FanHouse Kevin Steele

There is, apparently, no recession in college football. Or, if there is, it has bypassed the South Carolina uplands. Now that Dabo Swinney (right) has had his training wheels taken off, it's time for the rest of the staff to get paid accordingly. And oh boy, are they going to. Clemson will pony up $1.8 million for Dabo Swinney's staff next season.

That's staggering, even if the ACC still trails the SEC in the coaching staff arms race. Last season, only 25 of the 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams paid their head coaches $1.8 million or more. Thus, as ridiculous as head coach salaries have become, the staff adds the equivalent of yet another head coach to the overall operating expenses.

You can complain all you want, but (a) it won't do you any good, and (b) there's a very good reason why these schools will pay a staff so much.

Maybe it's the twangy country music playing in the background but I'm thinking life's just a little more hardscrabble at Baylor.

Baylor blog Bear Meat is retrospectively ruing what should have been with former coach Kevin Steele.

You could only assume after stringing together four of the worst seasons in college football history (9-36 and we were lucky to have that many wins) that Kevin Steele would have taken his money and moved close to the beach. However, and I am sure BearMeat is at least 6 years late on this story, he continued coaching and is now the defensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban. That 's pretty plush job. If Saban turns around Alabama, and he probably will, Coach Steele might be in line for another head coaching gig.

Since leaving Baylor it's been lots of sunshine for the coach. He landed at Florida State and in a few years grew a reputation as a top-notch recruiter and buzz as Bobby's heir apparent before Jeff Bowden submarined the team.

Seeing the writing on the ball, Steele jumped ship to Alabama to be the defensive coordinator on megabucks Nick Saban's staff. He's a hot name again.

I like what new coach Guy Morriss has done, but his road's been just about as rocky as Steele's with a 15-31 record in his four seasons in Waco.