ATHENS – Kirby Smart is not the only athletics department employee to benefit from Georgia’s success last season. In total, 39 new hires and at least a dozen raises were executed since May by the UGA Athletic Association.
Second-year athletic director Josh Brooks was among the recipients. Brooks will make $780,000 in 2022-23, an increase of $55,000 over last year, according UGA’s response to a records request from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Brooks’ starting salary was $700,000 when he succeeded Greg McGarity as AD in January 2021. His contract calls for automatic annual increases of $25,000 until it expires June 30, 2025.
President Jere Morehead received approval from UGA’s athletic board at its spring meeting to give Brooks a boost in compensation.
“What our athletic board wants to signal is that for being the youngest AD in the Power 5, Josh has gotten off to a sensational start, and we know that he’s got a bright and long future as athletic director at the University of Georgia,” Morehead said at the time. “I think he’s doing a superb job in all respects.”
Georgia winning its first national championship in football in 41 years certainly helps. Several of UGA’s hires were made specifically for football, including four “player connection coordinators,” two performance chefs and four athletic trainers.
The latest figures do not include the offseason hiring of four assistant football coaches or raises for six others, which all occurred before March. However, it does include Smart’s new contract.
The Bulldogs’ seventh-year coach garnered national headlines last week when UGA announced an extension and salary increase that made him the highest-paid coach in collegiate athletics. The 10-year deal that increased his annual compensation by more than $3 million this year will pay Smart $112.5 million through 2031.
All six of Smart’s returning on-field assistants also received significant offseason raises. The hiring of four new coaches actually resulted in an overall decrease of the salary pool from $7.9 million in 2021 to $7.6 million in the coming year.
As for sports other than football, UGA actually is in a bit of a down cycle. Brooks has overseen six coaching changes during his 19-month tenure as AD, including firings in men’s basketball and women’s soccer. Meanwhile, some sports in which Georgia traditionally has been dominant are no longer competing at the highest level.
The Bulldogs finished 19th in the 2021-22 Learfield Directors Cup standings and UGA remains among just nine other schools to finish within the top 30 every year since standings were first kept in 1994. However, that ranked sixth among SEC teams (behind Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and LSU) and is below Georgia’s standard. From 1998-2008, the Bulldogs finished in the top 10 seven times, with a high of No. 2 (1999) and a low of 15th (2003). Georgia finished 10th last year, but that was just the third top 10 since 2009.
GEORGIA FOOTBALL COACHES
Kirby Smart, head coach $10,250,000
Todd Monken, offensive coordinator/quarterbacks 1,250,000
Will Muschamp, co-defensive coordinator/safeties 800,000
Glenn Schumann, co-defensive coordinator/ILBs 800,000
Dell McGee, run game coordinator/running backs 800,000
Tray Scott, defensive line 750,000
Fran Brown, defensive backs 750,000
Bryan McClendon, pass game coordinator/WRs 700,000
Todd Hartley, tight ends/special teams 650,000
Stacy Searels, offensive line 650,000
Chidera Uzo-Diribe, outside linebackers 450,000
TOTAL $17,850,000
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