4* OG/OT Andrew Raym

So has there been a run of CBs or just one guy?

Pittman is so good - he makes huge money now for assistant but worried some other SEC school will get tired of getting beat and ante up and pay the Pitt Boss stupid money for him at some point.

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So has there been a run of CBs or just one guy?

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TS doesn't just throw them out there. There's a lot of guys he feels leans strongly to UGA at this point, but no forecast for them yet.

Generally, if he throws one out there a commitment comes shortly after.

This one would cause some serious hand-wringing in Norman, but I’m still in wait-and-see mode.

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Pittman isn’t going anywhere else except retirement. UGA is paying him incredibly well, his wife is happy in Athens, and I believe he has indicated that this will be his last stop as he and his wife are too old to do another move

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Answered more or less same question from same poster on another board, so might as well throw it in here as well... but you're spot on Durds..

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Sam Pittman is so good that it frightens me. I keep thinking another SEC school is gonna offer him $3mm/yr.

Can't see a scenario where another school is willing to pay a *pure* OL coach 3M/year without also paying their OC 3M+, which likely means paying your HC another 4-6M in short order... That's getting pretty pricey for 3 coaches before you have a DC or the rest of your staff. I could see someone offering just shy of 2M at most, with a director of recruiting/associate head coach title or something... but I think we'd find a way to match or get close enough to keep him. Keep in mind he's already the highest paid OL coach at 900k/year and has the associate head coach title, which is only 50k/year less than James Coley at OC.

Georgia was only the third program to have their total Assistant coaches salary pool exceed 6M in the last year or so IIRC. To get Sam Pittman at 2-3M, you're nearly topping that number with OC and OL coach alone... With ticket revenues on the decline, I think we might actually see salary compression on teams that aren't constantly in the hunt?

...and Pittman has said before he doesn't have any desire to be an OC if I recall correctly. I think we'll do whatever it takes within reason to keep him but I also don't think he's purely driven by money... and he has said before that he'd like to make Athens his last coaching stop for whatever that's worth. I think his wife, Jamie, also really likes it in Athens.

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And as to Smallwood's CB... +1 to the reply that he doesn't just throw stuff against the wall.. he's 88-90% and most of his misses have either been flips or picks for guys that he thought were going to go to other schools... He's been pretty damn accurate over the last 2-3 cycles for UGA. I'll still wait and see all the way to the ink drying here, but it's certainly a good sign.

Smallwood has been the most accurate UGA prognosticator during the Kirby regime.

Haha ok some retarded school paid 75 million guaranteed. Somebody can always pay more.

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Haha ok some retarded school paid 75 million guaranteed. Somebody can always pay more.

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See the math above regarding position coaches... If you want to discuss HC salaries, I still think you're barking up the wrong tree...

I'd argue that Gus contract <<<<<<< Jimbo's contract at aTm... and I'm not sure there's much of a case to be made otherwise.

aTm may have made some bungles with their Sumlin contract and the lack of any buyout were Jimbo to leave of his own volition is odd... but the 7.5M/season for a coach who has won a NC isn't really that far out of the norm...

Meanwhile, Gus was teetering on the edge of getting fired, had a few games go right with a good home slate and landed himself 75% guaranteed pay, which might actually be worse for the school... as it's just enough window of "maybe" to continue the conversation that they might look elsewhere, even though it would be prohibitively expensive. At least with Jimbo's contract, he isn't looking over his shoulder any time soon as to whether they might want him gone.

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CBP is right - someone CAN always pay more. Obviously UGA would likely have option to match.

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Can and reasonable to expect anyone would are two different things. My math shows you why 3M for an OL coach is simply implausible... it would be more than 3x the current highest OL/Associate HC salary - which is US.

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We just saw UT/Pruitt pay our Fat OC Chaney $1.5mm per

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We also had every opportunity to match that. We elected not to. We didn't lose Chaney because we weren't willing to pay $1.5M for an OC... we lost him because we weren't willing to pay $1.5M for HIM specifically. Only time will tell whether that was a mistake, but given Kirby's frequent frustration with some of the playcalls at critical moments that he seemingly disagreed with due to his reaction on the field before the plays even completed.

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Definitely more than UGA paying right now

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It's the same amount we were paying Mel Tucker previously, so clearly we weren't unwilling to spend the amount on a coordinator, rather we weren't willing to spend it on THAT coordinator.

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but if you don’t think others like UTenn, Texas, ATM, LSU, OSU, etc. won’t at least make the call some off-seasons - they will - and the dollar amounts will keep going up.

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Who said they won't? I just said that between his lack of desire to become an OC, his stated desire to not leave Athens (or piss of his wife with another move in general), and our ability to match nearly anything anyone would be willing to offer within reason... we're not in significant danger with him.

I'd be much more concerned about guys like:
Dell McGee - Auburn grad who could get called on as OC there due to recruiting prowess if they made a move on Gus.
Glen Schumann - Got the co-DC role at UGA, but significantly less pay than Lanning, and largely applauded as one of the key strategists in that defensive staff room as far back as his time as a GA in Tuscaloosa.

Not saying it’s not going to happen, but the OU coaches still feel pretty sold he’s coming to OU. The best offensive line coach is at OU and Raym know this year after watching the draft that all four OU offensive linemen who were draft eligible got drafted. Creed Humphrey will go in the first round this year if he wanted to come out as a sophomore. Now if he’s scared of competition or wants to play right away, I am sure the UGA coaches are saying he could do all of that.

a@m fans thought they got dontae manning a few weeks ago after a visit as well. Recruiting season is long either way.