Rick Comegy Signs 4-year Contract with Jackson State
Price tag $155,000, but 'we've got him'
By Michael Wallacemwallace@clarionledger.com
Jackson State University ushered in a new era of football on Friday, introducing former Tuskegee coach Rick Comegy as the top Tiger.Comegy, 52, agreed to a four-year contract with a base salary of $155,000 a year, making him the highest-paid coach in JSU history. It also is one of the top three salaries in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and is nearly double what JSU paid former coach James Bell."We did what we had to do to get the coach we had to have," JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. said Friday at a campus news conference attended by nearly 200 administrators, alumni, players and fans.
JSU had to seek alternative funding to close the deal with Comegy, who reportedly earned about $140,000 a year as coach and athletic director at Tuskegee. About $103,000 of Comegy's annual JSU salary will be paid out of the school's athletic department budget, Mason said. The additional $52,000 a year will come from JSU's private Tiger Fund, which subsidizes some athletics projects.Mason said Comegy will not serve as coach and athletic director. JSU must replace outgoing athletic director Roy Culberson, who is leaving next month. Mason said a search committee has been formed to target candidates to replace Culberson.
"With the size and demands of our athletic department, we need to keep those two roles (coach and athletic director) separate," Mason said.Comegy gets to focus on rebuilding a program that struggled under Bell, who was fired Oct. 31. His teams won just eight games and lost 23 over two and a half seasons.Mason said Comegy has been given a budget to stay within to hire assistant coaches. But Mason would not disclose the amount Comegy will have to work with to hire as many as six full-time coaches.
"I come here with the purpose of doing all I can to get this program to the standards we've all come to expect from Jackson State football," Comegy said. "I don't have all the answers. But I won't stop working to find them."Comegy comes to Jackson with a resume that includes 90 wins, four conference championships and a black college national title in his 10 seasons at Tuskegee, a private NCAA Division II school located in eastern Alabama. The Chester, Pa., native also has coached at Central (Ohio) State, where he won a NAIA national championship in 1995, and at Cheyney (Pa.) State.
The JSU job is Comegy's first at the NCAA Division I-AA level, where schools can offer up to 63 scholarships compared to a maximum of 36 at a Division II school.Comegy's salary at JSU puts him in the same range with Southern's Pete Richardson and Grambling's Melvin Spears, who earn between $150,000 and $200,000 a year.Robert Cook, chairman of JSU's Tiger Fund, said he believes Comegy will be worth the money.
"I'm a firm believer that you pay for what you get," Cook said. "We're very supportive of the administration's decision with the handling of coach Comegy's contract. We were very much in favor of getting the best coach we could. We got him."
By Michael Wallacemwallace@clarionledger.com
Jackson State University ushered in a new era of football on Friday, introducing former Tuskegee coach Rick Comegy as the top Tiger.Comegy, 52, agreed to a four-year contract with a base salary of $155,000 a year, making him the highest-paid coach in JSU history. It also is one of the top three salaries in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and is nearly double what JSU paid former coach James Bell."We did what we had to do to get the coach we had to have," JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. said Friday at a campus news conference attended by nearly 200 administrators, alumni, players and fans.
JSU had to seek alternative funding to close the deal with Comegy, who reportedly earned about $140,000 a year as coach and athletic director at Tuskegee. About $103,000 of Comegy's annual JSU salary will be paid out of the school's athletic department budget, Mason said. The additional $52,000 a year will come from JSU's private Tiger Fund, which subsidizes some athletics projects.Mason said Comegy will not serve as coach and athletic director. JSU must replace outgoing athletic director Roy Culberson, who is leaving next month. Mason said a search committee has been formed to target candidates to replace Culberson.
"With the size and demands of our athletic department, we need to keep those two roles (coach and athletic director) separate," Mason said.Comegy gets to focus on rebuilding a program that struggled under Bell, who was fired Oct. 31. His teams won just eight games and lost 23 over two and a half seasons.Mason said Comegy has been given a budget to stay within to hire assistant coaches. But Mason would not disclose the amount Comegy will have to work with to hire as many as six full-time coaches.
"I come here with the purpose of doing all I can to get this program to the standards we've all come to expect from Jackson State football," Comegy said. "I don't have all the answers. But I won't stop working to find them."Comegy comes to Jackson with a resume that includes 90 wins, four conference championships and a black college national title in his 10 seasons at Tuskegee, a private NCAA Division II school located in eastern Alabama. The Chester, Pa., native also has coached at Central (Ohio) State, where he won a NAIA national championship in 1995, and at Cheyney (Pa.) State.
The JSU job is Comegy's first at the NCAA Division I-AA level, where schools can offer up to 63 scholarships compared to a maximum of 36 at a Division II school.Comegy's salary at JSU puts him in the same range with Southern's Pete Richardson and Grambling's Melvin Spears, who earn between $150,000 and $200,000 a year.Robert Cook, chairman of JSU's Tiger Fund, said he believes Comegy will be worth the money.
"I'm a firm believer that you pay for what you get," Cook said. "We're very supportive of the administration's decision with the handling of coach Comegy's contract. We were very much in favor of getting the best coach we could. We got him."
posted by Brad at 1:12 PM
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