By the time you finish reading this sentence, Nick Saban will have made more money than someone earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 makes in an hour.
That’s what happens when a society turns its college football coaches into one-man ATMs who can spew out more cash than Bank of America.
Saban’s $9.1-million salary for the 2020 season with the Alabama Crimson Tide translates to $175,000 a week, $4,375 an hour, $72.91 a minute and $1.21 per second if broken down as part of a 40-hour work week. Maybe the team’s rally cry should be “Bankroll Tide.”
It’s the same story of obscene riches for Louisiana State’s Ed Orgeron ($8.7 million), Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($8.25 million) and a legion of others. Even a flock of assistants such as Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian ($2.5 million) can make more in a year than their respective school’s entire English department.
Perhaps those Pac-12 players asking their conference for a chunk of revenue should have started with the man who recruited them.
Here’s a look at the salaries of coaches at the Power Five conferences and the athletic department revenue at those schools. (Figures are latest available).
PAC-12 CONFERENCE
Coach: Kevin Sumlin
2020 salary: $3.5 million
Year at school, record: Third year, 9-15
Coaching resume: Sumlin endured a slow, agonizing decline at Texas A&M after a debut 2012 season in which the Aggies won the Cotton Bowl and Johnny Manziel captured the Heisman Trophy. Sumlin never again posted a winning record again in Southeastern Conference play and his family received a threatening letter after the Aggies squandered a 34-point lead against UCLA in the 2017 season opener. His first two seasons at Arizona have been a disappointment.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $102.2 million
Fast fact: Sumlin was the highest-compensated college football coach in 2018, making $11.9 million thanks mostly to the $9.9 million that Texas A&M paid him as part of his departure the previous year.
Coach: Herm Edwards
2020 salary: $3.5 million
Year at school, record: Third, 15-11
Coaching resume: Once considered the runt of the Pac-12’s new coaches before the 2018 season, Edwards has proved to be best in show. The former NFL coach and broadcaster has taken the Sun Devils to bowl games in his first two seasons, earning a two-year contract extension.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $101.8 million
Fast fact: Edwards will receive a $1-million retention bonus if he is the Sun Devils’ coach on June 1, 2024.
Coach: Justin Wilcox
2020 salary: $3.05 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 20-18
Coaching resume: A former defensive coordinator under Steve Sarkisian at Washington and USC, Wilcox set himself up for his first head coaching job by helping Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst forge one of the nation’s top defenses during a 2016 season in which the Badgers won the Cotton Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $94.6 million
Fast fact: Cal structured Wilcox’s contract to reflect growing expectations after giving him a significant raise following the 2018 season. While his base salary continues to rise, some performance bonuses have dropped; he’ll receive an additional $125,000 for winning at least seven games in a given season versus $250,000 for that same achievement under his previous contract.
Coach: Karl Dorrell
2020 salary: $3.2 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Not good, if you ask UCLA fans. Dorrell was a flop with the Bruins outside of his 10-2 season in 2005. After his firing in December 2007, he embarked on a lengthy return to the NFL in a variety of low-profile roles in addition to one season as Vanderbilt’s offensive coordinator. His hiring by the Buffaloes prompted mostly shrugs throughout the conference.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $98.4 million
Fast fact: Dorrell’s contract that makes him the highest-paid football coach in Colorado history includes $300,000 a year for “development of the student-athlete” and $700 a month for membership at the Boulder Country Club or “a club with comparable facilities.”
Coach: Mario Cristobal
2020 salary: $2.7 million
Year at school, record: Third, 21-7
Coaching resume: After an underwhelming six-year run as Florida International’s coach, Cristobal revived his career as a dogged recruiter under Nick Saban at Alabama. He became an assistant under then-Oregon coach Willie Taggart prior to the 2017 season before succeeding Taggart when he departed for Florida State.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $108.5 million
Fast fact: Like all Oregon coaches, Cristobal is taking a 10% pay cut and surrendering performance bonuses for the 2020-21 season as part of salary reductions that are expected to save the athletic department roughly $1.1 million amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coach: Jonathan Smith
2020 salary: $2.4 million
Year at school, record: Third, 7-17
Coaching resume: Smith’s Cinderella story started as a walk-on quarterback from Glendora who went on to lead Oregon State to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Notre Dame while becoming the school’s all-time leading passer (he currently ranks third). He’s enjoyed a similar rise through the coaching ranks after starting as a graduate assistant at his alma mater before eventually becoming quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator under Washington’s Chris Petersen.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $82.3 million
Fast fact: Smith’s contract that he signed in January after exceeding expectations in 2019 called for a $500,000 raise from last season and goes through 2025. Smith can earn an additional year to his contract, with a $100,000 salary bump, if he wins at least six games during the 2020, 2021 or 2022 seasons.
