KNOXVILLE — Part of the financial upgrades Tennessee made to its football program in December, when the Volunteers handed head coach Butch Jones a $650,000 raise, included increasing the salary pool for the assistant coaches.
How those raises were doled out became public Tuesday, when Tennessee released the updated contract information and salaries for its eight returning assistant coaches.
Those coaches received a total of $250,000 in raises, with receivers coach Zach Azzanni and running backs coach Robert Gillespie each getting $50,000 bumps to go with their new titles and defensive coordinator John Jancek becoming Tennessee’s highest-paid assistant.
“I’m very grateful to our administration,” Jones said after Tuesday’s practice. “They’ve been very, very supportive, not only of myself, but our entire coaching staff. It was great to be able to reward them, and we still have a long ways to go. They all understand that, but we’re very fortunate to have a very good coaching staff.
“I know they have great relationships with our community and with our players, so I’m very thankful to our administration for showing the support like they have.”