the budget for ten full-time assistant coaches was $5.5M. The total compensation for Pry’s assistants in 2022 is $5,225,000, which means the Hokies have $275K left over.
Below is a graphic with the complete breakdown of the salaries for the assistants.
Tyler Bowen, Tech’s offensive coordinator, headlines the group at $850,000. Chris Marve, the defensive coordinator, will make $825,000, a bump from $500K he made at Florida State in 2021.
The total salary for the offensive assistant coaches is $2,825,000, with offensive line coach and running game coordinator Joe Rudolph making $725,000, the next highest after Bowen and Marve. It’s a $50K increase from what he made at Wisconsin this past season.
Stu Holt will earn $500,000, up from the $390,000 he made at Louisville last year. Holt, Bowen, Marve and Rudolph are the four coaches that are on three-year terms. The contracts for the rest of the staff are each two years.
Quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Brad Glenn is set to make $475,000. It’s almost an 83% increase for Glenn, who made $260,000 at Georgia State. Fontel Mines, the wide receiver coach and offensive recruiting coordinator, will make $275,000. That’s up $170K from the $105,000 he made on Ricky Rahne’s staff at Old Dominion in 2021.
Defensively, Derek Jones has the second-highest salary behind Marve at $550,000. It’s not a large increase for the cornerbacks coach and defensive recruiting coordinator, who made $500,000 at Texas Tech.
Associate head coach and defensive line coach J.C. Price is set to make $475,000. Price, who was the interim head coach for the last four games after the school parted ways with Justin Fuente, made $275,000 last season.
Shawn Quinn, who will coach outside linebackers and nickelbacks, will earn $275,000. As the head coach at Savannah State, Quinn made just $90,000, so it’s a significant increase – 205%, to be exact.
Safeties coach Pierson Prioleau has a salary of $275,000 as well, which rounds out the staff. Prioleau was the program’s director of player development for the defense and made $85,000 previously.
The total salary for the defensive coaching staff is $2,400,000.
Support Staff
Virginia Tech also released compensation details for Brent Pry’s support staff. Indicated in Pry’s contract, the support staff budget is $2,250,000.
Dwight Galt IV, the director of strength & condition for football, ventured to the Hokies from ODU and will earn $325,000. Michael Hazel, who comes from Penn State, is the program’s new chief of staff and has a salary of $200,000.
Both of those support staffers are on two-year letters of appointment, while Mike Villagrana, the senior director of player personnel, has a one-year deal. Villagrana, the former general manager of Marshall football, is set to make $170,000.
Salaries for Xavier Adibi and Brian Crist, who were hired as analysts over the last week, were not yet available.
How do the salaries compare to the old staff?
In 2021, the total assistant salary pool for Justin Fuente’s staff was $3.52M. Pry’s budget of $5.5M is a 48% increase.
Here is a graphic that shows how the compensation for Pry’s staff compares to that of Fuente’s group in 2021.
The difference that stands out the most is the number of assistants under Pry that will make at least $500,000 (five). The only coach that hit that mark this past season was former defensive coordinator and safeties coach Justin Hamilton, who earned $600,000.
The two largest difference come at offensive line. Former offensive line coach Vance Vice made just $300,000, while Rudolph is set to make $725,000. That’s a salary bump of 242% at that position.
At cornerback, Jones will make $550,000, which is a 200% jump from what Ryan Smith earned in 2021 ($275,000).
Bowen will make close to double what former offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen did – $850,000 vs. $490,000. Cornelsen was also the quarterbacks coach, and the difference between his salary and that of Glenn ($475,000), the new QBs coach, is marginal – just $15,000.
Another disparity is the two coaches with the least amount of Division I experience. Jack Tyler, the former linebackers coach, made just $150,000, while Pierson Prioleau is set to earn $275,000.
At head coach, Brent Pry is set to make $4,000,000 in total compensation in 2022. The full details of his contract can be found here. Justin Fuente earned $4,250,000 in 2021, which made him the third-highest paid head coach in the ACC.