Coach: David Shaw
2019 salary: $4.61 million
Year at school, record: Tenth, 86-34
Coaching resume: Shaw needed less than a decade to become Stanford’s all-time winningest coach, though the Cardinal are coming off a 4-8 season in which they failed to make a bowl game for the first time under Shaw. But Shaw’s honeymoon will likely last as long as he wants to remain at Stanford given his three conference titles and as many trips to the Rose Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $139.3 million
Fast fact: The Stanford Daily once ran an editorial titled “The Obscenity of David Shaw’s Salary” — and that was three years before the school announced it was cutting 11 sports to help offset a massive budget deficit in its athletic department. Shaw agreed to an unspecified pay cut as part of cost-saving measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coach: Chip Kelly
2020 salary: $4.3 million
Year at school, record: Third, 7-17
Coaching resume: Kelly was hailed as the greatest hire in UCLA history in November 2017 by no less than legendary alumnus Troy Aikman after agreeing to a five-year, $23.3-million contract. Long known for being chintzy, the Bruins thought Kelly was worth the school-record sum after guiding Oregon to three conference titles and the national championship game after the 2010 season. His NFL stint that included a playoff appearance with the Philadelphia Eagles and a 2-14 record with the San Francisco 49ers did not dim UCLA’s enthusiasm, though two dismal seasons with the Bruins have soured a significant portion of the fan base.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $127.3 million
Fast fact: Kelly’s $9-million buyout expires Jan. 15, 2022, meaning that he likely will have at least two more seasons (assuming one is played this spring) to show that he’s capable of nudging the Bruins back toward respectability.
Coach: Clay Helton
2018 Salary: $4.5 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 40-22
Coaching resume: Seen as the safe choice to steady the Trojans after the rocky tenures of Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian, Helton was hired as the permanent coach in November 2015 after going 5-2 on an interim basis. Helton also had the strong support of the players he had nurtured in a variety of roles at the school after arriving in 2010 as quarterbacks coach and rising to offensive coordinator.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $118.6 million
Fast fact: A buyout that’s believed to be in excess of $20 million may explain why Helton has been granted more lives than Bruce Willis in “Die Hard.” He’s gone 13-12 over the last two seasons, not exactly the return that then-athletic director Lynn Swann expected in February 2018 when he lavished a more than 40% raise upon Helton as part of a contract extension lasting through the 2023 season. Swann was gone by the fall of 2019 after resigning amid a hail of criticism, but Helton has remained a campus fixture.
Coach: Kyle Whittingham
2020 salary: $4 million
Year at school, record: 16th, 131-64
Coaching resume: The dean of Pac-12 coaches, Whittingham brings a lot more than longevity to the job. He’s accomplished more with fewer resources than arguably any of his conference peers while operating in a relatively barren recruiting region. His salary is a bargain given the Utes have won consecutive Pac-12 South titles and are 11-3 in bowl games, including a victory over Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $94.1 million
Fast fact: Whittingham’s contract that runs through 2023 includes a clause that would allow the 60-year-old to become a special assistant to the athletic director for eight years if he retires as a Utah employee, entitling him to 10% of his annual salary. That means Whittingham could be pulling in $400,000 per year while sitting on a beach.
Coach: Jimmy Lake
2020 salary: $3 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Lake had been the Huskies’ coach-in-waiting long before Chris Petersen abruptly stepped down last season, turning down several jobs elsewhere in anticipation of his ascent in Seattle. He followed Petersen from Boise State to Washington before the 2014 season as the Huskies’ defensive backs coach, rising to defensive coordinator before his latest promotion.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $133.7 million
Fast fact: Lake has transitioned from the highest-paid assistant in the Pac-12, earning $1.4 million last season, to one of the conference’s least compensated head coaches, his salary exceeding only that of two others. With Lake’s assistant salary off the books, Washington’s assistants will make a combined $800,000 less than the $5.94 million hauled in last season by those who worked for Petersen. New defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who is slated to make $1 million, replaces Lake as the highest-paid assistant.
Coach: Nick Rolovich
2020 salary: $3 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: The Cougars traded in one pass-happy coach for another when they replaced Mike Leach with Rolovich, whose Hawaii offenses were known for rolling up yards and points with a run-and-shoot style. Rolovich earned the opportunity to coach at the Power Five level by leading the Rainbow Warriors to at least seven wins in three of his four seasons.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $75.9 million
Fast fact: Rolovich’s salary represents a 400% raise over the $600,000 he was making at Hawaii. He has agreed to a 5% pay cut in his first season as part of measures to help the athletic department budget in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources: Arizona Republic, Denver Post, Deseret Morning News, Oregonian, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, U.S. Department of Education
BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Coach: Lovie Smith
2019 salary: $4 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 15-34
Coaching resume: A longtime NFL head coach, who was selected coach of the year with the Chicago Bears in 2005, Smith returned to the college game in 2016 after a 30-year hiatus. His tenure at Illinois hasn’t gone much better than his ill-fated run as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, when he won eight of 32 games in two seasons.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $100,156,079
Fast fact: Smith had won just four Big Ten games in three years when Illinois decided he was due a contract extension in 2018. He matched that win total in 2019 season, which was good enough for Illinois’ best Big Ten record since 2007.
