There’s no need to beat around the bush: The SEC’s recruiting budgets blow every other conference’s out of the water. The SEC is home to six schools that spent over one-million dollars on recruiting student-athletes for its men’s sports teams.

Yesterday, recruitment expense data from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Conference USA was posted. Today, data for the MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12, SEC, Sun Belt, and WAC will be posted. On Monday, a spreadsheet listing the top-50 spenders in terms of recruiting will be listed, sorted by total recruitment expense budget, amount spent per team on average and amount spent per player on average.

The data was obtained from the Department of Education. Although this data is not perfect, it is the only data available for both public and private institutions. Furthermore, the data provided is for the 2010-11 school year. Additionally, it should be noted that the “Amount Per Player” column was calculated using the total amount of student-athletes at a given school. The Department of Education data does not disclose how many student-athletes a school recruited in a given year. Thus, using the data alone, it is impossible to calculate how much it cost a school to recruit a specific class.

Schools Men’s Sports Recruitment Expenses Average Per Team Average Per Player Alabama $1,339,537.00 $191,362.43 $4,801.21 Arkansas $1,060,500.00 $176,750.00 $4,158.82 Auburn $1,530,917.00 $218,702.43 $5,798.93 Florida $1,065,716.00 $152,245.14 $3,765.78 Georgia $1,039,220.00 $148,460.00 $3,806.67 Kentucky $865,254.00 $108,156.75 $2,800.17 LSU $574,182.00 $82,026.00 $1,858.19 Mississippi State $477,868.00 $79,644.67 $1,982.85 Ole Miss $694,038.00 $115,673.00 $2,953.35 South Carolina $497,213.00 $62,151.63 $1,897.76 Tennessee $1,878,771.00 $268,395.86 $7,089.70 Vanderbilt $792,574.00 $132,095.67 $4,238.36

Schools Women’s Sports Recruitment Expenses Average Per Team Average Per Player Alabama $354,665.00 $35,466.50 $1,318.46 Arkansas $420,057.00 $46,673.00 $2,154.14 Auburn $586,728.00 $58,672.80 $2,793.94 Florida $436,183.00 $43,618.30 $1,888.24 Georgia $501,523.00 $50,152.30 $1,885.42 Kentucky $394,811.00 $43,867.89 $2,218.04 LSU $353,808.00 $39,312.00 $1,734.35 Mississippi State $245,349.00 $35,049.86 $1,858.70 Ole Miss $288,921.00 $36,115.13 $1,992.56 South Carolina $361,850.00 $40,205.56 $1,345.17 Tennessee $417,252.00 $46,361.33 $1,977.50 Vanderbilt $275,908.00 $34,488.50 $1,713.71

In a surprising twist, the school which spent the most on recruiting for its men’s teams in 2010-11 was not Alabama, Auburn or LSU, but rather, Tennessee. The Vols spent $1,878,771.00 on recruiting student-athletes for its men’s sports teams in 2010-11.

The SEC programs which spent at least $1 million on recruiting student-athletes for their men’s sports programs were: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Interestingly, LSU, which participated in this year’s BCS National Championship Game was one SEC school whose men’s sports recruitment expenses did not top $1 million. LSU spent $574,182.00 on recruiting for its men’s sports teams in 2010-11.

The school which spent the most on recruiting student-athletes for its women’s sports programs was Auburn. Auburn expended $586,728.00 to recruit student-athletes for its women’s sports teams in 2010-11.