The University of Texas men’s head swimming coach position will be open, again, this offseason, and perhaps the most coveted position in the sport’s history is sure to draw interest from every corner of the swim-verse.
Besides the prestige of the program and the built-in recruiting benefit offered by the 15 NCAA title banners in the rafters, the job is hotly sought after because of Texas’ massive pool of financial resources.
Texas ranks #2 in the NCAA in athletic department revenue, pulling in $239 million in 2022 – a $14 million profit.
Only Ohio State ($251 million) pulled in more dollars, though that is likely to flip when Texas joins the SEC next fall.
That means that, for the right head coach, Texas has the resources to reset the payscale for collegiate coaches nationally.
The current leader, as far as we know, is Cal head coach Dave Durden, who makes $380,000 to lead both the men’s and women’s programs. The Texas situation is a bit different because it will be a single-gender program, but even so, Texas has the resources to outrun what Cal offers, for the right candidate.
A good starting point for a conversation about where this salary might go would be to start with what the current head coach, Eddie Reese, is making.
Since September 1, 2021, Reese’s base annual salary has been $279,425. In the 2020-2021 year, it was $246,561 – but Reese was supposed to be retired before that year.
He also received a one-time bonus payment of $32,864 on October 1, 2021.
There are various performance incentives as well, though Reese’s contract doesn’t specify those other than saying “exceptional performance incentives.”
Reese’s salary is slightly higher than that of Carol Capitani, who this season received a raise to $250,000 and a contract extension through August 31, 2028. Capitani’s women’s team was 2nd at last year’s NCAA Championship meet, one slot higher than Reese’s men, and is likely to finish higher than the men again in 2024.
Layer on top of that camp money, with Texas hosting one of the most-popular and most-lucrative swim camps in the country, and this job all-in currently lands somewhere in the mid-300k range, all-in.
If Reese’s replacement is a brand new head coach, like current associate head coach Wyatt Collins, that replacement is probably not going to get a salary that surpasses Reese’s.
But if it’s one of the real heavy-hitters of the sport, like a Braden Holloway or Todd DeSorbo, they’ll probably have to beat that.
Holloway is currently receiving $244,000 in base salary at NC State, and given his deep roots there, and a program he built himself from the ground-up, that is probably not enough incentive to lure him away. Todd DeSorbo, meanwhile, has a base salary of $145,600.
In all of these cases, there is always an unknown that is not subject to public record – supplemental money that comes from boosters, which does exist in swimming, though of course it isn’t yet anywhere near what we would see in, say, football or basketball.
But that money could become more-and-more important in an NIL world. As alumni collectives come together across collegiate sports, alumni are organizing to do the same in aquatics – which has already played a role in some recent college decisions.
These alumni groups are going to have a much bigger vote in who leads programs, and those votes might come with dollars.
If Texas goes for a homerun hire, I think it’s safe to assume a total compensation package north of $400,000 per year.
Me… I’d recruit Bowman. I’d give him a million.
Texas could and should raise the bar. People need to respect and admire swim coaches. Our athletes have higher GPA’s typically than any other group on campuses. I also think coaches of USA teams who are int he top 1% of improvement for their swimmers should be doubled in salary. It’s an almost impossible job description and those who do it well improve the… Read more »
Man they’d be insane to not be in Charlottesville everyday trying to get Desorbo…he’s done incredible things at UVA, but money talks. He’d be a fool not to double his salary to go to historically one of the most dominant swim schools in the country at Texas. Getting Desorbo and dishing out some scholarships+nil money to get that loaded uva roster to come with him would allow them to continue to be ncaa front runners without ever skipping a beat
From the article it implies that a school will pull in more revenue when they join the SEC, why is that?
SEC football television rights will get each school around $50 million/year. Current Big 12 deal is getting them about $22 million/year, new deal in 2025-2026 will be worth around $31 million/year.
Knew him when he was the assistant coach at Florida. Always the coach that had a positive thing to say to his swimmers & those on opposing teams.
A coach that you would hope your children would have no matter what the sport.
He sets a high bar for all swim coaches!
Eddie definitely deserves it.
Damn I gotta become a coach
The numbers for Eddie and Carol Capitani are way low.
Carol Capitani, Texas women’s swimming and diving – $325,257 from 2016
Eddie is well over $400k.
As I said, what is listed above are their base salaries.
Put in an interim, and chase Dean Boxall after the 2024 Paris Games
$200k or more to coach a sport with basically zero revenue is not sustainable. The Big 12 championships last year looked like a Texas intra-squad meet because most of the other programs have been cut over the past couple decades. The “new” Big 10 has 18 members but only 9 men’s swimming programs… I don’t blame these coaching for getting paid big-time while they can, they are absolutely the best in their world at their craft. The problem is, the money will eventually dry up. If Texas has to decide if they are going to pay a high school quarterback $300k to sign with Texas or pay a swim coach $300k to coach a swim team, they are going to… Read more »
Schools like Texas have enough to pay both. Also, $300,000 probably isn’t enough to get a top level HS QB to choose Texas. Some of these kids are making well over a million to commit to a school.
But that $300k for the QB isn’t coming from the school’s budget at all, that’s all outside “collective” money.
That outside money was money that was previously donated to the athletic department at each of these universities, it’s not “new” money into the system. The money is now going direct to the athletes, so the athletic departments can’t allocate money to swimming that they are not receiving in the first place.