Coach: Tom Allen
2020 salary: $3.9 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 18-20
Coaching resume: Allen had never been a head coach before being promoted in 2016, following Kevin Wilson’s sudden resignation. From 1992 to 2006, he coached at the high school level and didn’t join a Football Bowl Subdivision staff until 2011 at Arkansas State.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $126,358,047
Fast fact: Allen, who has more wins in his first three seasons than any coach in Indiana history, signed a new deal in December that more than doubled his previous $1.7 million salary, which was the lowest in the Big Ten.
Coach: Kirk Ferentz
2019 salary: $4.8 million
Year at school, record: 22nd, 162-104
Coaching resume: The longest tenured active coach at one school in college football, Ferentz has had only one other head coaching gig: A stint at Maine from 1990 to 1992, in which he finished 12-21. Before Iowa, he spent six seasons in the NFL as an offensive line coach with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $144,070,825
Fast fact: Iowa announced in August that it would cut four varsity sports, of which the combined 2019 operating expenses amount to less than 19% of Ferentz’s annual salary.
Coach: Mike Locksley
2019 salary: $2.5 million
Year at school, record: Second, 3-9
Coaching resume: In his third stint at Maryland, where he was the offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2015 and the running backs coach from 1997 to 2002, Locksley spent three years boosting his coach stock under Nick Saban at Alabama before earning the head Terrapins job in 2019.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $108,796,303
Fast fact: Locksley, who is the lowest-paid head coach in the Big Ten, once took a pay cut as the Big Ten’s highest-paid coordinator to be an offensive assistant at Alabama, where he made $45,000 under Nick Saban in 2016.
Coach: Jim Harbaugh
2020 salary: $8.05 million
Year at school: Sixth, 47-18
Coaching resume: The NFL coach of the year in 2011 and a Super Bowl runner-up in 2012, Harbaugh soured with San Francisco in 2014 and left for his alma mater. Prior to his NFL stint, Harbaugh was a college head coach at San Diego and Stanford, the latter of which he led to a BCS bowl win in his final season.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $175,006,632
Fast fact: Only Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Alabama’s Nick Saban made more in salary than Harbaugh last season. On-field results haven’t been quite as equal. Over five years at Michigan, Harbaugh has 18 losses, while Swinney and Saban have combined for 12 during the same span.
Coach: Mel Tucker
2020 salary: $5.5 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Tucker began his career as a graduate assistant under Nick Saban at Michigan State, bouncing between college football and NFL assistant jobs until 2019, when Colorado hired him for his first head coaching job. He went 5-7 in one season before leaving for East Lansing.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $116,186,933
Fast fact: When Mark Dantonio resigned amid NCAA rules allegations, Michigan State was first turned down by Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell before settling on Tucker, whose salary at Colorado ($2.7 million) had to be more than doubled to persuade him to leave.
Coach: P.J. Fleck
2020 salary: $4.6 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 23-15
Coaching resume: Fleck led Western Michigan to a 10-win season and a New Year’s Day bowl for the first time in program history before taking the job at Minnesota, where last season he led the Gophers to their first 11-win campaign since 1904.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $122,667,963
Fast fact: After Minnesota finished ranked in the top 10 nationally in 2019, Fleck was handed a contract extension through 2026 with a raise of $1 million per year and a $10-million buyout to keep him in Minneapolis.
Coach: Scott Frost
2019 salary: $5 million
Year at school, record: Third, 9-15
Coaching resume: A former Nebraska and NFL quarterback, Frost worked under Chip Kelly as Oregon’s receivers coach before landing as head coach at Central Florida. In his second season, Frost led the Golden Knights to an undefeated season in 2017, before returning to his alma mater.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $130,313,578
Fast fact: Frost’s contract calls for a $5-million salary pool for his assistants, the third-highest such number in the Big Ten, behind Michigan and Ohio State. His $20-million buyout is also the third-highest in the conference.
