Clemson Now Has Three Assistant Coaches Making Over $1 Million A Year

ESPN is reporting that the Clemson University board of trustees approved a pair of $150,000 pay raises today for Tony Elliott and Jeff Scott, who are the co-offensive coordinators of Clemson’s football team. They will each now make $1 million annually.

Scott and Elliot join defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who makes $2.2 million a year, in Clemson’s club of millionaire assistant coaches. The trio is still a fair distance away from head coach Dabo Swinney, though, who is expected to have his annual salary raised to $6 million later this year.

According to USA Today, there were 21 assistant football coaches who made at least $1 million in 2018; Ohio State is the only other school besides Clemson to have three assistants on staff who have eclipsed the $1 million mark.

Clemson is 56-4 in the four seasons that Elliott and Scott have shared offensive coordinator duties, which is certainly a performance worthy of a raise. But the fact that the job was made into such a well-paying two-man gig in the first place is just more evidence that big college programs are running out of places to hide their money from the players who deserve a cut. First there were big salaries for head coaches, then there were hundred million dollar practice facilities, and now there are millionaire assistants teaming up to do the job of one coach. By 2024 we’ll all be reading about Alabama’s four-man team of water cooler technicians, each of whom make $400,000 a year.