For all stories relating to Pry’s coaching hires, click here.
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With this kind of salary layout, shouldn’t we expect better results in the first year itself?
It’s good to see the upward movement in salaries, which definitely sets the tone that the athletic administration and President is supporting and expecting excellent effort and results in football. It also speaks well for VT in the ACC, as a top tier program. Now, let’s get the job done on the field, and the salaries will go up.
The objective was to have the 2nd highest paid staff in the ACC behind Clemmons. Maybe we achieved. Miami may have bumped VT to 3rd.
No need to argue amongst our selves. Will more $ = wins ? Time will tell. Will be interesting to see where we stand in 3-4 years.
Chris, curious why you listed years of D-1 experience? I would think FBS experience would be much more relevant.
Anyone believe the boost in salary will make these guys better coaches? Do these salaries get negotiated? Did VT really need an extra $400,000 to keep JC Price in Blacksburg for the next 2 years? Is a cost of living index ever considered in these deals?
A salary boost won’t make anyone a better coach, but paying salaries that are competitive in the marketplace makes it more likely that VT can both attract and retain the kind of talent it needs to be competitive on the football field. The same principle applies in most aspects of the business world.
I would think that if they are worth hiring for that position, then they would be worth that amount. Regardless of what they were making previously.
Exactly!
I would be interested in seeing how the cost of living in Blacksburg compares to where they are coming from. I have heard the school system, in Blacksburg on good.
I agree 100%. I thought the purpose of the increased salary budget was to go get top notched staff. We got top notched in the forms of Jones and Rudolph, and their pay barely went up. Meanwhile, the less proven, less coveted coaches were paid tons more, and could have probably been gotten for much much less. I get OC and DC need to get paid, and I guess I am ok there…but the increases for the rest are us just saying we are paying more and not paying to get elite coaches imo.
think about your own job searches. If Company A offers you a promotion but a compensation package that, while higher than your current deal, is below market for your skillset and reputation, how long are you staying with Company A before jumping to Company B or C who are willing to offer you market value?
Exactly.
Vance was best value we’ve had at coach in long time, his ability to find diamonds in the rough and coach them into solid to exceptional OL should be appreciated.
If Fuente had the money Pry has we would have still had the same coaches but with higher pay and gotten the same results……
That is total bull crap. Because we wouldn’t have had the same coaches. Ridiculous statement born out of hate and lack of the truth. Hate or love Fuente he didn’t get the support as promised.
Ding ding. You are correct. To assume he wouldn’t have attracted more top notched talent is stupid and it doesn’t even consider that we would have retained winners like Wiggins and Tapp and probably brought in some higher quality guys. The DC position cane open and Fuente got stuck with the cheap option instead of us willing to pay for a star. Imagine we take Corny at his ridiculous low rate and use the same allottment of 1.7 mil for Marve and Bowen combined to hire a DC + Corny at OC. That would have gotten us a DC making about 1.3 mil a yr..pretty good chance we bring in a big name that could have recruited.
CC said it well, Corn is probably the best OC for that salary.. Let’s see what Coach Pry can do with much better support. I am pretty sure we can offer lower salary and still get some of these coaches, but paying them higher salary when resource is there is smart, that’s part of building relationships and being a good boss.
Pay them what they’re worth and then you don’t lose them next year. And if they are not worth that amount, then we shouldn’t be hiring them. Have to trust coach pry that these are good hires. If he’s wrong it’s on him.
If he thought the resources were not there he should have taken the Baylor job
I have no hate for Fuente. Results speak for themselves. He brought his team in. Scott diddled with the females, Wiggins went to a Blue Blood – the rest did not get the job done. Fuente brought them in – they had 3 losing seasons in the last four years. Why piss away good money after bad results. Our ‘opinions’ differ here and I respect what you say. We will never know who is right. Time to move on….
Glad to see the upward move in salaries.
yes…and I expect to see it pay off over the next 3 years, the term of the coaches making $500K and up (except one).
Pry really was smart to wait for a job like this. He is not replacing the Legend and it’s all upside from the last few years.