Coach: Pat Fitzgerald
2019 salary: $5.15 million
Year at school, record: 14th, 99-79
Coaching resume: Basically a lifer at Northwestern, Fitzgerald spent just three years away from his alma mater as an assistant at Maryland, Colorado and Idaho before returning to Northwestern in 2001. He was promoted to head coach in 2006 and has been the most successful coach in school history, while turning down several interviews at the NFL level.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $111,421,226
Fast fact: With its own virtual reality room, 14,000-square-foot weight room and lakeside practice field, Northwestern spent $270 million on the state-of-the-art Walter Athletics Center in hopes of competing with the Big Ten’s best. The Wildcats finished 3-9 in 2019.
Coach: Ryan Day
2020 salary: $6 million
Year at school, record: Second, 13-1
Coaching resume: Mentored by Chip Kelly, who gave him his start at New Hampshire in 2002, Day went to the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers to coach with Kelly, before coming to Ohio State under Urban Meyer in 2017. He succeeded Meyer as head coach in 2019 and won a Big Ten title in his first year.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $209,102,666
Fast fact: Four Ohio State assistants — Kerry Coombs, Greg Mattison, Kevin Wilson and Larry Johnson — were each set to make more than $1 million in 2020, the first time any school had four assistants with seven-figure salaries.
Coach: James Franklin
2020 salary: $6.7 million
Year at school, record: Seventh, 56-23
Coaching resume: In his first head coaching job, Franklin led Vanderbilt to consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time in school history. He was hired shortly after at Penn State and won the Big Ten in 2016. Penn State has won 11 games in three of his six seasons.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $151,044,038
Fast fact: Per his new contract extension, Franklin will be paid a $500,000 retention bonus on Dec. 31 every year, simply for staying at his job. He also negotiated 50 hours annually of private jet time, as well as a $10,000 annual automobile allowance.
Coach: Jeff Brohm
2020 salary: $6.66 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 17-21
Coaching resume: Brohm’s head coaching career began in the Arena League, where he finished 2-14 in one season with the Louisville Fire. He led Western Kentucky to conference titles in 2015 and 2016, before taking the Purdue job.
2019 fiscal athletic department revenue: $110,844,907
Fast fact: Brohm was among the 10 highest-paid coaches in college football in 2019, while Purdue won four games, half the total wins of every other coach in the top 10. That’s $1.6 million per victory.
Coach: Greg Schiano
2020 salary: $4 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Schiano spent a decade as Rutgers coach and won more than any other coach in Rutgers history before a failed NFL run as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent the last three seasons as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $83,053,040
Fast fact: Since joining the Big Ten in 2012, a Feb. 2019 report showed that Rutgers athletics had accumulated $193 million in financial losses and deficits.
Coach: Paul Chryst
2020 salary: $4.25 million
Year at school, record: Sixth, 52-16
Coaching resume: Chryst briefly left Wisconsin to be head coach at Pittsburgh but otherwise spent 15 of the last 20 years in Madison, where the Badgers have won three of the last four Big Ten West Division titles.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $151,369,153
Fast fact: Chryst had his contract extended in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, but his annual salary trails all but three other coaches in the conference.
Sources: Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, ESPN, HawkeyeSports.com, Indy Star, Minneapolis Star Tribune, NewJerseyTVOnline/PBS, News Gazette, Omaha World-Herald, PennLive.com, USA Today, U.S. Department of Education, Washington Post, Wisconsin State Journal
BIG 12 CONFERENCE
Coach: Dave Aranda
2020 salary: (Not reported)
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Aranda led one of the nation’s top defenses at Louisiana State in recent seasons, before accepting his first head coaching gig this offseason. He has also served as defensive coordinator at Utah State and Wisconsin.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $101,243,920
Fast fact: In his final year at LSU, Aranda was the nation’s highest-paid assistant coach, with a $2.5-million salary.
Coach: Matt Campbell
2020 salary: $3.6 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 26-25
Coaching resume: Campbell came from Toledo, where he was Mid-American Conference coach of the year in 2015. He’s twice won Big 12 coach of the year honors since joining Iowa State in 2016.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $79,860,045
Fast fact: As Iowa State reduced employee salaries to cut costs, Campbell took an additional pay cut in June — of nearly $150,000 — to help offset cuts to his staff’s salaries.
Coach: Les Miles
2019 salary: $2.775 million
Year at school, record: Second, 3-9
Coaching resume: A national title-winning coach at LSU in 2007, Miles was fired a decade later and didn’t resurface as a coach until 2019 at Kansas.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $119,768,008
Fast fact: When Miles was fired from LSU in 2016, his $4.39-million salary was one of the highest in college football. Today, Miles boasts the second-lowest salary of any Big 12 coach.
