JMU Assistants Get Raises

HARRISONBURG — Mike Houston isn’t the only member of James Madison’s football staff to earn a raise.

The school upped Houston’s assistant coaches salary pool from $852,500 in 2017 to $971,000 — an increase of $118,500 — for this season, according to contracts obtained by the Daily News-Record.

“Virtually every coach on my staff has job opportunities every year,” Houston said. “That’s just part of success, and you try to do what you can to try to take care of people that do a good job.”

In December, Houston signed a 10-year extension worth $515,311 per year to stay as coach at JMU.

Defensive coordinator/safeties coach Bob Trott and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Donnie Kirkpatrick each inked new three-year extensions this offseason, which ensures they’ll stay on Houston’s staff through the 2020 season. The rest of the coaching staff is on a year-to-year basis.

Trott, the 2017 FootballScoop FCS Coordinator of the Year, led the Dukes to finish first nationally in scoring defense (11.1 points per game), total interceptions (31), total sacks (51) and third for total defense (252 yards per game) in 2017.

In each of the last two years, JMU has had top 25 rushing offenses (275 yards per game in 2016 and 194.3 yards last fall) under Kirkpatrick. Quarterback Bryan Schor was the Colonial Athletic Association’s Offensive Player of the Year two years ago.

“Bob’s and Donnie’s contracts are obviously longer-term contracts as coordinators,” JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne said. “All the coaches are important to us and a vital part of what we are, but those two in particular we wanted to make sure that we had stability there.”

Trott’s pay increases to $165,000 annually from the $140,000 per year he was making for the previous extension he signed after 2016. Kirkpatrick earned a $15,000 bump to $155,000 per year for the next three.

“When I went through some of the stuff that I went through back during the winter with other job opportunities, I made a decision that JMU is where I want to be,” Houston said. “And certainly there’s some financial factors there, and JMU certainly stepped up with the contract that they offered me. It was not as much as what I was offered from other schools, but it was a substantial raise.

“But that’s me making a decision for myself and my family. I also understand that decisions I make for myself and my career do impact my staff, so I really made it a big factor with staying at JMU that the administration had to support me with my staff’s salary pool and trying to retain quality coaches.”

Houston said to keep his staff mostly intact he needed the large increase in pool money, and that it also allowed him to hire well from the outside when he needed to during the spring.

“So many times I’ve worked at great schools and they’ve all been good” Kirkpatrick said. “But this has been a place where they really act like they care about the assistant coaches as well, which is not the case everywhere.

“Then Mike has done all the things that he’s done, which is awesome and it’s a great place for him, but they’ve made it good for the staff as well. I know Bob has had multiple opportunities to leave, as I have, too, and they’ve just made it hard to leave because you know they care about you.”

The $971,000 that JMU is spending on assistant coaches for 2018 ranks ahead of 15 FBS schools’ total pay for assistants, according to USA Today’s Coaches Salary Database.

New offensive line coach Steve Shankweiler, inside linebackers coach Warren Belin and cornerbacks coach Corico Wright all signed contracts that allow them to make more money than their predecessors.

Shankweiler will earn $100,000 this season compared to the $85,000 ex-offensive line coach Bryan Stinespring netted before he left to take the same job at Maryland. Belin has a $95,000 deal, which is $9,000 more than Byron Thweatt, who is now at Marshall, got last year. Wright will make $68,000 — $1,000 more than now-Western Carolina assistant Tripp Weaver got last year in Harrisonburg.

Returning to the Dukes’ staff meant raises for running backs coach De’Rail Sims ($75,000 from $64,000), wide receivers coach Drew Dudzik ($70,000 from $54,500), inside receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Fontel Mintes ($78,000 from $70,000), defensive line coach Jeff Hanson ($85,000 from $73,000) and outside linebackers/special teams coach Roy Tesh ($80,000 from $75,000).

“Our staff is outstanding,” Houston said. “And they do a great job and I’m thankful we’re able to reward them and truly give them what they’re due because many of them have turned down jobs for more money than what they’re making at JMU as well.”

Bourne said it was an easy decision to commit more financial support to Houston’s staff after back-to-back national title game appearances and a championship in 2016.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that both our coordinators, as well as a number of our other assistant coaches, could go to other opportunities tomorrow where they may be more highly compensated,” Bourne said.

“But like we tell the staff, we try to be balanced and we try to provide an opportunity that’s exceptional. The good thing about where we are is we feel like we are poised to be successful for the long term and that we’re not just a program that’ll play now one way and then a year or two from now be totally different. Consistency and experience is critical and we know in order to keep it that way, we have to retain our staff.”