Mike Bobo leads UGA assistants with salary boosts

photo Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo has received a $240,000 pay raise and will make $575,000 this season.

A record-setting performance by Georgia's offense last football season has paid off handsomely for coordinator Mike Bobo.

Bobo will make a guaranteed $575,000 this year after making $335,000 last season. Every assistant on Mark Richt's staff is receiving a raise of at least $25,000, with Bobo's $240,000 hike being the largest, followed by a jump of $90,000 for offensive line coach Will Friend and a raise of $50,000 for receivers coach Tony Ball.

The Athens Banner-Herald was the first to report the salary increases Wednesday, obtaining the information through an open records request.

Bobo is the only assistant remaining from Richt's inaugural staff in 2001, and he added the title of coordinator to his role of overseeing quarterbacks late in the '06 season. The 38-year-old was among the lowest-paid SEC offensive coordinators last season but will now rank fourth behind Florida's Brent Pease ($600,000), LSU's Cam Cameron ($600,000) and Alabama's Doug Nussmeier ($590,000).

Pease made $490,000 this past season, while Cameron, who was hired by Les Miles last month, has a three-year contract that will result in a $1.3 million salary in 2014 and $1.5 million in '15.

Under Bobo's guidance last season, the Bulldogs racked up 6,547 yards and 529 points and scored more than 40 points on eight occasions. The Bulldogs lost just one starter -- receiver Tavarres King -- from last year's offense, and returning quarterback Aaron Murray is certain to be an early Heisman Trophy candidate.

Friend now will be making $300,000, while Ball will be earning $260,000. A former running back and kick returner for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Ball interviewed last week for a vacancy at Tennessee before electing to remain in Athens.

The rest of the staff will receive $25,000 hikes, so defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will now make $850,000, inside linebackers coach Kirk Olivadotti $285,000, secondary coach Scott Lakatos $235,000, tight ends coach John Lilly $235,000 and running backs coach Bryan McClendon $235,000. Defensive line coach Chris Wilson was hired in January at a salary of $250,000.

Grantham ranks third among SEC defensive coordinators behind Alabama's Kirby Smart ($950,000) and LSU's John Chavis ($911,250). He was fourth last season, but Auburn's Brian VanGorder ($875,000) was not retained by new coach Gus Malzahn, who instead hired Ellis Johnson ($800,000).

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