The thing that strikes me about Kirby Smart's salary is that he stands out on the list as being one year removed from a coordinator coaching job, but surrounded by a field of experienced head coaches. The responsibilities are a lot different. Assistants work mostly with players, while head coaches are executives who oversee all aspects of the program and interact with administrators and boosters. Sometimes assistants make that jump, but many find that their skill set is better suited to being an assistant. I suspect UGa paid what they thought the market demanded for a coach with Smart's background, but hiring a coordinator to take over a P5 program is a risky move, and will require some on-the-job learning at the least.