Football

Comparing salaries: How does Levine stack up with other AAC head coaches

With head coach Tony Levine in contract talks with the University, some, including The Daily Cougar sports editor Christopher Shelton, have questioned the necessity of giving him a raise — Levine is the highest paid UH employee already.

However, compared to his peers, Levine’s salary could be viewed as a relative bargain. The Daily Cougar took a look at salaries of other football coaches in the American Athletic Conference.

 

Louisville:

Head coach: Charlie Strong*

Salary: $3,738,500

Staff pay: $2,703,900

 

Cincinnati:

Head coach: Tommy Tubberville

Salary: $3,143,000

Staff pay: $1,920,000

 

SMU:

Head coach: June Jones

Salary: $1,920,000

Staff pay: N/A

 

South Florida:

Head coach: Willie Taggart

Salary: $1,807,745

Staff pay: $1,615,000

 

Connecticut:

Head coach: Paul Pasqualoni

Salary: $1,700,000

Staff pay: $1,725,000

 

Central Florida:

Head coach: George O’Leary

Salary: $1,534,728

Staff pay: $1,632,514

 

Memphis:

Head coach: Justin Fuente

Salary: $956,779

Staff pay: $1,987,117

 

Houston:

Head coach: Tony Levine

Salary: $902,100

Staff pay: $1,711,680

 

Rutgers:

Head coach: Kyle Flood

Salary: $860,000

Staff pay: $1,805,900

 

Temple:

Head coach: Matt Rhule

Salary: NA

Staff pay: NA

 

*Charlie Strong left Louisville to become the head coach at the University of Texas.

All contract specifics were compiled from USA Today’s coaching salary database. You can compare Levine’s salary nationally here.

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4 Comments

  • They are all overpaid. All this for some guys who lead a group of football players that read at a 5th grade level in a game of simulated combat? The priorities of the universities are totally wrong. Most of the universities lose money on college sports. Football and Basketball are placed at a higher priority than spending money in Medicine, Pharmacy, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. Football, Basketball and other similar sports are the “bread and circus” that keeps the zombies ignorant of the important events occurring in the world. Events that affect them to a much greater degree than who won the “Super Bowl”/toilet bowl.

    I wish the Daily Cougar would perform an investigative report into how detrimental college sports affect University Education, and how the priorities of sports affect our society. This article is a cheap attempt to make the overpaid salaries of very unimportant jobs seem as if they are a bargain because of how overpaid others with unimportant jobs make. Lets compare the salaries of the “best” professors of surgery to the “best” college football coaches. Then we can talk about which salary is a “bargain”. Our society is upside-down in priorities. The elites that manipulate the masses are benefiting from it.

    Athletics cost colleges, students millions
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/15/athletics-cost-colleges-students-millions/2814455/

    Myth- College Sports are a Cash Cow
    http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Are-a-Cash-Cow2.aspx

    The great lie of college sports
    http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/watchdog/?p=2249

    CNN analysis: Some college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders

    As a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro, Willingham researched the
    reading levels of 183 UNC-Chapel Hill athletes who played football or
    basketball from 2004 to 2012. She found that 60% read between fourth-
    and eighth-grade levels. Between 8% and 10% read below a third-grade
    level.
    http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-scores/

  • Football Zombie ur a hater! I’ve known Tony Levine personally for over 30 years and he deserves every penny he earns! He’s been a hard worker with NOTHING HANDED TO HIM since we were in Kindergarten! I’m aware that we all are entitled to our own opinion s, but…know the person’s character in which you speak of…try that next time ok?

  • It’s a sad day for this dedicated intelligent man and for the UH football program. I can’t help but feel that management was so shortsighted in not allocating more money for better assistants. Sumlin surrounded himself with assistants that have already gone on to do better. QB’S need development. When Meacham was there he guided Freshman QB to Freshman All American. His play call was brilliant. You could see in the BB&T Bowl game the same rhythm was not there due to his departure. 8-4 season with Meachem as OC and Gibbs as DC. Thank goodness Gibbs did not leave. He developed the the Coogs D into the top 10 in the nation for scoring. These coaches were only paid $200 K . The school puts in a $125 million facility with a not very good supporting cast except for Gibbs. Please! They have only themselves to blame. You get what you pay for.

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