When it comes to assistant positions in football, short-lived stints at schools have become the norm the last few years. If you look at how many assistant coaches, especially coordinators, have jumped ship on teams the last five seasons, you see how apparent that notion is.
One big team you have to look at is LSU. The last two seasons, their defensive coordinator has left to take another job, both in the SEC as John Chavis went to Texas A&M and Kevin Steele went to Auburn.
The Tigers looked to the Big Ten to find their new guy and they found it in Dave Aranda, former defensive coordinator at Wisconsin. According to the Badgers’ official site, athletic director Barry Alvarez isn’t upset with Aranda for leaving because he knows that the SEC is willing to pay coaches more money than some other conferences are.
“It’s a good deal for Dave,” Alvarez said. “It’s high-risk, high-reward there. If you can go down there and do well, then you’re going to be rewarded well.”
He then went on to state that the SEC is also able to pay football coaches more because they invest more into that sport than any other.
“The reason they can go up higher (in the SEC) is they’re not supporting as many sports,” Alvarez said. “It’s a difference in philosophy. The Big Ten is known for being more broad-based in its sports offerings. We are committed to supporting a broad-based athletic program. People may dismiss that, but it’s a real thing. They can sink more of their money into football.
You can’t really disagree with Alvarez on that. Other than baseball, football is really the only sport that any team in the SEC can compete in every single year.
The last ten seasons, the SEC has been involved in the national championship picture for football in some way. That’s not to say that SEC doesn’t compete in other sports, but they are constantly at the top of the country in football.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
