Defensive Turnaround Puts Robb Smith In Demand

[Mike Irwin]

Fayetteville--Arkansas football defensive coordinator Robb Smith is one of six Brett Bielema assistant coaches to sign amended contracts for the 2015 school year. Smith was given a $250,000 raise for an annual salary of $750,000. However the $250,000 buyout Smith would have to pay if he took another job would not necessarily prevent him from taking a similar position in the NFL.

How confident is Bielema that Smith is locked up for the 2015 season?
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[Boarcephus]

"We took care of everyone one of our assistants that I expressed an interest to do so,"

Says it all right there.  We saw it with Ashe and now we're seeing it with Chaney.  Bielema is not afraid to make a change to help the team.  Got to like this.

[DeltaBoy]

Give him all the money he wants and what ever else he needs.

[hog_fan]

Segrest was actually recommended by Ash. Hired well before Smith was hired.

[navyhog24]

Segrest was actually recommended by Ash. Hired well before Smith was hired.

Actually, Coach B liked how Segrest's DL from Samford played when we first played Samford in Bielema's first season. He kept in touch once Coach Partridge got his head coaching gig.

[urkillnmesmalls]

When this whole thing started, BB was so excited to have an AD that was going to pay market value for assistants so he could keep them from leaving for lateral moves for more money.  I doubt anyone anticipated that Auburn was going to pay Muschamp $1.6M, or whatever ridiculous amount they paid for him.  It's easy to see what Kirby Smart makes and think, "Well...he's been there, he's proven himself, and he's an outlier from the norm."  But...it's starting to be commonplace to pay so much that at some point it starts to be like MLB, where there are teams that can't afford the payroll to compete.  If you're paying your two coordinators a combined $3M, that's a lot of resources.   

It's getting to the point that if you're going to hire coordinators that are getting paid that well, then what's the point in paying out the nose for a head coach who is just going to delegate?  Maybe we'll see schools hire coordinators for 1.5M, and then find a hungry and ambitious up and coming head coach who will delegate and pay him 2M.