Clemson assistants to make $4.42 million
By: rmacrae@bellsouth.net July 1, 2014

By Staff Report.

Venables to make $875,000 through January 2017

Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables will make $75,000 more dollars this coming football season according to the Associated Press on Tuesday. Defensive ends coach Marion Hobby, the co-defensive coordinator, also received a raise as his salary was bumped up $25,000 to $400,000 this coming year.

In all, Clemson will pay its football assistants $4.42 million next season and have contracts that will lock up seven of head coach Dabo Swinney’s coaches for the next two years. Those seven assistants were given deals that expire on January 31, 2016, while Venables’ contract is through January 2017.

Offensive coordinator Chad Morris was the only assistant who did not have his deal redone, but he remains Clemson’s highest-paid assistant at $1.3 million a season. Morris’ contract has four seasons remaining, but he is free to leave for a head coaching position without financial penalty.

Should he leave for another coordinator’s job, he would have to repay 25 percent of the remaining compensation on the deal — which right now is $1.3 million. Morris is now the second-highest paid assistant coach in the game after Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart received a raise that pushed his salary to $1.385 million.

The assistants all received similar opportunities for bonuses based on Clemson’s season, ranging from $10,000 apiece should the Tigers qualify for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game to $85,000 each if the team wins the new College Football Playoff title.

Venables will make $875,000 in salary and compensation this coming season, a raise from the $800,000 he’d earned his first two years at Clemson since coming over from Oklahoma in 2012. Hobby is the third highest paid coach.

According to the AP, defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks, offensive line coach Robbie Caldwell and tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Danny Pearman will each make $340,000 next fall. Defensive backs coach Mike Reed will make $285,000, receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Jeff Scott will earn $275,000 and running backs coach Tony Elliott will make $265,000.