The NCAA allows nine on-field coaches, five strength coaches and four graduate assistants. As SEC fans know, however, staffs are much larger when one includes support staff, coaches and administrators who cannot coach on the field or recruit off campus, but work as analysts or administrators.

Earlier this offseason, CBS Sports obtained an NCAA survey on support staff sizes. The survey, however, had a numbers problem. Baton Rouge newspaper The Advocate noticed that LSU, for instance, was listed as having 11 members on the support staff (not including graduate assistants) in the survey. The team’s media guide lists 31 members on the support staff, including strength coaches.

The Advocate took a different approach, obtaining documents from the 13 public SEC schools (Vanderbilt, which is private, does not have to submit to public records requests) to find out which athletic departments are spending the most on football support staffs. Georgia led the way at over $4.4 million and there was a gap of more than $1.5 where Alabama checks in at No. 2 with $2.9 million in support staff spending.

The top eight schools all spend at least $2 million on support staff, including the four schools coached by Nick Saban or one of his former assistants (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida). Five public schools fall below the $2 million mark, with Kentucky coming in last at just over $1 million in support staff spending.

Here’s how the 13 schools rank:

  1. Georgia ($4,481,974)
  2. Alabama ($2,949,321)
  3. South Carolina ($2,886,986)
  4. Tennessee ($2,823,177)
  5. Auburn ($2,821,608)
  6. Ole Miss ($2,664,181)
  7. Florida ($2,640,975)
  8. Texas A&M ($2,131,228)
  9. LSU  ($1,662,278)
  10. Mississippi State ($1,478,330)
  11. Missouri ($1,254,997)
  12. Arkansas ($1,110,559)
  13. Kentucky ($1,063,822)