SPORTS

Jay Jacobs comfortable giving Gus Malzahn blank check

James Crepea
Montgomery Advertiser
Gus Malzahn was grateful for the leadership of Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs.

AUBURN -- Gus Malzahn targeted Will Muschamp as his new defensive coordinator and Jay Jacobs wasn't going to put financial constraints on the process.

"What do you need to be successful?" Jacobs said he asks all his coaches. "And I go out and get it for them."

Jacobs had to get in excess of $1.5 million per year over the three-year deal for Muschamp, nearly doubling Auburn's expenditure on its defensive coordinator position – Ellis Johnson made $850,000 – to make Muschamp the highest-paid assistant coach in the country.

"As he should be," Jacobs said of the salary for Muschamp, who is owed $6.3 million from Florida over the next four years. "We don't have any barriers that we can't overcome. ... We're going to continue to do business this way. We're going to get the best coaches we possibly can because our expectations are high."

Malzahn was grateful for Jacobs' leadership, which he called "second to none," and for receiving what was essentially a blank check to secure the top coach on the market.

"He's one of the best if not the best athletic director in college," Malzahn said. "I'm blessed to be working under him."

Muschamp, who referred to himself as "just a ball coach," will have to decide on a staff, which could lead to turnover resulting in a potential increase in the money Auburn owes in buyouts to the current staff, which stands at $2.2 million to Johnson, less any income he earns over the remainder of his contract term.

"It's part of the business we're in," Jacobs said of buyouts, which Auburn is still paying to past football and men's basketball staffs as well. "The way this business works is it's high demand and high expectation and if you don't (deliver), you don't get to play in this game very long as this level.

"You look around the country and what different schools are doing, Florida and others, it's a high price tag. But our fans expect the best and we're going to continue to do whatever's necessary to provide the best in every area."

Jacobs said he is "very comfortable" committing the increasingly exorbitant funds to coaches, citing money Auburn has built in reserves over the past decade.

"I'm real comfortable with it because we're one of the few schools in the nation this past year that sold out every game and this team played in front of a sellout audience every game," Jacobs said. "Football's important, it's important to our season ticket holders and me having played here, and coached here and grown up and Auburn guy. It's important to me for us to win the right way and that's why I'm going to make doggone sure that Gus has what he needs to compete at the highest level because that's what we all expect."