UGA must pay for new coach

Fox’s replacement will likely get more than $3M annually.

There is every reason to believe that money should not be hinder Georgia in getting a quality basketball coach. The school and the athletic department have the money. Basketball salaries are not like football salaries. But it’s still not cheap. Mark Fox was earning $2.15 million per year, the third-lowest paid coach in the SEC this season among the 13 public universities. He was paid more than only Mississippi State’s Ben Howland ($2.1 million) and Ole Miss’ Andy Kennedy ($2.05 million). Vanderbilt’s Bryce Drew’s salary is unavailable because it’s a private school.

But the salary scale in the SEC was relatively tight. John Calipari was getting just less than $8 million per year, but otherwise every coach was earning between $2 to $3 million. Alabama’s Avery Johnson was the second-highest paid at $2.9 million.

Nationally, Calipari is the nation’s second-highest paid coach, after Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski. Johnson, as the second-highest paid SEC coach, comes in 15th nationally, while most SEC coaches ranked in the top 30. So once you get past the top 15 — mostly the traditional basketball powers — SEC schools were fairly competitive. Fox’s salary ranked 42nd nationally.

So what will Georgia have to pay to attract a top-name coach? It likely would have to go higher than what Alabama is paying Johnson.

Let’s say Georgia wanted to pry Gregg Marshall away from Wichita State. First off, plenty of high-major programs have tried and failed to get Marshall, and there’s a reason. He’s well-paid, at $3 million annually.

What about Chris Mack, the coach at Xavier? He’s “only” being paid $1.7 million annually. But with Xavier getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament Sunday, Mack will be in line for a raise. Mack may also be pursued by Louisville, so whoever tries to get him will have to open the wallet.

Schools like Wichita State, Xavier and other mid-majors can afford to pay their coaches more because they don’t have football programs. Other mid-major basketball programs do have football but play at a lower level and thus don’t have those costs. So it’s easier said than done for a school like Georgia to pry away a successful coach at a basketball mid-major.

What about the two names most often mentioned with the Georgia job? Thad Matta was earning more than $3 million when he was fired by Ohio State last year. But he was also due a buyout of $9 million. That could make him more willing to take a discount at his next job.

Tom Crean was earning $3.1 million when he was let go by Indiana last year. He’s also getting a hefty buyout, $4 million over three years.

Fox, meanwhile, is owed a buyout of $1.2 million. Georgia also will be paying a search firm an undetermined amount — usually around $75,000 — and will have other associated costs with a coaching change.