Okay, so, today I wanted to dive into something that’s been on my mind lately: the salary of the Appalachian State football coach. I’ve been following App State football for a while now, and with all the talk about Coach Shawn Clark’s contract extension, I got curious about the numbers. So, I did what any normal person would do – I went down a bit of an internet rabbit hole to find out more.
First things first, I wanted to get a handle on what Clark was making before this new contract extension. Turns out, back in 2020, he was pulling in around $750,000. Fast forward to 2021, and that number bumped up a bit to $775,000. Not too shabby, right? I mean, that’s some good money for coaching college football.
Then, I stumbled upon some info about his original contract from 2019. Initially, it was supposed to run through the end of 2024. I also noticed a mention that once this new extension kicked in at the start of this year, his base salary was set at $425,000. I guess when he was first hired, he got a big raise to be the head coach.
With the extension, everyone’s been saying Coach Clark is locked in through 2026. So, I did some quick math – eight years in total. If you multiply that out, the whole deal could be worth around $8.5 million. Whoa. That’s some serious cash, even in the world of college sports. It definitely puts things into perspective.
But I didn’t stop there. I was curious how this stacked up against other salaries at Appalachian State University. I found this report saying that in 2023, there were 362 employees making over $100,000 a year. The average salary was around $68,000. Still, the highest reported pay was like $513 – I’m guessing that’s per day or something? Seems off.
Then I dug a little deeper and found out that a typical assistant coach in the Big 12 was making around $2.8 million a year back in 2015. Head coaches were pulling in even more, like $3.3 million. Now, things have probably changed since then, but it gives you an idea of the kind of money we’re talking about in college football.
My Thoughts
- It’s a lot of money: No doubt about it, coaching college football is a lucrative gig.
- It’s a big business: This whole thing just reminded me how much money is involved in college sports these days.
- Context is key: It’s interesting to compare Clark’s salary to other employees at the university and other coaches in the field.
So, there you have it – my little deep dive into the world of college football coach salaries. It’s definitely given me a lot to think about. Let me know what you guys think!
