Big Red Business: How Scott Frost's payday measures up

Scott Frost won’t coach his first game at Nebraska until next September, but he’s already filling up stat sheets.

The 42-year-old Wood River, Neb., native and starting quarterback on NU's last national championship team 20 years ago, on Saturday was officially named the Huskers' new head football coach. A news conference is set for Sunday.

“I am thrilled that Scott is returning to his alma mater to lead the Husker football program,” athletic director Bill Moos said in a statement. “I truly believe that we have hired the premier young coach in the country and that exciting times lie ahead.”

Frost agreed to a 7-year, $35 million contract, or $5 million a year in base pay. No other contract details were immediately available.

The annual salary - excluding incentive and performance clauses, benefits, and other sweeteners - immediately skyrockets him into the upper echelon in a number of ways, based on a financial review by HuskerOnline.

Forget for now national titles, conference championships, bowl games, undefeated seasons and rivalry wins - factors that play into how much head coaches are paid. Just look at the raw dollars.

For example:

***Frost becomes the third-highest paid head football coach in the Big Ten Conference. Only Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh ($7.004 million annually) and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer ($6.43 a year) currently earn more, according to USA Today's 2017 database of football coaching salaries.

To round out the conference picture, Frost will earn slightly more annually than Penn State’s James Franklin ($4.6 million), Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz ($4.55 million), Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio ($4.38 million), Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck ($3.5 million), Purdue’s Jeff Brohm ($3.33 million), Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald ($3.30 million), Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst ($3.2 million), and Illinois’ Lovie Smith ($3 million).

On the low end, Maryland’s D.J. Durkin earns $2.46 million; Rutgers’ Chris Ash makes $2.1 million annually; and Indiana’s Tom Allen is at the bottom, with $1.83 million a year in base salary.

One other conference comparison: Former Nebraska head coach Mike Riley was paid $2.9 million in 2017, which made him the 11th-highest paid coach in the Big Ten.

***At Central Florida, Frost was ranked No. 56 among the highest-paid college football coaches, based on ESPN’s database of 2017 salaries. Under his Nebraska contract, Frost nearly cracks the top 10, coming in at No. 11, as coaching salaries and hirings and firings stand now.

Incidentally, Harbaugh is now the fourth-highest paid college football coach, and Meyer is fifth. Alabama’s Nick Saban, at $11.132 million, sits atop the millionaires club, followed by Clemson's Dabo Swinney at $8.5 million, and Jimbo Fisher, hired by Texas A&M for $7.5 million a year over 10 years.

Franklin, Ferentz, and Dantonio also cracked the Top 20 based on salary.

***Frost now carries the distinction of being the highest-paid public employee in the state of Nebraska, supplanting Riley in that status circle. Keep in mind that it’s quite common for the head football coach to be the top-paid public employee at schools around the country.

But at Nebraska, who follows Frost?

Try men’s basketball coach Tim Miles, with a base salary of $2.25 million annually.

Next is Frosts’ and Miles’ boss, recently hired athletic director Bill Moos. He is being paid $1 million in the first year of his contract.

On the administrative side, Nebraska president Hank Bounds earns $510,400 a year, while chancellor Ronnie Green is paid $464,000, the university confirmed.

Then there’s the Nebraska governor’s job, which pays about $105,000 a year, paltry compared to Memorial Stadium standards.

*So many football guideposts at Nebraska are measured by Tom Osborne standards. Contracts are no different.

When Osborne retired as head coach 20 years ago after the Orange Bowl victory against Tennessee, he was earning about $1 million in base pay, according to the last contract he had signed.

Compare that pay - granted without adjusting for inflation - to Frost’s contract.

***Frost will bring an entourage of assistant coaches to Nebraska from Orlando, Fla., although no details have been released on who will follow him to Lincoln or whether any of Riley’s staff will be retained.

His nine assistant coaches had a total base payroll of $2.13 million, according to 2016 data from ESPN. Those were the latest numbers available from ESPN.

That payload is about $1.5 million less than Riley’s staff earned in 2017. Next year, schools can add a tenth assistant football coach.

However, as HuskerOnline’s Sean Callahan noted Friday in Tunnel Talk, for the Group of 5 level schools, the UCF staff is one of the higher paid

Frost’s highest paid assistant is defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, who draws $425,000, or about half as much as Bob Diaco earned this season calling defensive signals at Nebraska. Offensive coordinator and receivers coach Troy Walters is next at $350,000, followed by offensive line coach and former Nebraska player Greg Austin, at $275,000.

Running backs coach and former Cornhusker Ryan Held earned $140,000, according to ESPN data.

The remainder of Central Florida’s staff: Sean Beckton, $240,000; Jovan Dewitt, $230,000; Mario Verduzco, $200,000; Travis Fisher, $140,000; and Mike Dawson, $130,000.

Strength coach Zach Duval, who also has Nebraska ties, earned $165,000.

***When it comes to football coaching changes, the amount schools are willing to shell out only seems to go in one direction: Higher.

And so it goes this fall, with high-profile Power Five schools firing and hiring.

Fisher left Florida State for a 10-year, $75 million contract at Texas A&M. Chip Kelly signed a five-year, $23.3 million deal at UCLA. Dan Mullen agreed to six years and $36 million at Florida, and Jonathan Smith will be paid $1.9 million as the new head coach at Oregon State.

Here’s another piece that factors into skys-are-the-limit coaching salaries: Stability, or lack thereof.

As coaching change season remains fluid, base pay that schools are tossing around to the shiny new object seems to set new standards. A rising tide floats all boats. It’s just like your neighbor’s big home addition boosts the value of your property.

Nebraska had just two head football coaches for a span of 35 years - Bob Devaney and Osborne. Since 1997, instability has ruled - from head coach to assistants. Frost will be the Cornhuskers’ fifth head coach in 20 years.

“It is a great honor and privilege to have the opportunity to return to Nebraska and to lead the Husker football program,” Frost said Saturday in a prepared statement on his hiring.

“I have been fortunate to be at a wonderful school the last two years, but Nebraska is a special place with a storied tradition and a fan base which is second to none. I am truly humbled to be here. The state of Nebraska and the Husker program mean a great deal to me. This is home.”

Steve Rosen covers business of sports topics for HuskerOnline.com. Reach Steve at sbrosen1030@gmail.com.