New Arizona State head coach Herbie Behm is being paid significantly more than his former boss Bob Bowman to take over the swimming & diving programs at Arizona State University.
Behm’s base salary in year 1 of the contract is $274,000, which will increase by $10,000 in each subsequent year of the contract for its life until June 30, 2029.
While Bowman received a gigantic raise to go to the University of Texas, the promotion of his former top assistant Behm to head coach won’t be a discount for Arizona State. While Bowman’s base salary at Arizona State was $219,000, Behm’s will be $274,000, about a 25% increase over his former boss.
Behm entered the offseason as one of the top head coaching candidates in the country after the men’s program won its first NCAA title. With a number of high-profile jobs available around the country, Behm likely would have had options if he had hit the open market. Arizona State locked him in before that happened, though, announcing the coaching swap just days after the teams’ titles and before most of those other jobs opened up.
Behm’s bonus structure will be similar to Bowman’s, including the $50,000 reward for an NCAA team title.
Behm’s contract in his first year as a head coach makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the country and possibly make this the richest contract for a first year head coach in collegiate swimming history.
Academic Bonuses
Behm will receive a bonus for the highest achievement in each category, meaning he could receive up to $20,000 in bonuses in this category.
| Achievement | Bonus Amount |
| Men’s Team GPA Greater than 3.0 | $2,500 |
| Men’s Team GPA Greater than 3.15 | $3,750 |
| Men’s Team GPA Greater than 3.30 | $5,000 |
| Men’t GSR >90% | $2,500 |
| Men’s GSR >95% | $3,750 |
| Men’s GSR 100% | $5,000 |
| Women’s Team GPA Greater than 3.0 | $2,500 |
| Women’s Team GPA Greater than 3.15 | $3,750 |
| Women’s Team GPA Greater than 3.30 | $5,000 |
| Women’t GSR >90% | $2,500 |
| Women’s GSR >95% | $3,750 |
| Women’s GSR 100% | $5,000 |
Athletic Bonuses
Behm can receive the maximum bonus in each cateogry for each men’s and women’s team, meaning that he would max out at $160,000 in bonuses for athletic performances.
| Achievement | Bonus Amount |
| Conference Team Champion | $10,000 |
| Conference Team 2nd Place | $5,000 |
| NCAA Champion | $50,000 |
| NCAA Top 5 | $25,000 |
| NCAA Top 10 | $15,000 |
| Men’s or Women’s Conference Coach of the Year | $10,000 |
| Men’s or Women’s National Coach of the Year | $10,000 |
GOOD FOR HERBIE!!!!
ASU men should have free reign over the Big 12 right? Even the women were the top finishers at NCAAs this year
Might be first time HC, but a big factor in ASU’s team title. Bob didn’t do that alone. He’s well credentialed – just look at Kharun at the Olympics. Smart move.
ASU Donors would like to meet Bob in a dark alley. Or anywhere in Tempe for that matter. They are taking care of the loyalty to ASU that their new HC has shown them. Like Bob and Rocky who hired him; they used ASU to go elsewhere. Good riddance to both!! One broke the bank at USAT and fled to the USOC where he is doing the same there. Can’t blame Bob for going to Texas but he does tend to build and move on. How’s his French these days?
You must be super fun at parties
Not sure if SwimSwam has ever put this together before, but I’d love to see a list of the top 10 highest paid swim coaches in America and their salaries.
With benefits Durden makes over 500k from the state of California. Not sure about anything from USA swim. But I’d imagine he’s pretty high up on the list list.
dang yeah, 468k cash + 54k benefits in 2021 and 375k cash + 58k benefits in 2022
I think it would need to be highest paid at public institutions. I don’t believe we can track down private school salaries.
There really isn’t a way to do this. Even if you were able to get the data from everyone, club and college, it still wouldn’t tell the whole story. A coach owned mediocre performing club with a big lesson program that also has some pool management thrown into it might be earning a lot more than the board run club that hires a coach and that doesn’t have a lesson conduit. I met a high school coach out in the sticks who had a great pool, and was allowed to do “swim camps” basically for free. He definitely did alright. And then there are the coaches who do outside clinics and camps. Do you throw that into their ‘salary’? There… Read more »
Bowman going Band for Band, Herbie going M for M
Desorbo just fell to his knees in a Walmart
coaches making less, especially under 100K or even 50K, have to love seeing this. Raise the bar for swim coaches pay!
College coaches don’t have leverage of noting other coaches salary bumps. All else isn’t equal. If you want to make that kind of money you need to be at a school that can and wants to pay that for a swim coach. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how good you are how much success you had you’ve had. These larger paydays are statistical anomalies.
Disagree, it does have an impact and a large one at that. Standards have to be set in order for everyone else to be able to evaluate their value. The higher the top pay and the more at the top give everyone else leverage