Keeping Coach Gran (merged)

#1
Houston Vol

Houston Vol

My 2nd son is a Longhorn
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Aug 29, 2009
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#1
We all know that Tennessee has the highest paid assistants in college football, right? Well, that is true if you look at the average, which is wildly inflated by the salaries of Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron. The USA Today salary data, out today, shows that Monte and Ed are #1 and #2 in the SEC, and deservedly so. But nobody else on the UT staff ranks in the top 20% in the SEC! Jim Cheney is #19/90 and Lance Thompson is #26/90. Probably okay given the escalators in their current contracts. But,

Eddie Gran #70/90
James Cregg #80/90
David Reaves #81/90
Frank Wilson #82/90
Willie Mack Garza #87/90

Tennessee = Highly Paid Assistants is a myth
Tennessee = Coaching Chimera is more truthful

Given his impact on recruiting, Eddie Gran needs a huge raise. I think Cregg, Reaves, Wilson and Garza signed up for the opportunity, but they still seem underpaid to me. Why are half of our coaches at the very bottom of the pay scale? Maybe this speaks to how attractive this opportunity was to some of these guys.
 
#2
#2
That is very interesting. I think you may be right in that they signed up for the opportunity more than the money. They realize, just as we do, that this is a program headed back to dominance!!! :rock:
 
#3
#3
I don't get into how much assistants get paid but I do know this. I don't care what anyone says Montario Hardesty was next to worthless before this year. YOu can say injury this and Fulmer that but this staff is not getting due credit on this one. In my opinion this turnaround is similar to that of Crompton. The man is doing a good job.
 
#4
#4
Also, you have to remember that coordinators get paid more than position coaches and position coaches with previous head coaching experience get paid more as well.

It all balances out. Every one of these coaches took a raise to be on UT's staff except for the Kiffin's.

The lower level guys are here way more for the experience and knowledge than the money. Bad part is that they will become must haves for other programs and will be hired away with more money.
 
#5
#5
SpringBokVol said:
The lower level guys are here way more for the experience and knowledge than the money. Bad part is that they will become must haves for other programs and will be hired away with more money.
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That's my point. We are making it way too easy for other programs to come in and raid our staff because they are poorly paid even by position coach standards. Be proactive and keep this staff together. Start with Eddie Gran.
 
#6
#6
If the coaches get an offer that's a parallel shift (not a promotion) and they want to stay at UT they'll give Kiffin/Hamilton the opportunity to match the new salary. Orgeron, and Monte Kiffin are all paid great and the other guys are competitive.

Also, is there a link to your numbers. the 90 number doesn't make any sense. There should be 108 assistant coaches in the SEC (9 times 12) unless I'm missing something.

It's also worth noting losing assistants is something UT isn't used to. The CPF coaching tree is pretty much just a twig with Cutcliffe's name written on it. If you have great assistants though you're going to lose them. The key thing will be to lose them to better opportunities. If Lance Thompson leaves to be a DC for a major college program then when CLK is hiring his replacement he can brag about that and get another good candidate.
 
#7
#7
Honestly how many people on this board thought we would be able to keep this staff more then 3 years? 3 years is going to be the max (we will get lucky if we can keep the staff together after next season) and we are going to see some changes but I have faith kiffin is going to replace them with highly other ranked assistants. Start worrying when the Kiffins leave in 5 years.
 
#8
#8
triadvolfan said:
Orgeron, and Monte Kiffin are all paid great and the other guys are competitive.
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No they aren't. Orgeron and Monte are well paid. Lane is (willingly) underpaid per the going rate for SEC head coaches. The rest of our position coaches are underpaid if you compare them to the rest of the SEC. This may also be by choice for the opportunity.
 
#9
#9
triadvolfan said:
Also, is there a link to your numbers. the 90 number doesn't make any sense. There should be 108 assistant coaches in the SEC (9 times 12) unless I'm missing something.

It's also worth noting losing assistants is something UT isn't used to. The CPF coaching tree is pretty much just a twig with Cutcliffe's name written on it. If you have great assistants though you're going to lose them. The key thing will be to lose them to better opportunities. If Lance Thompson leaves to be a DC for a major college program then when CLK is hiring his replacement he can brag about that and get another good candidate.
Click to expand...

