Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman's staff is now all filled out after seeing plenty of movement since the end of the season.
The hiring of secondary coach Deron Wilson on Tuesday filled the final on-field assistant position to give the Hogs a full staff. Wilson is set to make $300,000 in his first season, according to a copy his contract that HawgBeat obtained via a Freedom of Information request.
Wilson's contract includes the normal perks for assistants, including up to eight tickets to each home football game, tickets for immediate family to home games for other sports, a $2,000 annual Nike allowance, a membership to the Fayetteville Athletic Club or Paradise Valley Golf Course and a $7,200 annual car allowance.
It also includes up to $25,000 for moving expenses and the UA will provide 90 days of temporary housing if needed. The contract has a non-compete clause that states Wilson cannot eave for an assistant role at another SEC school, but that clause doesn't apply to a head coaching or defensive coordinator opportunity.
Wilson's contract has annual performance incentives that will trigger raises if reached, including appearances in select bowl games, SEC Championship games, the National Championship game, etc.
More on Arkansas' assistant coach movement since the end of the season, and a full breakdown of the 2023 on-field assistant salary pool:
Arkansas' first coaching change came when strength and conditioning coach Jamil Walker was fired following the loss to Missouri in the regular season finale. Pittman brought in Ben Sowders, who was the director of strength and conditioning at Louisville in 2022. Arkansas actually saved $25,000 in this situation, as Walker made $425,000 annually and Sowders is set to make $400,000.
The next move was defensive coordinator Barry Odom leaving for the head coach position at UNLV on Dec. 6. Odom was the third-highest paid coordinator in the nation while at Arkansas, as he made $1.85 million annually after receiving a raise in March 2022. He actually took a pay cut of $10,000 for the UNLV job.
To replace Odom, Arkansas brought in former UCF defensive coordinator Travis Williams and former Florida State defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson to serve as defensive coordinator and co-defensive coordinator, respectively. Williams is expected to also coach linebackers, as he has done so previously at multiple stops. Woodson is expected to help coach defensive backs, the position he has coached throughout his career.
Arkansas saved $50,000 at the defensive coordinator spot by hiring Williams and Woodson. Williams will make $1.1 million and Woodson will make $700,000 annually.
Linebackers coach Michael Scherer left to become the new defensive coordinator at UNLV under Odom, and his departure created the open spot on staff for Woodson. Scherer made just $325,000 annually with Arkansas.
Arkansas also parted ways with cornerbacks coach Dominique Bowman, who is now at Temple, freeing up $350,000. Wilson filled the final open role on the defense that was left by Bowman's departure.
On the other side of the ball, the Hogs lost tight ends coach Dowell Loggains, who left to take the offensive coordinator position at South Carolina. Pittman replaced Loggains with Morgan Turner, who pumped out plenty of NFL talent during his 13 seasons at Stanford. Arkansas saved $75,000 here and gained one of the more well-respected tight ends coaches in the nation at the same time.
In a quick-moving situation last week, the Hogs saw offensive coordinator Kendal Briles depart for the same position at TCU. Before the Horned Frogs could officially announce Briles, Arkansas already announced the hiring of Dan Enos as its new offensive coordinator. Arkansas saved $125,000 with the hiring of Enos.
The current salary pool comes out to $5.84 million. Arkansas had a school-record salary pool total of $6.14 million last season.
Here is a full list of the salary pool for Arkansas assistant coaches as of this publishing of this story.
