UW completes football coaching staff reset with $8.64 million price tag for 2022

The Washington Huskies football coaching staff is in place for the fall 2022 season — and beyond.

Kalen DeBoer became the 30th head coach in program history when he signed on with UW in late November, and he has since filled the 10 assistant coaching positions as the Huskies prepare for the upcoming season.

Per memoranda of understanding the university released to The News Tribune for each of the members of the new coaching staff, the salary total for DeBoer and the program’s assistants is set to collectively exceed $8.64 million in 2022, placing them among the state’s highest-paid employees.

DeBoer begins his five-year, $16.5 million contract this year, while the program’s assistant salary pool is more than $5.54 million.

Those numbers could also be supplemented through athletic performance — for example, if UW wins the Pac-12 or advances to a bowl game — and academic performance as defined by the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate.

Below is a detailed rundown of the Huskies’ incoming staff:

HEAD COACH

Kalen DeBoer

DeBoer began his FBS coaching career at Fresno State two seasons ago, led the Bulldogs to a 12-6 record during that stretch, including a 9-3 finish and bowl eligibility last fall, and was widely mentioned as a Power Five target given his success in the Mountain West, his past accomplishments as an offensive coordinator and his history of building championship teams at the NAIA level. He won three national titles with Sioux Falls, where he was a three-time NAIA Coach of the Year in 2006, 2008 and 2009, before moving to the Division I ranks, and was an offensive coordinator at Southern Illinois (2010-13), Eastern Michigan (2014-16), Fresno State (2017-18) and Indiana (2019) before taking over the Bulldogs’ program. DeBoer’s successes leading offenses made him an appealing target for a UW program that ranked among the worst in the Pac-12 in several offensive categories last fall. Fresno State, meanwhile, ranked 26th among FBS teams in scoring offense (33.4 points per game), and 14th in total offense (464.8 yards per game).

And so, UW athletic director Jen Cohen flew down to Fresno shortly after the Huskies’ 2021 season concluded and brought DeBoer to Seattle. He was hired in late November, beginning a five-year, $16.5 million contract, which guarantees $3.1 million in 2022, and adds an additional $100,000 each of the four seasons that follow. Should the Huskies reach the conference championship game with DeBoer, he receives an additional $50,000 for an appearance and $100,000 for a Pac-12 title win. For a selection to a New Year’s Six bowl game, he receives $300,000 as well as an additional $100,000 if it is a College Football Playoff semifinal, another $450,000 if the program advances to the CFP title game, plus $50,000 for a championship win. He earns $75,000 for any selections to non-CFP bowl games. The agreement also offers academic incentives, including an additional $50,000 if the program’s APR is 950 or above, $75,000 if it is 960 or above and $125,000 if it is 970 or above.

ASSISTANT COACHING STAFF

Per the documents, UW’s assistant salary pool is set to exceed $5.54 million in 2022, which is up from the $4.9 million last season, according to USA Today’s salary database, and $5.15 million (later reduced to $5.05 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic) in 2020.

Last season, UW had the second-largest assistant salary pool (of the 10 schools reporting), per the database. Only Oregon, which had a pool of more than $6 million, exceeding that total.

UW’s assistant salary pool is also set to increase to more than $5.69 for the 2023 season.

The program has hired nine new assistants — including six who coached with DeBoer at Fresno State, and another who has ties to DeBoer at a previous stop — ahead of the 2022 season.

Coordinators Ryan Grubb, William Inge, Chuck Morrell and Eric Schmidt, and assistants Lee Marks and Julius Brown each spent the 2021 season alongside DeBoer at Fresno State, while Nick Sheridan previously coached with DeBoer at Indiana, and JaMarcus Shephard and Inoke Breckterfield join the Huskies from other Power Five programs.

Offensive line coach Scott Huff, who is entering his sixth season with the Huskies, is the only member of the previous staff who remains with the program.

Former wide receivers coach Junior Adams was also initially named to DeBoer’s assistant staff, but has since joined another Pac-12 program.

Adams, who spent three seasons in Seattle, was set to earn $500,004 annually for the next two seasons, but was announced as Oregon’s co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach on Jan. 3.

Each of the 10 assistant coaches on UW’s staff are on two-year contracts with both athletic and academic incentives.

Beyond base salary, should the Huskies reach the Pac-12 championship game, each of the program’s assistants earn an additional $6,000, and another $10,000 for a win. They receive an additional $10,000 for a non-CFP bowl game appearance, $20,000 for a New Year’s Six bowl game appearance, $40,000 for an appearance in the CFP semifinals, $60,000 for an appearance in the CFP championship game or $70,000 for a title win. They also receive $2,000 if the Huskies’ APR reaches 950, $4,000 if it reaches $960 or $5,000 if it reaches 970.

