Georgia's Jeremy Pruitt is one of the highest paid defensive coordinators in the country.
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Georgia’s Jeremy Pruitt is one of the highest paid defensive coordinators in the country.

We all know by now that Will Muschamp is earning $1.6 million a year to fix and formulate Auburn's defense, making him the nation's top paid defensive coordinator.

He has plenty of company in the SEC.

Alabama’s Kirby Smart and Texas A&M’s John Chavis, formerly of LSU, are tied for second at $1.5 million each.

Five of the top 10, ac

cording to CoachingSearch.com, are in the SEC and nine of the top 16 — including South Carolina's two co-defensive coordinators — are in the top 16.

The list doesn’t include salaries from private schools, which don’t have to release that information, and Penn State, which also didn’t release salary data for defensive coordinator Bob Shoop, who reportedly makes $1 million a year.

Georgia’s Jeremy Pruitt, who received a $450,000 raise in January, is at $1.3 million, followed by LSU’s Kevin Steele, at $1 million.

Arkansas’ Robb Smith, Ole Miss’ Dave Wommack and South Carolina’s Jon Hoke and Lorenzo Ward all make $750,000 a year.

The website did the math and found that the average defensive coordinator salary in the SEC is $887,500, compared to $462,299 in the Big Ten, not including Shoop.

The other two salaries in the top five belong to former Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who is now at Louisville, at $1.4 million, and Clemson’s Brent Venables at $1.35 million.

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Georgia Southern Eagle Nation Fund donors were treated to an intimate acoustic concert, In the Round, on Nov. 14, 2025 at the Nessmith-Lane Conference Center. (AJ Henderson/Georgia Southern Athletics)

Credit: AJ Henderson / Georgia Southern

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