I mistakenly left out Arkansas. Vanderbilt data is unavailable since thay are private. You can do the same analysis if you dig through the USA Today data. Including Arkansas:

Monte 1/99
Orgeron 2/99
Cheney 20/99
Thompson 27/99
Gran 78/99
Cregg 89/99
Reaves 90/99
Wilson 91/99
Garza 96/99
 
#10
#10
Houston Vol said:
That's my point. We are making it way too easy for other programs to come in and raid our staff because they are poorly paid even by position coach standards. Be proactive and keep this staff together. Start with Eddie Gran.
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I agree that Eddie Gran is a great recruiter. That being said, half of his job on the field is Special Teams. Our Special Teams this year have definitely been sub-par. If he brings the special teams up to play at the same level the Offense and Defense are playing at, I say give him a raise. Until then, no. Plus you have to remember that any bonus CLK receives goes to the assistants, so factor that in also.
 
#11
#11
EvanStalcup1990 said:
Honestly how many people on this board thought we would be able to keep this staff more then 3 years? 3 years is going to be the max (we will get lucky if we can keep the staff together after next season) and we are going to see some changes but I have faith kiffin is going to replace them with highly other ranked assistants. Start worrying when the Kiffins leave in 5 years.
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We need to ensure most of this staff stays together for at least 3 or 4 recruiting classes. The lower paid position coaches are working under two year contracts that they can break for a penalty of a half-year's salary. I imagine Lane could find qualified replacements for Cregg, Wilson and Garza. But, right now somebody can come in and grab Eddie Gran for $92,500. Alabama has paid less than that for just one recruit.
 
#12
#12
Rockytoprowdy said:
I agree that Eddie Gran is a great recruiter. That being said, half of his job on the field is Special Teams. Our Special Teams this year have definitely been sub-par. If he brings the special teams up to play at the same level the Offense and Defense are playing at, I say give him a raise. Until then, no. Plus you have to remember that any bonus CLK receives goes to the assistants, so factor that in also.
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Good special teams play is as much dependent on quality depth as it is coaching. With the addition of Palardy and some more athletes in the next 1-2 years, you will see a dramtic improvement in special teams.

btw, Auburn typically had pretty darn good special teams play.
 
#13
#13
Houston Vol said:
No they aren't. Orgeron and Monte are well paid. Lane is (willingly) underpaid per the going rate for SEC head coaches. The rest of our position coaches are underpaid if you compare them to the rest of the SEC. This may also be by choice for the opportunity.
Click to expand...

You're right, the bottom 5 guys aren't competitive when compared to other SEC coaches. Thompson and Chaney are in good shape though as they're essentially top quartile.

That said, if you look at their resumes I still think Gran is the only one that would fall into the 'underpaid' category.
 
#14
#14
Houston Vol said:
Good special teams play is as much dependent on quality depth as it is coaching. With the addition of Palardy and some more athletes in the next 1-2 years, you will see a dramtic improvement in special teams.

btw, Auburn typically had pretty darn good special teams play.
Click to expand...

I hope you're right about next year. He had never had a kick returned on him until this year. Even when we went to starters playing special teams, though, we haven't improved much. I'm still nervous every time we have to kick...that's kickoffs, punts, fieldgoals, etc. Palardy will help, but he will still have to teach players to stay in their lanes. It just seems that he has put more emphasis on coaching running backs than special teams, both of which are very important. Special teams play has won Alabama and Florida a lot of games.
 
#15
#15
Rockytoprowdy said:
I hope you're right about next year. He had never had a kick returned on him until this year. Even when we went to starters playing special teams, though, we haven't improved much. I'm still nervous every time we have to kick...that's kickoffs, punts, fieldgoals, etc. Palardy will help, but he will still have to teach players to stay in their lanes. It just seems that he has put more emphasis on coaching running backs than special teams, both of which are very important. Special teams play has won Alabama and Florida a lot of games.
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Nonsense...Gran's an excellent SP coach with a great track record. Our issues on SP teams this year are a function of some past habits, lots of new players on SP and lack of quality depth. Kiffin has said that the bottom of your recruiting class is critical to SP play and that you can't miss even on the 3* or lower 4* guys because many of those will be on your SP teams.

We're better than last year and have improved as the year as gone on. We're a Palaurdy and a few stud recruits away from being a top SP unit.
 