Coach: Chris Klieman
2019 salary: $2.5 million
Year at school, record: Second, 8-5
Coaching resume: Klieman won four Football Championship Subdivision championships at North Dakota State from 2014-2018, before jumping to FBS at Kansas State, where he took over for legendary coach Bill Snyder. He lost nearly as many games last year as he did in five years at North Dakota State.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $89,919,819
Fast fact: Klieman’s salary at North Dakota State was $300,000 per year. He made two-thirds ($200,000) of that in bonuses during Year 1 at Kansas State.
Coach: Lincoln Riley
2020 salary: $6.15 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 36-6
Coaching resume: Known as an offensive virtuoso, Riley spent two years under Bob Stoops as a coordinator before becoming his successor. Oklahoma has won the Big 12 championship every year since.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $159,286,136
Fast fact: Now the highest-paid coach in the Big 12, Riley’s initial salary of $3.1 million in 2017 has nearly doubled with an extension this offseason. His assistants’ salaries have increased by 26% during that span.
Coach: Mike Gundy
2020 salary: $4.25 million
Year at school, record: 16th, 129-64
Coaching resume: A former Oklahoma State quarterback, Gundy has never been a head coach anywhere else. He won the Big 12 championship in 2011 and was the conference coach of the year in 2010.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $91,066,952
Fast fact: Gundy agreed to take a $1-million pay cut and a reduction to the length of his contract following an internal review over his decision to wear a shirt of OANN, a TV news network that has been critical of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Coach: Tom Herman
2019 salary: $6.75 million
Year at school, record: Fourth, 25-15
Coaching resume: Herman burst onto the scene as Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Ohio State, where the Buckeyes won a national title with their third-string quarterback. He soon took the head job at Houston, where he was selected American Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2015. He was hired by Texas in 2017.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $215,829,101
Fast fact: No university generates more athletics revenue than Texas, whose football program alone generated $114 million in the 2018 fiscal year. Among Big 12 schools, Oklahoma was a distant second with $51.3 million.
Coach: Matt Wells
2020 salary: $3 million
Year at school, record: Second, 4-8
Coaching resume: Twice named Mountain West coach of the year at his alma mater, Utah State, Wells took over at Texas Tech in 2019.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $86,442,709
Fast fact: Kliff Kingsbury, now coaching the Arizona Cardinals, would have been paid $4 million if he had remained coach at Texas Tech. Instead, the Red Raiders are paying Wells a million less per year than their former coach.
Coach: Gary Patterson
2019 salary: $4.9 million
Year at school, record: 21st, 172-70
Coaching resume: As TCU’s head coach, Patterson has won titles in all three conferences the Horned Frogs have played in since 2000 (Conference USA, Mountain West and Big 12). He led TCU to an undefeated regular season in 2009 and was twice named AP coach of the year, the first time a non-Power Five coach had won the award.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $118,496,653
Fast fact: Among college football coaches, only Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz has been at his current job longer (22 years), but Patterson has more wins — and a $100,000 edge in annual salary.
Coach: Neal Brown
2020 salary: $3.1 million
Year at school: Second, 5-7
Coaching resume: Brown turned Troy into a respectable program during his four years at the helm, winning 10 games in three of four seasons and taking home the Sun Belt title in 2017.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $101,095,223
Fast fact: At Troy, Brown’s contract paid him $3.26 million over four years. At West Virginia, he’ll make that in one season, if he can win the Big 12 title for an added $150,000 incentive.
Sources: The Advocate, Des Moines Register, ESPN, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Kansas.com, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Sports Illustrated, U.S. Department of Education, WV Metro News
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
Coach: Nick Saban
2020 salary: $9.1 million
Year at school, record: 14th, 157-23
Coaching resume: Hailed as one of the best coaches in college football history, Saban is a six-time national champion (five at Alabama), eight-time SEC champion (six at Alabama), two-time Walter Camp coach of the year and two-time Associated Press college football coach of the year.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $166,812,799
Fast fact: Saban will be the highest-paid public school coach in the nation in 2020 before bonuses. After his coaching staff was already the highest-paid staff in the nation last year, several assistants and support staff members got raises this summer, including offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, whose $2.5-million salary is tied for the richest assistant contract in college football this season.
Coach: Sam Pittman
2020 salary: $3 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: The first-time Division I head coach earned the opportunity at Arkansas after a successful career as an offensive line coach, most recently at Georgia. He has coached 15 players selected in the NFL draft since 2013, including 2020 fourth overall pick Andrew Thomas.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $139,504,649
Fast fact: Arkansas fired former head coach Chad Morris with two games remaining in the 2019 season after a 2-8 start, swallowing a $10-million buyout for terminating the contract.
