Big Ten Football: Three Assistant Coaches Who Deserve a Raise

Joe Rexrode at the Lansing State Journal compiled a list of the salaries of each assistant coach at the 10 of 12 Big Ten schools where such information is available (Northwestern and Penn State are exempt from reporting this information).

There's a lot to unpack here, and Rexrode does an admirable job of sorting the the numbers in different ways, but it's clear that there are a few guys who could use a pay bump, and soon -- just like coveted Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi got in May, per MLive.com. Here are three such coaches.

Matt Canada, Wisconsin offensive coordinator: It's true that Matt Canada hasn't coached a game, and that he just came from Northern Illinois and the MAC. His salary is a significant step down from departing offensive coordinator Paul Chryst, though, and only Indiana pays its offensive coordinator less. If Wisconsin is to be a "have" and not a "have-not" in this conference, it has got to be more competitive with its salaries.

Now, it's probably the case that Canada's only about a year or two away from a raise, depending on how the offense actually performs under him. If it doesn't, though, and if Canada's even a half-competent coach (he appears to be much better than half-competent), he should be able to command a significantly higher salary elsewhere.

Erik Campbell, Iowa receivers coach: For as much money as Iowa spends on its coaching, by far the lion's share goes to Kirk Ferentz; his salary outpaces the combined payment to the assistants by $1.7 million dollars; the next-closest school is Ohio State, at $780,000. That's a disparity that probably shouldn't exist, especially when a coach like Erik Campbell is making only a hair more than $250,000.

Campbell coached Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and Marvin McNutt to arguably the two most productive careers for WRs in Iowa history, and he's got two new future stars waiting in Keenan Davis and Kevonte Martin-Manley. Campbell's loyalty is serving Iowa well, but his demand might get too high for Iowa to keep paying him a quarter-million a year for much longer.

Greg Mattison, Michigan defensive coordinator: Now hang on, one would say. Mattison makes $750,000 a year, which is as high as anybody in the conference. And he's underpaid? Yes he is. Yes yes yes. He has basically performed a miracle in turning around a horrendously-coached defensive unit under Greg Robinson in just one year. And the Wolverine D should be even stronger in 2012. A good defense is the difference between mediocrity and BCS bowl participation in the Big Ten, and Greg Mattison is the key to that difference. $750,000? He's worth all that and then some.