Ryan Grubb

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

UW will be the fourth program Grubb has coached alongside DeBoer. He most recently worked with DeBoer at Fresno State, where he spent the past five seasons as an assistant. During the two seasons DeBoer was the Bulldogs’ head coach, Grubb was the program’s offensive coordinator, associate head coach and quarterbacks coach, guiding a Fresno State offense that was among the most productive not only in the Mountain West, but in the FBS ranks. Grubb also coached offensive linemen and was the Bulldogs’ run game coordinator during DeBoer’s two seasons as Fresno State’s offensive coordinator from 2017-18. Prior to arriving in Fresno, Grubb coached offensive lineman at Eastern Michigan from 2014-16, when DeBoer was the offensive coordinator there. They also coached together for three seasons at Sioux Falls from 2007-09, with Grubb as the program’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator.

When DeBoer departed for Southern Illinois, Grubb became Sioux Falls’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for four more seasons from 2010-13. He started his Division I coaching career at South Dakota State, where he coached running backs and later wide receivers from 2005-06. Grubb played running back and wide receiver at Iowa’s Buena Vista. He is set to earn $1,020,000 annually as UW looks to revamp its offense, and becomes the third Huskies assistant set to earn more than $1 million per year, per the USA Today salary database, joining Lake, when he was UW’s defensive coordinator, and Pete Kwiatkowski, when he held the same position. Grubb is the first offensive coach to reach that mark. Former Huskies offensive coordinator John Donovan previously had the highest annual salary for an offensive assistant, per the USA Today database, earning $875,004 in 2021.

William Inge

Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach

Inge is set to coach alongside DeBoer for a third time in Seattle, after previously coaching with him at both Fresno State and Indiana. The past two seasons in Fresno with DeBoer as the Bulldogs’ head coach, Inge was the program’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, and moves into a similar role at UW. Prior to joining DeBoer at Fresno State, Inge spent seven seasons in the Big Ten at Indiana from 2013-19, where he coached linebackers and spent stints as the program’s co-defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator. DeBoer was the Hoosiers’ offensive coordinator during Inge’s final season at Indiana. He coached at several more stops earlier on, primarily working with defensive linemen and linebackers, including coaching in stints at Northern Iowa (2001-04), Colorado (2005), San Diego State (2006-07), Cincinnati (2008-09), Buffalo (2010-11) and one season in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 2012. Inge played defensive end at Iowa for four seasons from 1993-96, and later started his coaching career there as a graduate assistant and recruiting coordinator for three seasons from 1998-2000. He is set to earn $550,008 annually for two seasons.

Chuck Morrell

Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach

Morrell coached safeties at Fresno State the past two seasons on DeBoer’s staff. UW will be the third stop at which the two have coached at together. Morrell, who played safety at Sioux Falls from 1995-97, and was a teammate of DeBoer’s, also began his coaching career there in 1998. Morrell spent 12 seasons with the program, coaching defensive backs before also becoming Sioux Falls’ defensive coordinator and assistant head coach, and was on the coaching staff for each of DeBoer’s five seasons as offensive coordinator and five seasons as head coach. Morrell then coached one season at South Dakota (2010) and spent another nine (2011-19) as Montana Tech’s head coach before reuniting with DeBoer in Fresno. He is set to earn $550,008 annually for two seasons.

Eric Schmidt

Special teams coordinator and edges coach

UW will be the third stop at which Schmidt and DeBoer have coached together, following stints together at Fresno State and Southern Illinois. Schmidt coached defensive linemen and was the Bulldogs’ special teams coordinator each of the past two seasons. Prior to that, he was also on the Southern Illinois staff from 2008-13, coaching outside linebackers and later defensive linemen and inside linebackers, as well as spending two seasons as special teams coordinator. DeBoer was the offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach for the Salukis during Schmidt’s final four seasons with the program. Schmidt started his college coaching career coaching linebackers at North Dakota — where he also won a Division II title in 2001 when he was a linebacker for the program — from 2006-07. He spent another six seasons there as the defensive coordinator from 2014-19, and also coached inside linebackers, outside linebackers and defensive linemen during that stretch. He is set to earn $525,000 annually for two seasons.