Coach: Gus Malzahn
2020 salary: $6.9 million
Year at school, record: Eighth, 93-62
Coaching resume: Malzahn led the Tigers to the SEC championship and the 2014 BCS national championship game in his first year on the job after inheriting a team that was winless in SEC play the year before. He has gone to a bowl game in every season at Auburn with a 2-5 postseason record.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $152,455,418
Fast fact: After leading the Tigers to the Peach Bowl in 2017, Malzhan signed seven-year, $49-million extension, which not only gave him an almost $2-million raise, but raised his buyout to 50% of the remaining salary if the school were to fire him. The sum does not dip into the seven digits until 2023.
Coach: Dan Mullen
2020 Salary: $6.07 million
Year at school, record: Third, 21-5
Coaching resume: Mullen has two New Year’s Six bowl wins in as many years at Florida after a nine-year career at Mississippi State where he left as the second-winningest coach in school history.
2019 athletic department revenue: $143,627,997
Fast fact: Mullen was hired at Florida after Chip Kelly turned the Gators down in favor of UCLA that same summer. Kelly is making $2 million less a year and is 7-17 with the Bruins.
Coach: Kirby Smart
2020 salary: $6.8 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 44-12
Coaching resume: Under Smart, Georgia has finished in the top 10 in the polls for three straight years, has a school-record three consecutive 11-win seasons, and went to the College Football Playoff national championship game in the 2017 season. As defensive coordinator at Alabama, he was part of four national championship teams.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $174,042,482
Fast fact: Smart signed a seven-year, $49-million extension in 2018, almost doubling his original deal that was paying him $3.75 million annually.
Coach: Mark Stoops
2020 salary: $5 million
Year at school, record: Eighth, 44-44
Coaching resume: Stoops, a former Arizona and Florida State defensive coordinator, has led the Wildcats to winning records in each of the last four years, including a 10-3 mark in 2018 that earned him SEC coach of the year.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $83,062,478
Fast fact: Stoops is a rare case of a football coach not being the highest-paid coach at his school; Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari will make $7.6 million this year. Tennessee has a similar dynamic with its men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes ($5.2 million) outpacing football coach Jeremy Pruitt ($3.8 million).
Coach: Ed Orgeron
2020 salary: $8.7 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 40-9
Coaching resume: Just days after leading LSU to an undefeated, national championship season in January, Orgeron earned a contract extension that will make him the second-highest paid public school coach in the nation this season.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $157,787,780
Fast fact: Before signing his six-year, $42-million extension, Orgeron made $4 million in 2019. His salary nearly doubled in part to a $5-million life insurance policy that is split over the first two years of the deal.
Coach: Lane Kiffin
2020 salary: $3.9 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: After a failed stint as the USC head coach, Kiffin rehabilitated his image as an assistant under Nick Saban before rebounding as the Florida Atlantic head coach. He won two Conference USA titles in three seasons with the Owls.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $96,790,426
Fast fact: Kiffin owed a $1.5-million buyout to Florida Atlantic for leaving last December and was on the hook for at least $1.2 million more related to a loan FAU gave him to move into a home in the Boca Raton area.
Coach: Mike Leach
2020 salary: $5 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Leach went 55-47 in eight seasons as the Washington State head coach, leading the Cougars to a school-record five straight bowl wins before leaving this summer. The Cougars went through an eight-year bowl drought before he arrived.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $101,454,439
Fast fact: The eccentric former Washington State coach got into trouble when he tweeted a meme of an elderly woman knitting a noose in April, with the caption joking that it was a “scarf” for her husband during quarantine. He deleted and apologized for the image, but it cost him a starter as defensive lineman Fabien Lovett transferred to Florida State soon after.
Coach: Eliah Drinkwitz
2020 salary: $4 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: In his FBS head coaching debut, Drinkwitz led Appalachian State to a Sun Belt conference-record 12 wins with a conference-record 11-1 regular-season mark. The Mountaineers were the first Sun Belt team to earn a top-20 ranking in the AP poll, finishing 19th, and had wins over two Power Five teams.
2019 fiscal year Athletic department revenue: $94,612,498
Fast fact: Drinkwitz made $750,000 in his one season at Appalachian State.
Coach: Will Muschamp
2020 salary: $4.4 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 26-25
Coaching resume: Muschamp was fired after a 28-21 record in four years at Florida, which included one Sugar Bowl appearance. He has one bowl win in three appearances with South Carolina and missed the postseason with a 4-8 record last year, which tied his 2013 season at Florida for the worst mark in his coaching career.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $140,295,659
Fast fact: Muschamp restructured his contract in December to forgo $200,000 in annual raises. . At the same time, the school increased running backs coach Thomas Brown’s salary from $300,000 to $500,000 a year through 2021.
