Clemson will save a couple million dollars on its football assistant coaching salary pool this year despite the raises recently approved for some of the Tigers’ on-field assistants.

Last week, the university’s Board of Trustees Compensation Committee rubber stamped bumps in pay for five assistant coaches. Add that to the promotions within or new hires to Dabo Swinney’s staff since the end of last season, and the Tigers’ 10 on-field assistants will collectively make $6.55 million this year before any performance-related bonuses.

That’s down $2 million from the $8.55 million the staff earned last year, which isn’t a surprise given the turnover it’s experienced.

Former defensive coordinator Brent Venables ($2.5 million) was the highest-paid assistant in college football while former offensive coordinator Tony Elliott ($2 million) wasn’t far behind. Both won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach during their time at Clemson before leaving in December to run their own programs at Oklahoma and Virginia, respectively.

The Tigers’ newly promoted coordinators, Brandon Streeter and Wesley Goodwin, will make $1.725 million combined this year, roughly a $2.8 million reduction from what Venables and Elliott earned. Safeties coach Mickey Conn, who recently had co-defensive coordinator added to his title, will earn $800,000 this year.

Cornerbacks coach Mike Reed and defensive tackles coach Nick Eason, recently hired away from Auburn, are Clemson’s next highest-paid assistants at $750,000 each. Eason’s annual salary is a slight bump from that of his predecessor, Todd Bates, who was going to make $715,000 this year before leaving to join Venables’ staff at Oklahoma, where he’ll also be an associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator.

Reed’s salary for this year is up from $700,000 after recently adding titles of assistant head coach and special teams coordinator. Other assistants who also got raises were defensive ends coach Lemanski Hall ($625,000 from $500,000), running backs coach C.J. Spiller ($450,000 from $300,000), receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Tyler Grisham ($450,000 from $300,000), tight ends coach and passing-game coordinator Kyle Richardson ($500,000) and offensive line coach Thomas Austin ($450,000 from $200,000), a former offensive analyst who was promoted following Robbie Caldwell’s recent retirement from coaching.

“We’ve got a great staff,” Swinney recently said in a statement. “It’s going to be fun to start fresh with this group and attack spring practice and our offseason program. We’ve got a lot of great energy. It’s fun to be settled and have everybody in their new roles. We do have new people but also new opportunities within our staff that everyone is excited about.”

As for Swinney, he will earn $8.5 million in the fourth year of the 10-year contract extension he signed in 2019, the same salary he earned last year. Swinney’s total pay will bump to $8.75 million next year, according to the term sheet of his contract.