Lee Marks

Running backs coach

Marks spent the past two seasons working with DeBoer at Fresno State, where he coached running backs, was the run game coordinator and assistant head coach. He also led Fresno State to a New Mexico Bowl win last fall as the program’s interim head coach after DeBoer departed for UW. Marks previously coached at Colorado (2007-09) as an assistant speed and strength and conditioning coach, South Dakota State (2012) as a running backs coach and Arkansas State (2013) as an assistant director of strength and conditioning, then moved to Boise State as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, and later coached running backs and became the director of special teams there during his six-season stay from 2014-19. Marks was a running back at Boise State from 2001-05 when former Huskies coach Chris Petersen was the offensive coordinator there. He is set to earn $400,008 annually for two seasons.

JaMarcus Shephard

Associate head coach, passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach

Shephard was the final assistant to sign on with the Huskies for the 2022 season following the departure of Adams earlier this month. He spent the past five seasons coaching in the Big Ten at Purdue (2017-21), where he was the Boilermakers’ wide receivers coach in his first season, and added the title of co-offensive coordinator his final four. Prior to that, he spent one season coaching inside wide receivers in the Pac-12 at Washington State. His first Division I coaching job was at Western Kentucky, where he spent six seasons (2011-15) as a volunteer assistant, defensive and offensive quality control coach, and his final two years as wide receivers coach. Shephard played receiver at DePauw from 2001-04. He is set to earn $650,004 annually for two seasons.

Nick Sheridan

Tight ends coach

Sheridan joins UW’s program after spending the past five seasons at Indiana — including coaching tight ends when DeBoer was the Hoosiers’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2019. When DeBoer departed for Fresno State, Sheridan took over the offense at Indiana while also coaching quarterbacks, including incoming UW transfer Michael Penix Jr. Sheridan — a former quarterback at Michigan — also coached the position for two seasons before DeBoer’s arrival in Indiana. Prior to that, he coached as a graduate assistant at Tennessee (2014-16), was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach at South Florida (2013), and spent two seasons at Western Kentucky (2011-12) as a graduate assistant and later the program’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He is set to earn $300,000 in 2022 and $450,000 in 2023.

Scott Huff

Offensive line coach

Huff is the only returner from last season’s staff, and is entering his sixth season with the program. DeBoer will be the third head coach Huff has coached alongside in Seattle, after joining Chris Petersen’s staff ahead of the 2017 season, and later coaching two seasons on Jimmy Lake’s staff. The Huskies produced a first-team All-Pac-12 lineman each of Huff’s first five seasons with the program, and two of his former linemen — including former Morris Trophy winner Kaleb McGary (first round, 2019) and Nick Harris (fifth round, 2020) — have been drafted during his tenure at UW.

Huff arrived at UW after 11 seasons spent alongside Petersen at Boise State (2006-16), where he coached tight ends, offensive linemen and spent stints as the Broncos’ special teams coordinator and later co-offensive coordinator. Huff played center at Boise State for four seasons from 1999-2002, including the final two in Petersen’s offense. He later coached two seasons as a graduate assistant at Arizona State (2004-05) before returning to Boise. He is set to earn $700,008 annually for two seasons.

Inoke Breckterfield

Defensive line coach

Breckterfield returns to the Pac-12 following stints coaching in the ACC, Big Ten and SEC during the past decade. He joins the Huskies after one season coaching defensive linemen at Vanderbilt. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as the defensive line coach at Wisconsin (2015-20), and three coaching linemen — including Los Angeles Rams All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald — at Pittsburgh (2012-14). Breckterfield was also a Morris Trophy winner at Oregon State, where he played defensive end from 1995-98 before playing five seasons in the Canadian Football League. He started his coaching career as a volunteer and later graduate assistant at Oregon State (2006-08), then coached defensive line for a season each at Weber State (2009), Montana (2010) and UCLA (2011). He is set to earn $550,008 annually for two seasons.

Julius Brown

Cornerbacks coach

Brown reunites with DeBoer after spending the past two seasons at coaching the “Huskies” position (which is a linebacker-safety hybrid) at Fresno State. A former defensive back at Boise State from 2000-03, Brown also started his coaching career there, and was a graduate assistant and later director of player personnel during a six-season stint when former UW coach Chris Petersen was in Boise. Brown moved on to coach cornerbacks at Troy (2012), then cornerbacks and nickel backs and working as the program’s recruiting coordinator at Arkansas State (2013) before returning to Boise for two more seasons (2014-15) to coach defensive backs and become the Broncos’ recruiting coordinator. He then moved to Utah State, where he coached defensive backs for three seasons (2016-18) before heading to the Big 12 to coach cornerbacks at Texas Tech (2019). He is set to earn $300,000 annually for two seasons.