Coach: Jeremy Pruitt
2020 salary: $3.8 million
Year at school, record: Third, 13-12
Coaching resume: Another Nick Saban disciple, Pruitt helped Alabama to two national championships as the defensive backs coach (2011, 2012) and another as the defensive coordinator in 2017. In his first year as a Division I coordinator, Pruitt also helped Florida State to the 2013 national title.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $135,818,717
Fast fact: Despite having the second-lowest paid head coach among SEC public schools this year, the Volunteers are prepared to invest in their assistants: Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley earned $1.5 and $1 million, respectively, in 2019, making Tennessee one of five schools with multiple assistants making seven figures.
Coach: Jimbo Fisher
2020 salary: $7.5 million
Year at school, record: Third, 17-9
Coaching resume: Fisher led Florida State to an 83-23 record and the 2013 BCS national championship, winning three Atlantic Coast Conference championships and going to five straight New Year’s Six bowls from 2012-2016.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $160,101,611
Fast fact: Fisher resigned from Florida State in 2018 for a groundbreaking 10-year, $75-million fully guaranteed contract at Texas A&M. Not only was it an unprecedented sum of guaranteed money for a public university, Fisher also is not obligated to pay any money if he were to leave early.
Coach: Derek Mason
2017 salary: $3.3 million
Year at school, record: Seventh, 27-47
Coaching resume: Mason was an assistant at Stanford under Jim Harbaugh, then David Shaw, before coming to Vanderbilt in 2014. He has yet to deliver a winning season in Nashville, but managed to win three straight games against in-state rival Tennessee for the first time since the 1920s and played in bowl games in 2016 and 2018 to finish with 6-7 records.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $86,186,155
Fast fact: Despite middling results, Mason received a contract extension after the 2018 season, although the terms were not released. Vanderbilt, being a private institution, is not obligated to share financial information.
Sources: The Advocate, Alabama athletics, AL.com, Arkansas Times, Clarion Ledger, Columbia Missourian, Houston Chronicle, Macon Telegraph, Post and Courier, Tuscaloosa News, University of Kentucky, University of Tennessee, USA Today, U.S. Department of Education
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
Coach: Jeff Hafley
2020 salary: $3 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: Hafley’s blend of college and NFL experience made him an attractive option to replace Steve Addazio, whose parade of seven-win seasons had grown tiresome for a fan base yearning for a breakthrough. Hafley had spent five years as an NFL assistant, including one under Chip Kelly with the San Francisco 49ers, before taking a job as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator for the 2019 season.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $82.6 million
Fast fact: Hafley arrived at Chestnut Hill early this year with a wallet fattened by the $323,000 bonus he earned for helping Ohio State reach the College Football Playoff in his final season with the Buckeyes.
Coach: Dabo Swinney
2020 salary: $8.25 million
Year at school, record: 13th, 130-31
Coaching resume: Swinney has won two national championships since 2016, putting an end to the use of “Clemsoning” as a phrase to describe disappointment. The Tigers rewarded him with a 10-year, $93-million contract that’s intended to preserve Clemson as his only stop as a head coach.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $124.6 million
Fast fact: Swinney took a $687,500 pay cut as part of fiscal measures intended to help the athletic department during the COVID-19 pandemic. That reduction alone exceeds the salary of at least 24 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches.
Coach: David Cutcliffe
2020 salary: $2.6 million
Year at school, record: 12th, 67-72
Coaching resume: Cutcliffe has elevated Duke to a level it hasn’t enjoyed since Steve Spurrier guided the program to its last ACC championship in 1989, taking the Blue Devils to six bowl games and four in a row from 2012 to 2015. Cutcliffe’s 67 victories at the school are 48 more than Duke’s total in the previous 11 seasons combined.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $116 million
Fast fact: Cutcliffe’s salary has been slashed twice in recent months like those of other high-earning Duke employees as part of the school’s efforts to curtail a budget shortfall. His most recent pay cut was an unspecified amount between 2.5% and 10% of his salary.
Coach: Mike Norvell
2020 salary: $3.75 million
Year at school, record: First
Coaching resume: One of the nation’s hot young coaches is about to find out whether the success he enjoyed in the AAC translates to the ACC. Norvell’s Memphis Tigers won the American Athletic Conference in his final season, earning a berth in the Cotton Bowl. Now comes a bigger challenge: reviving Florida State after the Seminoles went 9-12 under Willie Taggart before jettisoning him late last season.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $198.4 million
Fast fact: Norvell’s 25% pandemic pay cut is among the largest in the country, outpacing those of Florida State athletic director David Coburn (20%) and men’s basketball coach Leonard Hamilton (15%).
