On Wednesday, USA TODAY Sports released its annual list of assistant coaches salaries. The numbers, as they relate to Ohio State, might surprise you a little bit.
Twenty-five schools had at least one assistant with a higher annual salary than the Buckeyes' top-paid assistant coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Luke Fickell. Fickell made a total salary of $640,000 per year, according to the report, which ranked 35th nationally among assistants.
| NATIONAL RANK | COACH | TOTAL ANNUAL SALARY |
|---|---|---|
| No. 35 | Luke Fickell | $640,000 |
| No. 39 | Ed Warinner | $600,000 |
| No. 46 | Chris Ash | $580,000 |
| No. 62 | Tim Beck | $525,000 |
| No. 112 | Larry Johnson | $420,000 |
| No. 140 | Tony Alford | $400,000 |
| No. 197 | Kerry Coombs | $350,450 |
| No. 285 | Tim Hinton | $286,500 |
| No. 417 | Zach Smith | $220,000 |
Other Ohio State assistant coaches salaries for the 2015 season included offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Ed Warinner (39th, $600,000 per year); co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Ash (46th, $580,000); co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Beck (62nd, $525,000); defensive line coach Larry Johnson (112th, $420,000); running backs coach Tony Alford (140th, $400,000); cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs (197th, $350,450); tight ends coach Tim Hinton (285th, $286,500); and wide receivers coach Zach Smith (417th, $220,000).
As a staff, Ohio State ranked ninth in the NCAA in total pay at $4,021,950 annually. The top five were all SEC schools: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M. Michigan was the only other Big Ten school which shelled out more money to assistants than Ohio State. The Wolverines ranked eighth with $4,248,667 in salary for its assistant coaches.
The top-five highest paid assistant coaches were Auburn's Will Muschamp ($1.6 million), LSU's Cam Cameron ($1,519,734), Alabama's Kirby Smart ($1,501,500), Texas A&M's John Chavis ($1.5 million) and Clemson's Brent Venables ($1,406,107).
Muschamp and Smart each landed head coaching jobs for next season at South Carolina and Georgia, respectively, while Ohio State's Chris Ash is set to move on to be the head coach at Rutgers, where he's reportedly set to earn $2 million per year.
Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is the third-highest paid head coach in college football, with a salary of $5.86 million per year.
