Tennessee football: Culture issues in Knoxville revealed in UT staff decisions regarding pay cuts
There has been plenty of trouble on the gridiron this fall in Knoxville. UT appears likely headed for a 3-7 campaign after a 2-0 start provided false hope. But the events of this past week suggested that the issues in play go beyond Jarrett Guarantano interceptions or busted coverages on defense.
The UT athletic department, in light of the financial hardships imposed by COVID-19 and an ensuing decrease of athletic revenue, asked all employees to accept pay cuts. The cuts generally amounted to 5% of amounts earned between $50,000 and $150,000 for the year and 10% of amounts earned over $150,000. Most UT athletic department employees are at-will employees and were told that they would undergo the pay cuts, rather than asked to accept them. There were exceptions, including the UT football staff, who had contractual employment agreements that could only be altered by agreement.
Tennessee wide receivers coach Tee Martin and running back coach Jay Graham each agreed to accept the pay cuts. Jeremy Pruitt declined a scheduled raise as his part of the athletic department maneuver. UT athletic director Phil Fulmer accepted an even larger pay cut than suggested. The savings were projected to be about $1.6 million, according to the Knoxville News.
But 8 UT assistant coaches took a “Thanks, but no thanks” approach to the suggested pay cuts, which means UT now will save about $1.3 million. Interestingly, of the 10 coaches in question, Martin and Graham are UT alumni. The 8 coaches who declined pay cuts were not UT alums. Among the 8 coaches who said, “Keep those checks coming” were the following:
- Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, who is set to earn $1.6 million, and whose UT offense is 12th in the SEC in scoring and 13th in yardage.
- Defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley, whose defense is 9th in the SEC in scoring allowed.
- Offensive line coach Will Friend
- Quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke, whose QBs are 13th in the league in passing yardage and 11th in passing efficiency.
- Inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer
- Outside linebackers coach Shelton Felton
- Tight ends coach Joe Osovet, whose two starting tight ends have caught five passes all season.
- Strength and conditioning coach A.J. Artis
Now, a few words of caution here. Yes, these gentlemen all signed contracts that called for them to earn between $200,000 and $1.6 million each. No, there is absolutely no legal requirement to agree to the lower figures. COVID-19 was certainly not their fault and was largely unforseeable to everyone within the athletic department.
That said, the unmistakable rub is this: The two old-school UT guys, Graham and Martin, agreed to the cuts. This saves the athletic department money and helps prevent layoffs for less-prestigious UT employees who earn significantly less money than even the least of these assistant coaches. The 8 non-UT guys all looked over a team in shambles, a team that, again, is highly likely to finish 3-7 and near the bottom in most significant SEC categories and thought, “Eh, good enough.”
If this were Alabama coaches declining pay cuts, it would be one thing. It would be just as selfish, but it would also come from a place of recognition that UA football brings glory and cash (even if less than expected) to the university. Chaney, Weinke, et al, can’t even dream of saying that right now.
Without argument, 2020 has been an insane year. Conferences weren’t playing, and then were playing, and now are engaged in a week-to-week dance to accommodate the health and safety of athletes and students, while still playing games and making money. Against that backdrop, it’s hard to justify coaches who earn 6 and 7 figure salaries refusing to forego a small slice of that pie to protect the jobs of lower-earning workers in their athletic departments.
But it’s even harder to justify it when the on-field product has been awful. And it will probably make it even harder to feel bad for some of those coaches when they get cut loose for the abysmal on-field results … and for the ugly off-field optics of adopting a Scrooge-like mentality during a brutal 2020 year.
Chaney and Ansley should have taken the cut. The others Im not so sure about. Maybe some of them know they are done. Chaney has lost his allure. Seems to have let the game pass him by to an extent and not getting QB results that he has in the past. if it was just G it might get chalked up to he just isnt capable of being taught, well thats it exactly what it is with G, you cant teach instinct… but I find it difficult to accept there isnt one other QB they have developed enough to give a try. As far as weinke goes the same thing applies. I dont know how much weinke makes so maybe it isnt as big a deal for him not to take the cut. Ansley does not appear to have done much coaching the D. The D has regressed like the O. It really all falls on pruitt. hes the bottom line. The refusal to take pay cuts just doesnt bother me as much as the media and others. So they gain back $1.3M instead of $1.5M of a projected $40M loss. Thats just not significant enough for me. If “its a bad look” then its a bad look on the individuals, not the university. The bad look for the university, right now, is the hire of what is looking more and more like another inept HC.
