With Tee Martin's deal, Vols assistants salary pool eclipses $6 million

A year ago, Jeremy Pruitt was given the green light by athletics director Phillip Fulmer, as Tennessee aggressively chased the “Alabama model” with a historic investment into its football program.

The Vols handed out a slew of three-year contracts, increased its support staff salary pool by more than $550,000 and had the second-highest paid strength and conditioning coordinator in the country.

Tennessee has simply continued its renewed commitment to the football program with its latest staff moves heading into Year 2 — including the official announcement of Tee Martin’s addition.

Martin’s contract info was released Tuesday, as the 40-year-old coach will make $450,000 annually on a two-year contract, per MOU terms. The former Southern Cal offensive coordinator will continue to receive buyout money from the Trojans, too, per VolQuest sources. Earlier this month, the Vols poached Jim Chaney away from Georgia on a three-year contract worth $4.8 million, including a $1.5 million deal in 2019.

“It starts with our administration, and they’re absolutely fully-invested in getting the program back to where we want it to be,” Pruitt said on The Nation with VolQuest's Austin Price and ESPN's Chris Low on Sunday.

With Chaney and Martin now in the fold, and Charles Kelly off to Alabama, Tennessee’s 10 current on-field assistants will combine to make more than $6 million in 2019. That’s never happened at UT. That current salary pool — $6,090,000 — would’ve ranked eight nationally last year, per the USA Today database. The Vols combined staff salary was 11th nationally in Pruitt’s first year ($5,675,000), sixth in the SEC behind Texas A&M ($6,789,640), Auburn ($6,555,600), LSU ($6,470,000), Georgia ($6,420,000) and Alabama ($6,123,723).

Obviously, the latest figures don’t include potential raises for assistants like Brian Niedermeyer or Terry Fair or take into consideration coaching movement at other schools. While not part of the assistant salary pool equation, Tennessee will likely give S&C coordinator Craig Fitzgerald ($625,000) a slight bump for turning down his alma mater Maryland in December, too.

Pruitt also has several off-the-field positions to fill, including replace John Lilly, who made $140,000 before leaving for the Cleveland Browns, and quality control analysts Montario Hardesty, who earned $65,000 before joining Tyson Helton at Western Kentucky, and Shelton Felton.

Overall, it’s quite evident that Tennessee isn’t going to suddenly start counting its coffers again despite a 5-7 season. The Vols are doing all they can to keep up with the Joneses.