Per Coach Mike Leach’s request, WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos increased the assistant football coach budget by $160,000 in the off-season and allowed Leach to allocate salary raises.

The increase in the total assistant coach salary pool from the 2016 season to the 2017 season is $145,000.

No state appropriations are used for coaching salaries, Associate Athletic Director Bill Stevens said.

Special Teams Coordinator Eric Mele and outside linebackers Coach Roy Manning received the largest raises at $30,000, increasing Mele’s salary to $231,500 and Manning’s to $301,500.

Before leaving for Oregon, Joe Salave’a, defensive line coach and associate head coach, would have made $400,000 per year. His successor, Jeff Phelps, will make $316,500.

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch received a $25,000 raise, and five other assistant coaches received $15,000 raises.

Leach’s own raise is pending and Moos said the two will have a conversation to discuss it.

The WSU Athletics department spends less than other Pac-12 schools, Stevens said. The assistant coach salary pool will be about $2,750,000, which ranks WSU tenth in the Pac-12, he said.

“WSU Athletics does its best to offer a competitive salary to all coaching positions,” Stevens said.

The department’s ending carry forward balance in fiscal year 2016 was -$51 million, the only department in the university listed with a negative carry forward balance, according to the July 2016 carry forward report.

Reporting by Jessica Zhou and Rosemarie Blume