People are thinking about "budgets" incorrectly on here.
People use the term "budget" to refer to some maximum amount of money a school can spend on its coaching staff (for some schools, this definition applies).
But it's more useful to think of a budget as a "sum" of the money the school spends on its coaching staff. It's not necessarily a maximum amount the school could spend.
Budgets have ballooned over the last decade. Over the last 5 years. Over the last three years. Why? Bigger tv contracts. More booster support. More merch sales. Etc.
Here's how much each conference made in 2020. Member institutions usually receive an equal portion of the Conference Revenue:
- Big Ten $768.9 million
- SEC: $728.9 million
- Pac-12: $533.8 million
- ACC: $496.7 million
- Big 12: $409.2 million
How do budgets grow year over year? A newly hired coach negotiates a
starting budget with a school which is higher than the previous annual outlay. Or an employed coach goes to whoever sets the budget in the school and says: I want to pay Trob 300k more than they're offering at Miami. The school approves. And now Alabama has a higher "coaching budget" than the previous year.
So Georgia gets much more money from the SEC than Miami gets from the ACC. Georgia nets more money than Miami in ticket sales (and probably merch sales). Georgia has an extensive and deep booster support. They simply have a higher athletic budget.
So Kirby, the coach who just won a championship, is gonna tell the AD: We need to pay BMAC x amount more than Miami is offering in order to get him here. And it'll get done. Cause Georgia has deeper pockets.