USA Today released its annual list of coaches salaries for all 120 FBS head coaches. As you can imagine, the coaches at the BCS conferences are well paid, and those in the SEC are truly making bank.
The Top 10 highest-paid coaches in the country (based on USA Today’s research) are the following:
- Nick Saban, Alabama – 5.997 million
Mack Brown, Texas – 5.161 million
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma – 4.375 million
Les Miles, LSU – 3.905 million
Jim Tressel, Ohio State – 3.888 million
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa – 3.781
Jim Grobe, Wake Forest – 2.939 million
Mark Richt, Georgia – 2.937 million
Bobby Petrino, Arkansas – 2.713 million
Gary Pinkel, Missouri – 2.550 million
Note: data was not submitted by some private universities, so coaches like Lane Kiffin, Jim Harbaugh, and Brian Kelly are not on the list. Kiffin would be in the top five based on reports, and there’s no doubt Kelly would be in the top 10. Harbaugh probably isn’t in this group. Also, Urban Meyer was in the 4 million club but is not on the list because of his resignation.
If you want to look at the most overpaid coaches, you can start with
you can start with Grobe, who despite being an excellent coach and building a program at a non-football school is making almost $3 million per season. His team went 3-9 this year but he did lead them to their best season ever in 2006. You would probably also be surprised to learn that Greg Schiano is making $2 million at Rutgers. Though the team struggled to a 4-8 season this year, he did lead them to five straight bowl games before the season.
Frank Beamer at 2.128 million per season is one of the best values in college football. The man has been at Virginia Tech since 1987 and been to a bowl every year since 1993. He’s had 12 double digit win seasons and has won at least 10 games for the Hokies seven straight seasons. Best value in college football.
And if you want to know why Kirk Ferentz never leaves Iowa despite being mentioned as a candidate for several big jobs that arise, his salary explains it all.
