After coaching exits, Herald data shows UND's pay for top football coaches lags behind league peers
Feb. 16—GRAND FORKS — In a 17-day span in January, the UND football program saw offensive coordinator Danny Freund, then newly hired Jake Landry, leave Grand Forks for similar jobs within the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
Freund was a
13-year Fighting Hawks coaching veteran
. Landry is
a Grand Forks native
. Both players were former UND starting quarterbacks.
The movement within the league from two coaches with deep local ties triggered UND followers to question the school's investment in coaching salaries.
As a result, the Herald requested salaries from all 11 schools in the league for head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator. Schools were asked for the program's most recent contract for that title. With coaching staffs often in flux, the Herald data reflects a 2024 base salary for some and a 2023 base salary for others depending on the availability of new contracts.
The UND football program's salaries for head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator rank near the bottom in the conference, according to data gathered by the Herald through open records requests.
The base salaries don't reflect total compensation, which can vary widely depending on bonus structures for items such as camps, key wins, academics and much more.
According to the Herald data, UND's Bubba Schweigert is the second-lowest paid head coach in the league, making $255,000 in 2024, with only Indiana State's Curt Mallory making less at $218,194. Northern Iowa's Mark Farley makes the most in the league annually at $400,000.
UND defensive coordinator Joel Schwenzfeier's salary of $88,400 is also the second-lowest in the MVFC. South Dakota's Travis Johansen makes more than $30,000 more at $119,885, which tops the league.
Freund's 2023 salary was the sixth-highest in the MVFC at $104,000. North Dakota State's former playcaller Tyler Roehl made $123,144 last season to lead the league, and Northern Iowa's Bodie Reeder made $123,000 in his final season calling plays in Cedar Falls.
North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Illinois State, Northern Iowa and Missouri State pay their head coach and both coordinators more than UND does.
Salary numbers for 2024 were unavailable for new offensive coordinators at NDSU (Jake Landry) and UND (Isaac Fruechte) and new NDSU defensive coordinator Grant Olson. Northern Iowa and Murray State are both in the process of hiring new coordinators, so salary numbers in the Herald data are the 2023 salaries of former coaches.
UND athletic director Bill Chaves said the school looks at salaries program-wide for the 11 full-time coaches on staff, as well as what's being invested for a number of varying expenses.
"We try to be as competitive as possible, making investments not only in salaries, but also facilities and travel and student-athletes support, all of those types of things," he said.
For UND, that includes the
$20 million addition to the Fritz Pollard
Athletic Center, which will house new locker rooms, weight rooms and a new space for the sports medicine department. Nearby,
Memorial Village, a $40 million public-private partnership
, is wrapping up construction after breaking ground in the summer of 2022. The football staff and athletic department will be housed there.
Both are expected to be open by this fall.
Another investment UND
announced in July was the 701 Awards
, or the Alston Award. This program allows UND to compensate student athletes, up to $5,980 per year, based on academic success and retention. The school expects to spend about $960,000 annually for the award.
Eligible athletes are to receive the first payment from the 701 Awards this month.
"I guess if you want to just focus in on a certain aspect, you probably could come up with any scenario where potentially a school is 'falling behind,'" Chaves said, "but, at the end of the day, I would hope there would be a larger, broader thought process of what's transpiring.
"Since I've been here, our nutrition is better. Our facilities will be better. Our game day experience is better. The turf is better. Mental health is better. All of that's better. Our salaries have been better. So now we just have to keep grinding, keep going."
Chaves said there have been discussions over time on giving Schweigert a raise, but the coach has declined in order to spread the money elsewhere. Schweigert has been head coach at UND since 2014.
"If there's dollars to be had, some head coaches might choose to want to do some things with their assistant coaching salary pool versus themselves," Chaves said. "If we were in a position where we could invest more, at this point in time, he's always tried to figure out how he can increase the salary pool for his assistant coaches."
UND's salary numbers for the other eight full-time assistants in 2023 fell near league average, based on league-wide data for entire staffs. The data was provided by UND.
"What advises us (on salaries) is where do we fall in the pecking order in our conference at that point in time," Chaves said. "Our goal, generally speaking, is to always be at least at the median or above. It doesn't mean we're successful all the time with that, because there's sometimes more to the story. But I would say we are there for a number of coaches on our staff."
The school spends about $200,000 less in the football program than North Dakota State and Illinois State, the top spenders in the league, according to UND's league-wide data from 2023.
But Chaves stressed that UND has increased football expenses more than anyone else in the league recently. UND's investment in football increased by a league-best $142,654 in 2023 from the previous year.
The school's investment in football isn't hindered by UND's successful hockey program, Chaves said.
"Each sport is its own," he said. "We look at each sport on its own merits relative to the league that they play in."
Chaves said the athletic department needs to consider the needs of the university at large and has to "be thoughtful about a lot of different things when it comes to salaries," he said.
"We want to be competitive, no question about it, but if our goal is to be No. 1 in salary across the board, I'm not sure that guarantees you success," Chaves said. "I'm not sure what that guarantees you. I think what it does guarantee you is a great candidate pool, for sure, if that were ever a case where a job becomes available, but I think there's history that you have to look at. You have to look holistically on your department, and then also understand that you're part of a greater university.
"Some folks might get caught up a little bit of prisoner in the moment, and they might think, if I look through just this lens, they could make an argument that maybe we are not where we should be or could be. But we try to be really holistic on our approach in regards to our investments to the program."
Mark Farley, UNI, $400,000
Brock Spack, Illinois State, $364,140
Bob Nielson, USD, $340,000
Tim Polasek, NDSU, $330,000
Jimmy Rogers, SDSU, $310,000
Doug Phillips, Youngstown State, $300,000
Ryan Beard, Missouri State, $275,000*
Nick Hill, Southern Illinois, $265,000
Jody Wright, Murray State, $260,000
Bubba Schweigert, UND, $255,000
Curt Mallory, Indiana State, $218,194
Tyler Roehl, NDSU, $123,144*
Bodie Reeder, UNI, $123,000*
Ryan Olson, SDSU, $115,000
Nick Petrino, Missouri State, $108,834*
Tony Petersen, Illinois State, $107,136
Danny Freund, UND, $104,000*
Troy Rothenbuhler, Youngstown State, $102,000
Josh Davis, USD, $100,310
Mike Bath, Indiana State, $94,789
Blake Rolan, Southern Illinois, $93,636
Ben Hodges, Murray State, $76,000
Travis Johansen, USD, $119,885
Jason Petrino, NDSU, $117,321*
Jesse Bobbit, SDSU, $115,000
Travis Niekamp, Illinois State, $113,772
L.D. Scott, Missouri State, $108,834*
Antonio James, Southern Illinois, $107,100
Jahmal Brown, Youngstown State, $102,000
Brad Wilson, Indiana State, $99,989
Jeremiah Johnson, UNI, $95,000.04*
Joel Schwenzfeier, UND, $88,400
Dillon Sanders, Murray State, $76,000
* — denotes 2023 base salary
