What UNT can't pay any longer

In negotiating a salary, the first offer is never your highest. The first demand is never your lowest. So, what's the game plan for North Texas athletic director Rick Villarreal as he begins wading through applicants/candidates for a new head football coach?

That's up to UNT's Board of Regents, and no exact ceiling figure appears to be out there, as far as a salary or compensation package Villarreal can tuck away for negotiations. He probably has a good idea by now, but the Regents won't give a yay or nay until he brings them a number late in the process.

Rumors persist it'll be $500,000 or more per year, but if UNT wants to compete with many of today's top assistant coach/coordinator salaries, it might need to be in the upper six figures. Just speculation, though.

Not speculation is what UNT can no longer pay, which is just above the rough average compensation in the Sun Belt Conference before incentives or bonuses. Todd Dodge's contract was due to pay him around $295,000 this season. He has 22 months left in the original deal, for which he'll be paid around $340,000 in base salary unless he finds another job, which he should.

The point is UNT doesn't even pay the highest salary in the Sun Belt but really should, given its stature as the third or fourth-largest school in this state. Florida International's Mario Cristobal is the league's highest-paid coach at just over $400,000. That's not stellar, but it's quite a commitment for a program with virtually zero history and tradition compared to UNT.

After hunting around, it looks like the Sun Belt average head coach pay is roughly $286,000 a year, and that includes new coach Todd Berry at sorry-paying Louisiana-Monroe (SBC-low $188,000). Frankly, that stinks and UNT can do better. In fact, UNT needs to blow that out of the water, or Villarreal might as well just take the interim tag off Mike Canales right now and be done with it. I'm not saying what Canales deserves to be paid or not paid, just that the process will be a waste of time if Villarreal isn't given sufficient means to negotiate -- or not be walked out on.