#18
#18
I think Cregg is the most underappreciated even if Gran is the most underpaid.

Gran will have a decision to make after this year, because new coaches will make a run at him.

Look at who Cregg was tasked with getting interested, we got visits from most of his CA targets who everyone was after. Even though Powell is not coming to UT, he had us in his top 5, same probably for Uko and Shirley but the man got it done in terms of letting us have the chance to get them.

Commitments
Name Pos Stars Ht Wt 40-yard Visit Video Hometown
Tyler Bray QB 6-6 187 5.45 9/4/2009 Kingburg, CA
Zach Fulton OL 6-4 306 Homewood, IL

Targets
Name Pos Stars Ht Wt 40-yard Visit Video Hometown
Victor Burnett LB 6-1 225 4.65 Culver City, CA
John Cullen OL 6-6 280 10/9/2009 Fullerton, CA
Jordon James RB 5-10 190 4.4 Corona, CA
J.J. O'Malley OL 6-0 285 Scottsdale, AZ
Ronald Powell DE 6-4 230 4.52 Moreno Valley, CA
Dietrich Riley DB 6-0 200 4.47 10/2/2009 La Canada, CA
Josh Shirley LB 6-2 225 4.53 Fontana, CA
Kenny Stills WR 6-2 175 4.4 9/11/2009 Carlsbad, CA
Randall Telfer TE 6-4 220 Ranco Cucamonga, CA
George Uko DT 6-4 280 5 10/9/2009 Chino, CA


Aside from recruiting, Cregg coaches the TE. They looked great this year and next year I think with a young OL we will see lots of two TE sets.
 
#20
#20
Houston Vol said:
We all know that Tennessee has the highest paid assistants in college football, right? Well, that is true if you look at the average, which is wildly inflated by the salaries of Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron. The USA Today salary data, out today, shows that Monte and Ed are #1 and #2 in the SEC, and deservedly so. But nobody else on the UT staff ranks in the top 20% in the SEC! Jim Cheney is #19/90 and Lance Thompson is #26/90. Probably okay given the escalators in their current contracts. But,

Eddie Gran #70/90
James Cregg #80/90
David Reaves #81/90
Frank Wilson #82/90
Willie Mack Garza #87/90

Tennessee = Highly Paid Assistants is a myth
Tennessee = Coaching Chimera is more truthful

Given his impact on recruiting, Eddie Gran needs a huge raise. I think Cregg, Reaves, Wilson and Garza signed up for the opportunity, but they still seem underpaid to me. Why are half of our coaches at the very bottom of the pay scale? Maybe this speaks to how attractive this opportunity was to some of these guys.
Click to expand...

I tried to warn you...
 
#21
#21
I would bet you guys that Cregg is the last coach on the Vols that is going to leave besides Lane Kiffin. Gran leaving is very surprising, considering he basicly recruited Kiffin in giving him the job. I don't think he'll leave, but he should get a raise.
 
#22
#22
Pay the man! Give him a raise, whatever to keep him here and continue to recruit florida.
 
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#23
#23
Cregg needs a quality-sized bump in the wallet. Bigtime.

Crompton rarely-if ever-had grass stains on his pants and for the most part, he had plenty of time to move around in the pocket (vs. the Greg Adkins/Cutcliffe/Ainge 2-step, make your reads, dump ball after 3 seconds method EA's senior year). Stocker's hands softened up, he became a playmaker vs. a pass-dropper and will most likely be drafted. Cregg turned tater salad into caviar and he didn't have the best of ingredients to work with, either.

Pay the man.
 
#24
#24
Houston Vol said:
That's my point. We are making it way too easy for other programs to come in and raid our staff because they are poorly paid even by position coach standards. Be proactive and keep this staff together. Start with Eddie Gran.
Click to expand...

Very prescient and I agree with your points.
 
#25
#25
Gran proved his worth to me as a coach in the first game of the season when Bryce Brown broke for a long run and ran out of bounds, When he walked over to the sidelines Gran was there screaming at him not to do that anymore and to lower his shoulders and punish people...Gran is a keeper if possible...It's just hard not to like the guy...His recruiting skills are some of the best around...Just look at what he has done for us already...Pay the man and keep him around...He's a real investment and just good for the school.
 
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