Our football budget rivals many P4s. Coaching salaries are admittedly below average but if Mora gets it done the way Edsall did in his first go-round then he'll deserve to be paid as highly as other B12 coaches.
UConn's football budget is well below P4 budgets and below a number of G5 budgets.
I wrote this on the-boneyard 11 months ago:
In 2011, UConn paid Paul Pasqualoni $1.5 million per year and the assistant coaching pool ~$1.7 million. Fast forward to 2022 (latest USA Today data) and UConn is paying the head coach $1.5 million and the assistant coaches ~$1.8 million. So in 11 years, the football coaching salaries are flat and down in real terms after adjusting for inflation. Does that show a commitment to winning football?
Compare the above numbers with Cincinnati. In 2011, they paid the head coach ~$1.1 million with a $1.5 million assistant pool. In 2022, they were paying the head coach $5 million (before he left for Wisconsin) with an assistant pool of $3.3 million. Doesn't that show more commitment to football than UConn?
What schools look similar to UConn when it comes to spending money on football coaching salaries? Wyoming, UNLV, Utah St. What G5 schools are spending more? UTSA, Boise St., San Jose St., ECU, USF, San Diego St., Memphis. Are these the schools that we trying to be peers with in athletics?
I don't know how we do it, but we need to find a way to increase spending on football. We have to look at football spending as an investment with a potential return, not as an expense. I think we need to increase the total football salary pool by ~$2 million per year. Give Mora the money to get and keep top assistant coaches.