During his time as Georgia football coach, Kirby Smart has filled openings by hiring 20 assistant coaches after assembling his original staff in 2016.

It took until season nine for someone who departed to land back again as an assistant coach with Smart in Athens.

That was James Coley, the new wide receivers coach who held that position for Smart’s first two seasons before coaching quarterbacks the next two seasons, the final while calling plays as offensive coordinator in 2019.

Coley will be paid $650,000 in his first year back at Georgia, according to information released by the school to an open records request. New running backs coach/run game coordinator Josh Crawford will be paid $450,000. That’s $200,000 more than he made last season at Georgia Tech.

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Coley signed a two-year contract at South Carolina that was to pay him $650,000 this year and $850,000 in 2025, according to the Associated Press. His full terms and length of the deal at Georgia were not released.

Coley owed South Carolina a $450,000 buyout. He left the Gamecocks just six weeks after coach Shane Beamer hired him as wide receivers coach, something that clearly still irked Beamer as he introduced former Limestone coach Mike Furrey as wide receivers coach Friday.

“Here again introducing a wide receivers coach, but it is what it is,” Beamer said. “The previous coach made a decision that he felt was best for his family. We collected the $450,000 and then some that we were owed for violating or leaving his contract. And then it allowed us to go out and hire an even better wide receivers coach in my mind, and that’s not a knock on anybody, but that’s what I feel about this guy right here.”

Offensive guard Layden Robinson was at Texas A&M for all four seasons Coley was on staff from 2020-2023 where his roles included wide receivers coach, tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator.

He said Saturday at the NFL combine that he just saw on Instagram that Coley was now at Georgia after seeing he had landed at South Carolina.

“He coached them hard, he didn’t coach them soft,” Robinson said. “He was very passionate in his coaching.”

Safety Demani Richardson was also with the Aggies for all of Coley’s time at Texas A&M.

“He’s energetic,” Richardson said. “He’s gonna bring a lot of juice to Georgia.”

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Georgia football assistant coaches salaries