As college football coaching compensation grew, and grew and grew and grew, over the previous two decades, it was often asked what need to happen for the trend to stop, or even slow down. Federal legislation? Not likely. Professionalization of athletes? Nope, at least not yet.
Turns out, we have our answer.
All it takes is a school being left behind in realignment.
The Oregonian revealed the salary figures for JaMarcus Shephard's new Oregon State staff on Thursday, and they're quite a bit below the $4.85 million Trent Bray had to pay his first staff in 2024. Shephard was given $3 million to pay his staff, plus $2 million to pay the support staff. Bray himself made $2 million as a first-time head coach, 20 percent more than Shephard will make in the same role this fall.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Gunderson was Bray's highest-paid assistant at $725,000, nearly double what OC Mitch Dahlen will make this fall. Most instructively, the lowest-paid member of Bray's staff made $250,000; that figure is in the middle of the pack on Shephard's staff.
“I want guys here who want to be here,” Shephard told the paper this week. “That’s what I focus on, and making sure that I don’t lose the integrity of what was the whole intent of the guys that we’re gonna bring into this program. And it’s that they be elite human beings first. I’m not gonna bring people in this program that I feel like are gonna embarrass Oregon State, this staff, themselves or myself.”
Here are the 2026 staff salary figures:
-- Mitch Dahlen, offensive coordinator: $400,000
-- Cort Dennison, co-defensive coordinator/linebackers: $275,000
-- Jeff Eaton, strength & conditioning: $250,000
-- Lee Marks, running backs: $250,000
-- Ricky Brumfield, special teams: $225,000
-- James Finley, wide receivers: $225,000
-- Ryan Wallace, tight ends: $225,000
-- Kirk Barron, offensive line: $200,000
-- Dan Rowe, nickelbacks: $140,000
Defensive coordinator Lance Guidry and defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield were hired but have since taken positions at Memphis and Utah, respectively. Guidry was set to make $300,000 this year but jump to $575,000 in 2027, and Breckterfield would have made $325,000.
Oregon State's situation has stabilized after the dissolution of the original Pac-12, relaunching as an 8-team league this fall with former members of the Mountain West (plus Texas State). Had the former Pac-12 remained together, Shephard would likely have north of $6 million or more to pay his assistant coaches. Then again, had the Pac-12 remained together Shephard may not have the Oregon State job in the first place, since former player Jonathan Smith may not have left in the first place.