If Dave Wannstedt is actually named head coach (hey, he could change his mind again) tomorrow, he immediately succeeds in one area. Forcing Pitt to start paying like it is actually serious about being a real player in contending for a national championship. And I’m not just talking about the head coaching salary.
One of the other sticking points last week according to a source was that the university was reluctant to meet Wannstedt’s demands for salaries for his assistant coaches. He reportedly had asked for no assistant to be paid less than $100,000, and he wanted between $250,000-$300,000 for his coordinators.
The majority of the current staff makes less than $100,000 — with a low of about $65,000 — with the exception of defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, who got a significant raise following the 2002 season because he nearly took a similar job at Auburn. He makes approximately $250,000 a year.
Over the years, retaining staff has been an issue because the university has not paid the assistant coaches the equivalent of many other Bowl Championship Series conference schools.
University officials, however, reportedly upped the ante in order to remain competitive within the Big East. Louisville signed its head coach, Bobby Petrino, to a $1 million-per-year contract this week and Memphis coach Tommy West just got an extension worth $800,000 a year. Wannstedt reportedly had asked for about $800,000 per year, which is a slight increase from Harris’s package, which is about $650,000.
Wow. I knew Pitt assistants were underpaid but that’s ridiculous. Even the fiercest Walt Harris hater has to admit that Pitt was getting more than what it paid for with respect to how the team managed to recruit and coach.
It’s been the dirty story, that comes up on the Pitt message boards and the beat writers have alluded to it, but I’ve never actually seen the numbers until now. That’s pathetic. No wonder Harris wore all the hats on offense. Who could he afford to hire who could actually implement and run the offense he likes?
Hail to Pitt signing Wanny!
