I hope I'm wrong, but I am starting to notice a trend with our DC's

[AlSwearengen]

Torbush- awful, set the bar very low for his replacement.
Diaz- came in with a good reputation and did a pretty good job. But, with torbush being so bad, did it make Diaz look better than he actually was? Hasn't been that good at texas seemingly.
Wilson- big mistake and sets Collins up to look like a genius, much like Diaz's situation when he came in.

I do realize that both Diaz and Collins had pretty good reputations when they came to us, so that is a consideration. At the same time, if Collins has a good defense this year, is his performance made out to be better than it actually is b/c of the shittiness of the previous DC? And do we lose him to a big school, in part because of what I have described? We need to slow down some of this turnover at that position.

[engie]

He's the lowest paid DC in the league by $145k(about $200k below league average)... It's safe to say that as soon as our defense looks good, he'll be fielding calls about other jobs because every BCS-level school can pay him more than that and thus have the perception they could steal him from us...

On Collins, I'd literally be in favor of aggressively discussing a big raise AS SOON AS the defense turns it around. A 40% raise and he's still the worst paid DC in the SEC by a few g's...

[War Machine Dawg]

He's the lowest paid DC in the league by $145k(about $200k below league average)... It's safe to say that as soon as our defense looks good, he'll be fielding calls about other jobs because every BCS-level school can pay him more than that and thus have the perception they could steal him from us...

On Collins, I'd literally be in favor of aggressively discussing a big raise AS SOON AS the defense turns it around. A 40% raise and he's still the worst paid DC in the SEC by a few g's...

This is the next thing we've GOT to work on if we want to continue progressing as a program. Our assistant salaries are pathetic. There's a reason we're stuck with guys like Les at OC and guys like Diaz bolt at the first chance. Until we're willing to ante up for quality assistants, we'll continue to be about what we are now.

[engie]

Yep. Need another $500k to divy up among the assistants, with most of it going to getting/keeping great coordinators and recruiters...

[jalakin]

I don't understand how with this being year 5 for Mullen, nothing has really been done to pay assistants better. This should have been corrected long ago especially with the increase in revenue due to being in the SEC.

[Dawgtini]

Looks like to me they have increased some. Also, they are using additional funds to pay for more coaches - Sleepy & Porkchop come to mind. I think if Collins makes a real splash, and we want to keep him from leaving, we can offer him a competitive salary. We offered the last guy (name escapes me) who went to FSU a nice package, but he was driven by more than $$$. Money is not the end all be all for everyone. Collins is now an SEC DC. If he is as good as we hope, he will move up the salary list, either here or somewhere else.

[engie]

That's my point -- I want to be proactive. Not reactive.

Once they put their name out there and interview elsewhere, they are good as gone. Not much different than a recruit visiting other schools at the last minute to me. Why not pay him as soon as logical -- and make it enough money that there are only 15 or so programs out there that could logically take him from us over money? That's EXACTLY what we've done with Mullen -- and we need to do the same with our best/brightest assistants...

[HereComesTheSpiral]

That's my point -- I want to be proactive. Not reactive.

Once they put their name out there and interview elsewhere, they are good as gone. Not much different than a recruit visiting other schools at the last minute to me. Why not pay him as soon as logical -- and make it enough money that there are only 15 or so programs out there that could logically take him from us over money? That's EXACTLY what we've done with Mullen -- and we need to do the same with our best/brightest assistants...

What about bonus incentives to go with a raise? Seems like incentive based pay along with a raise is the way to go to me. And I don't mean those horseshit milestones like you see in NFL contracts, make the milestones reasonable to start and build up from that point.

[Bothrops]

If our defense is vastly improved this year, we will have to provide a competitive increase for Collins. Good defensive coordinators are becoming increasingly rare these days. Until then, Collins has his work cut out for him.