Emilio Fantastico said:
A. G. Pennypacker said:
Lateralus Ag said:
Best i can come up with adjusting for inflation, $250,000 in 1982 would be worth about $825,000 today.
And I remember people being appalled at that number back then...
I think I remember (I was a freshman when Sherrill was hired) that his total compensation was $1million/yr. He was the first coach to break a million. I'm not sure where the additional money came from but I know he was making more than $250k. Maybe others here know more of the details.
You recall incorrectly. He was the first coach with a contract in excess of $1 million. From a New York Times article at the time...
Jackie Sherrill, head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh since 1977, yesterday was named coach and athletic director at Texas A & M and signed a six-year contract whose worth was put by knowledgeable sources at the College Station, Tex., campus at $1.7 million.
The contract apparently makes the 38-year-old Sherrill the highestpaid university employee in the nation. Though declining to comment on the total value of the pact, Sherrill confirmed in a farewell news conference at Pitt that it was for six years and said that his base salary would be $95,000 a year. But the addition of benefits - including a home, new cars, insurance policies and money-fund investments - brings the entire package, the sources in Texas said, to an average of more than $280,000.
OK - I did not remember that correctly. Not sure but maybe he was the first to have a total contract value in excess of $1 million. I do remember that their was a lot of additional compensation - ie like above, the house, cars, etc that brought the total compensation to much more than the base salary.
It is amazing how much top paid college coaches salaries have increased. From $250k in 1982 to $10 million in 2025 is an inflation rate of 9% per year.