Agreed but is he the one who’s bought into JG, or was he told JG is what he had to work with? Name the OC who could have been successful with JG.
I’ve got Vol friends. Tennessee is still a hot mess and I mean the culture of the fandom. While Pruitt isn’t the answer, the fanbase is one that loves to scream at God and ask him why aren’t they loved. Rather than fire Pruitt, which I’ll understand if they do, they should start to line up the boosters, get that piggy bank filled, and choose the coaches they are interested in. And wait. Wait til one is available and then strike. They are a bunch of river boat gamblers with a cold set of dice when it comes to forcing coaching changes. And they need to figure it out.
Hugh Freeze is winning with Liberty. Which any top coach should. We know how he won with Mississippi State. The question is can he win with Tennessee, but not in the same way he won with Mississippi State? I wouldn’t jump the gun on him.
guinny I think maybe you are the hot mess. We love to scream at god and ask why we arent loved??? that is one iof the dumber comments ever posted on this site and there have been a lot of em. A bunch of river boat gamblers with cold dice. Geez what does than mean? Hiring pruitt was a gamble. well ok so is hiring any coach. So you must be a pro butch jones guy. I get it now. You have to be ignorant to like him as a coach.
PS: Freeze coached ole miss not state.
It is rather obvious that these assistant coaches know they will not be employed by Tennessee in 2021, so they are going to squeeze all the juice they can out of the orange.
Why wouldn’t they expect what they were promised? This is exactly one of the reasons contracts are signed.
When you sign a contract, you sign a contract. I do NOT blame the coaches at all. This is a business for them not an emotional fanboy gig.
The blame falls squarely on the admin for the contracts and head coach for the performance or lack there of from the team.
There are a lot of things to consider with this article, it’s more about morals than football, with many imbedded implications for what is right and wrong.
First, it implies that being selfish is wrong – selfish being thinking of themselves rather than the program. Right off the bat, the question that looms as I see it, is the program more important than the individual?
Maybe, maybe not. If the program is more important, upon what basis was that formulated from. It could be that these people were thinking about their family as a reason for not accepting the pay cut. Perhaps taking the pay cut would affect their housing, they could miss payments, etc.
So its possible that their decision wasn’t entirely selfish, but this article implies that it was. To be fair, the article does say, irrespective of winning, it would be selfish to not accept the pay cut, although seemingly more easily justifiable if they did.
I don’t accept that its selfish at surface level – it may have been a selfish decision, but we don’t seem to be able to to determine that without more information.
Maybe the author has that info, and if so, it would be good to share, because otherwise, it looks like there is a blacklisting going on.
Someone makes $1.6 million and refuses to take a pay cut. 2 people who make $75K a year gets fired to compensate. Yeah, that’s selfish. They were thinking of their families when they said no. Who is better off? The millionaire or the white collar worker? The impact of losing $160,000k is way less than losing your job. So again, selfish.
If you think you might be on the way out, or have your foot out the door, there’s no reason to take a pay cut.
One thing I do know after reading this:
Joe Cox doesn’t know the first thing about economics or contract law, and has no idea what the word “selfish” actually means.
I’m gonna guess Joe Cox is more of socialist bent to his personal ideology.
Finally, after all these years you have actually pulled your big head out of your bigger arse and said something I can agree with.
Fine job sir, enjoy the fresh air
They’re entitled to keep their money-no obligation to help others. Sometimes it’s nice to help others less fortunate than you. Given your posting history, you’re probably not in a good enough financial position to do that.
Problem seems to be administration. Contracts are contracts. I don’t blame them. I would want my money.
Yeah, why is it their fault Fat Phil hands out dumb contracts?
And then you go and stick your head right back up your arse.
