Two Iowa football assistant coaches reach $800,000 in base salary

Iowa football strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle and defensive coordinator Phil Parker have reached the $800,000 mark in annual base pay, according to documents obtained by the Des Moines Register through an open-records request.

A 10% increase in assistant-coach pay was triggered under the terms of head coach Kirk Ferentz's contract after the 2018 Hawkeyes achieved a final top-25 national ranking (No. 25 by The Associated Press) and met academic requirements.

What Iowa is paying its 10 on-field assistant coaches plus Doyle increased to $5,490,000 for the 2020 fiscal year, which began July 1, from $5,105,000 in base pay for fiscal year 2019.

Doyle, according to research done by USA TODAY Sports, is expected to remain the highest-paid strength coach in college football after receiving a $75,000 increase. Doyle's $800,000 outpaces the latest numbers for Ohio State's Mickey Marotti ($735,000), Tennessee's Craig Fitzgerald ($625,000), Clemson's Joey Batson ($600,000), Alabama's Scott Cochran ($595,000) and Texas A&M's Jerry Schmidt ($575,000).

Parker, who, like Doyle, is entering his 21st year under Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, also received a $75,000 boost from last year. And although $800,000 (before bonuses) sounds like a lot, there were 43 assistant coaches nationwide who made at least that much last year. Twenty-one assistants, according to USA TODAY, made at least $1 million.

Brian Ferentz, the head coach's son and third-year offensive coordinator, received the biggest pay raise in total dollars, at $90,000 — to lift his base salary to $775,000.

Reese Morgan's $500,000 salary came off the books following his retirement. His replacement, Jay Niemann, started out at $280,000, plus $10,000 in relocation expenses, according to an offer sheet.

Here is a breakdown of the latest salaries, alphabetically:

Kelvin Bell, defensive line

FY2019 salary: $300,000

FY2020 salary: $375,000

Increase: $75,000 (25%)

Kelton Copeland, wide receivers

FY2019 salary: $255,000

FY2020 salary: $300,000

Increase: $45,000 (17.6%)

Chris Doyle, strength and conditioning

FY2019 salary: $725,000

FY2020 salary: $800,000

Increase: $75,000 (10.3%)

Brian Ferentz, offensive coordinator/tight ends

FY2019 salary: $685,000

FY2020 salary: $775,000

Increase: $90,000 (13.1%)

Derrick Foster, running backs/offensive recruiting coordinator

FY2019 salary: $200,000

FY2020 salary: $250,000

Increase: $50,000 (25%)

Jay Niemann, assistant defensive line/defensive recruiting coordinator

FY2019 salary: (Hired in May 2019)

FY2020 salary: $290,000 (including $10,000 in relocation expenses)

Ken O’Keefe, quarterbacks

FY2019 salary: $575,000

FY2020 salary: $625,000

Increase: $50,000 (8.7%)

Phil Parker, defensive coordinator/defensive backs

FY2019 salary: $725,000

FY2020 salary: $800,000

Increase: $75,000 (10.3%)

Tim Polasek, offensive line

FY2019 salary: $355,000

FY2020 salary: $390,000

Increase: $35,000 (9.9%)

Seth Wallace, linebackers/assistant defensive coordinator

FY2019 salary: $435,000

FY2020 salary: $500,000

Increase: $65,000 (14.9%)

LeVar Woods, special teams coordinator

FY2019 salary: $350,000

FY2020 salary: $385,000

Increase: $35,000 (10%)