Michigan State football OL coach Chris Kapilovic gets raise, is highest-paid assistant

Michigan State football offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic has a new contract that makes him among the highest paid assistant coaches without an offensive or defensive coordinator title in college football.

Kapilovic signed a new two-year contract that will pay him $1 million annually, in addition to bonuses, according to documents provided to the Free Press by the university. He signed the deal Dec. 29, the day before MSU's Peach Bowl victory over Pitt, and it was approved by athletic director Alan Haller on Jan. 10.

Barring other reworked contracts, that would make Kapilovic the Spartans’ highest-paid assistant, as well as one of the best-compensated non-coordinators in the country, according to USA Today's 2021 assistant coach salary database.

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Ohio State defensive line assistant and associate head coach Larry Johnson made $1.133 million in total pay, and Texas special teams coordinator/assistant head coach Jeff Banks made $1 million, according to the database. Kapilovic also has the title of run game coordinator under offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, and MSU coach Mel Tucker added an assistant head coach title for Kapilovic in January 2021.

Johnson's original three-year contract for $975,000 annually runs through March 31, 2023. He took a pandemic reduction, to $906,750, from Sept. 1, 2020-Aug. 31, 2021. Defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton's original three-year contract for $950,000 annually runs through March 31, 2023. He took a pandemic reduction to $883,500.

Their contracts, and other assistants’ deals, could be restructured after Tucker received $1.5 million more for his coaching salary pool — now at $7.5 million per year — as part of the new 10-year, $95-million contract he signed in November.

Kapilovic's new deal took effect Jan. 1 and runs through March 31, 2024. His original contract for $700,000 a year was set to expire March 31.

Tucker’s two newest assistants — pass rush specialist Brandon Jordan and running backs coach Effrem Reed — also agreed to two-year contracts earlier this month.

Jordan was hired for $225,000 a year, beginning Jan. 17 and running through March 31, 2024. He also receives a contingency bonus for retention annually equal to one month's base salary, along with standard bonuses for postseason recognition and honors per the athletic department's policy. Jordan signed the contract Jan. 13.

Reed, who served as an offensive analyst and worked with William Peagler with MSU's running backs for two seasons, originally agreed to become running backs coach at Georgia Southern on Dec. 7. When Peagler left to become Florida's tight ends coach after the Peach Bowl, Reed quickly returned to fill his spot on the Spartans' staff.

The 29-year-old Reed will make $200,000 annually through March 31, 2024. Like Jordan, Reed also gets an annual retention bonus equal to one month's base salary. The deal was signed Jan. 12 but is retroactive to Jan. 1.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football: OL coach Chris Kapilovic gets pay raise