KU assistant salaries

Mike Yoder

KU assistant football coaches under Turner Gill will combine to make $2,059,999.96 next season. Here is the breakdown:

For Kansas University assistant football coaches, the Turner Gill era is already proving fruitful.

Gill’s nine-member staff will make a combined $2,059,999.96 in base salary next season, according to information supplied by the university Thursday, a significant boost from the reported $1,766,500 in combined base salary for last year’s assistants — none of whom were retained following the December departure of former head coach Mark Mangino.

Offensive coordinator Chuck Long and defensive coordinator Carl Torbush each will make $350,000 annually, while four other coaches will be paid $200,000 or more per year, including offensive-line coach John Grimes ($250,000), wide-receivers coach Darrell Wyatt ($249,999.96), running-backs coach/recruiting coordinator Reggie Mitchell ($240,000) and defensive-line coach Buddy Wyatt ($200,000).

According to a 2009 USA Today study that analyzed salaries for FBS football coaches, former KU offensive coordinator Ed Warinner was the team’s highest-paid assistant last season with a base salary of $300,000, while defensive coordinator Clint Bowen’s $260,000 base salary was second-highest. Co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Bill Miller ($248,000) was the only other coach on staff to make more than $200,000 annually, according to the report.

Just three members of the current staff — cornerbacks coach Vic Shealy ($150,000), tight-ends coach/special-teams coordinator Aaron Stamn ($150,000) and safeties coach Robert Wimberly Jr. ($120,000) — are set to make less than $200,000 a year.

Gill, whose contract was finalized last month, is set to make $2 million annually over the next five years, with the possibility for performance-based bonuses.