Alabama released its new list of salaries for its coaching staff on Monday, and the Crimson Tide's two coordinators have joined the $1 million club.
Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley will make $1.2 million in 2018 while defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi will bring in $1.1 million. Or, put another way, they'll earn $400,000 more than what Utah State will reportedly make to come to Tuscaloosa in 2022.
The contracts were approved, along with others on Alabama's staff, by the university's board of trustees. In all, Locksley is doubling his salary from last season when he was the team's co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. Lupoi is getting a raise of $150,000.
It's not uncommon anymore for coordinators at big-time programs to eclipse the $1-million mark. The last two years at Alabama alone have seen both coordinators eclipse the $1 million mark (Jeremy Pruitt and Brian Daboll in 2017 and Pruitt and Lane Kiffin in 2016). Plenty of coordinators are actually creeping towards the $2 million mark. What remains startling to think about is that Locksley was making five figures two years ago as an analyst for the Crimson Tide. Now he's the highest-paid assistant on the staff. (Conversely, former Tennessee Butch Jones is making $35,000 as an analyst for Alabama this year.)
It's also worth noting that while the total salary of Alabama's staff is mostly unchanged, this is basically a brand new group with a combination of new faces and more familiar ones taking on new/different roles. Only offensive line coach Brent Key carries his exact same title from last season.
First-year defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski is the next-highest paid assistant at $750,000. Co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Pete Golding, previously the DC at UT-San Antonio, will make $650,000.