Try using your ears more and your mouth less. Pro Tip
To be fair-they haven’t really achieved their end of the contract as noted by the abysmal state of the program.
A culture issue? This “reporting” is garbage. It’s right up there with the weekly Gary Danielson sucks article. They signed a contract and want their money. Who would take a cut on money that the school has and will be just fine. At this point, let us ask Butch Jones to take a pay cut.
Is a 3-7 season your idea of meeting a contractual obligation for a coaching staff at this university?
So now this is a culture issue? What? Give me a break… The school offered each of them the contracts. The school is now asking for money back? I honestly don’t blame the coaches for not volunteering. The are agreements for a reason. Yes it’s nice of them to take a pay cut, but they shouldn’t be labeled as bad people if they say no. On the other hand, they all suck right now and all get over paid. But that’s not gonna change. Best we can do is get rid of them all and start over. Give pruitt one more year with new coaches and if we get same result then there you go. Process of elimination, Pruitt sucks just as bad as the rest of them. Then search for another coach to come in and rob us blind again.
the problem with firing a bunch of the assistants after this season is who you may get to replace them with a head coach whose behind will be squarely on the hot seat next season. Unfortunately if they are not willing to fire pruitt this season they are likely better off keeping the current assistants and reducing the overall buyout by another season.
Yeah, I was being a bit dramatic in my comments. But then again lol, I’m not sure we could do much worse. Bring the staff over from Maryville. They would coach for less than half the amount we pay the guys and couldn’t do much worse.
All these College Coaches should be on performance based contracts.
Year in and year out we see it over and over again coaches getting paid way too much for lackluster performance on and off the field.
Not to mention the huge buyouts to just pay them to quit coaching.
Makes me sick to think Chump getting fired and making more to quit and sit at home than I’ll ever make in my entire adult working life.
agree gator but will never happen. Its a pretty dumb predicament.
I absolutely agree with you. It’s truly mind boggling.
Same with CEO pay. They don’t line up with value added. Like the corporate boards run by financial institutions, the boards of trustees of the universities simply don’t have to be accountable. Workers, customers, and fans are left holding the bag.
I think the author of the article thinks we all agree with him, and there is no question they should have taken the cut. I don’t. How many of us would take a cut so that our company which brings in millions can make just a little bit more? If this was a private company he would be calling out the company for trying to make more profits at the expanse of its workers. Most of these guys won’t be employed next year at UT. The only way I take a cut if I am them is if I am guaranteed a job and full pay next year, and if no job, I get the money. Being an assistant coach in the SEC isn’t easy. It pays well but no job security. I don’t blame them at all. I think the writer will be surprised to see most don’t think they should have taken the cut.
Have you seen Chaney? He needs every bit of that 1.6M just to pay his grocery bill.
Muschamp is available now….UT could get him cheap.
This kind of PO’s me….it wasn’t mandatory for them to do it, and isn’t a freaking essential job to this country. I make 50,000 a year before taxes and I got people telling me I make too much money, go figure. If Fulmer keeps this guy and probably will, there needs to be some big changes on the coaching staff. More than likely starting with Chaney and Will Friend, I would also take Muschamp as DC over Derrick Ansley. There might be many people who disagree with me on that one.
Chaney is over paid fat a$$. He doesn’t earn squat. Never uses tight ends, runs up middle in stacked boxes, and leaves fans wondering about play calls. I was glad he left.
Most of the posters blame the administration for handing out what is pretty much industry norms. They all seem to forget many staffs around the country have taken reduced salaries to help out in a truly Abby Normal situation.
What I find funny is that so many have posted that ESPN should fire front of camera personalities to save the jobs those behind the camera.
What’s different?
Take a little less and help out others who don’t make anywhere as much.
You want a staff full of VFLs? Then go hire them – Tee and Jay are not the only ones out there that “care” about the program beyond a paycheck. Unimpressed with Ansley and Chaney.
None of them deserve a dollar after watching the product they put on the field this season.
Pruitt, Cheney, and Ansley should give their entire gd checks back after seeing how terribly they’ve led this team.
Hot, garbagey mess.
Haha fake Jeremy Pruitt profile nobody believes you are pruitt dumbass