Georgia's Mark Richt Gets Raise - to Fifth Highest Paid SEC Football Coach

Georgia has upped the salary of football coach Mark Richt $800,000 to $2.8 million. Here's guessing Georgia's athletic board was willing to pay him much more, but sent a bit of a message with this raise.

Note the coaches ahead of him in pay: Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer and Tommy Tuberville. Three of the four have won championships and Tuberville arguably fielded a championship team in 2004.

Now don't get me wrong, Richt is revered around the state right now for making Georgia a consistent top-10 program and few can criticize what he's done. But the pay level is veeeeeeery interesting you gotta admit. I'm no brain surgeon but I think there was a bit of a friendly message sent to Richt here - deliver the goods and we'll pay you like a champion.

His boss, Athletic Director Damon Evans almost admits as much:

"There are some institutions out there that have coaches who have won a national championship, and when you get to that level, that is a different level,'' Evans said.

He'll have that shot this year, with a team expected to be either preseason #1 or #2 in the fall. In the meantime, you can bet he's thrilled with the $2.8 million in cash. He's one of the SEC's true good guys and you won't find many people blinking at this news.

Previously at FanHouse
Recruiting: Mark Richt, Ping Pong Master
Michael Adams' Stupid Playoff Plan is Stupid