Coach: Geoff Collins
2020 salary: $3.1 million
Year at school, record: Second, 3-9
Coaching resume: A Georgia native and former Georgia Tech assistant, Collins got the Yellowjackets’ job after guiding Temple to consecutive bowl games. While his first season at Georgia Tech was dismal, the Yellow Jackets have brought in a recruiting class ranked in the top 30 nationally.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $79.4 million
Fast fact: Collins’ unusually lengthy seven-year, $23.1-million contract calls for him to make an additional $100,000 each season, ending in a salary of $3.6 million in 2025.
Coach: Scott Satterfield
2020 salary: $3.25 million
Year at school, record: Second, 8-5
Coaching resume: Satterfield helped Appalachian State make a painless transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision, leading the Mountaineers to a 51-24 record before being hired at Louisville to replace Bobby Petrino. His first season with the Cardinal ended with a victory over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $148.6 million
Fast fact: Louisville is planning to allow 18,000 fans to attend fall football games at 60,800-seat Cardinal Stadium, helping the school offset some of the financial losses that involved Satterfield taking a 10% pay cut. His salary still represents a bonanza for someone who once had to supplement his $7,000 stipend as an assistant coach at Appalachian State by operating snow blowers at a nearby ski resort.
Coach: Manny Diaz
2019 salary: $3.1 million
Year at school, record: Second, 6-7
Coaching resume: A former ESPN intern, Diaz has gone from cutting highlights to making them at the highest level of college football. Nearly two decades as an assistant resulted in Diaz being offered the Temple job in December 2018, only for him to bolt for Miami upon the retirement of Mark Richt. Diaz never coached a game for the Owls.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $127.1 million
Fast fact: The Hurricanes had to pay Temple a $4-million buyout for Diaz’s 18-day dalliance.
Coach: Mack Brown
2020 salary: $3.5 million
Year at school, record: Second, 7-6
Coaching resume: After his Texas glory ebbed toward the end of his 16 seasons with the Longhorns, Brown decided that nothing could be finer than returning to North Carolina. The Tar Heels immediately showed that they could be a player on the national stage, nearly upsetting Clemson in Brown’s first game as their coach since the 1998 Gator Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $105.4 million
Fast fact: The Tar Heels sold out all six home games and made the Military Bowl upon Brown’s return, prompting the school to give him a one-year contract extension that will run through the 2024 season.
Coach: Dave Doeren
2020 salary: $3.25 million
Year at school, record: Eighth, 47-42
Coaching resume: After back-to-back seasons of double-digit victories at Northern Illinois, Doeren persevered through a 3-9 debut season with the Wolfpack to take them to five consecutive bowl games from 2014 to 2018. Then they went 4-8 last season, winning only one conference game.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $92.7 million
Fast fact: Doeren’s contract calls for bonuses of $50,000 for eight wins (including the postseason); $100,000 for nine wins; $150,000 for 10 wins; $200,000 for 11 wins and $250,000 for 12 or more wins.
Coach: Brian Kelly
2018 salary: $1.8 million
Year at school, record: 11th year, 92-37
Coaching resume: Kelly is the fourth-winningest coach in Notre Dame history, and his .735 winning percentage ranks second behind Nick Saban among active FBS coaches with at least 15 years of head coaching experience, but the official record states otherwise: Notre Dame vacated its 2012 and 2013 seasons under Kelly due to NCAA sanctions, wiping 21 victories and an appearance in the 2013 BCS national championship game off the board.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $169,547,625
Fast fact: While Notre Dame was on the field during its season-opener, the school announced a contract extension for Kelly to stay through the 2024 season. The deal was agreed upon in December but wasn’t announced immediately due to the pandemic. The coach’s 2018 salary, reported through the school’s tax returns, does not include money made from external sources, like Notre Dame’s apparel deal with Under Armour.
Coach: Pat Narduzzi
2019 salary: $3.4 million
Year at school, record: Sixth, 36-29
Coaching resume: Narduzzi built his reputation as a defensive guru under Mark Dantonio at Michigan State before taking the Pitt job in 2014. He’s said he wanted to “build something” with the Panthers, meaning there’s work to be done unless he meant appearances in the Quick Lane, Military and Pinstripe bowls.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $98.8 million
Fast fact: Narduzzi showed the power of a momentous victory when his team beat then-No. 2 Miami to end the 2017 season, netting him a seven-year contract extension despite the fact the Panthers finished 5-7.
Coach: Dino Babers
2018 Salary: $3.2 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 60-42
Coaching resume: Babers’ speedy ascent to major college football from the Football Championship Subdivision came courtesy of two successful seasons at Eastern Illinois followed by consecutive bowl appearances at Bowling Green. His Syracuse teams have set offensive records and enjoyed pockets of success, including a 10-win season in 2018.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $99.8 million
Fast fact: Babers’ salary in 2018, the last year for which records are available, was higher than that of celebrated Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim, who made $2.8 million. But Babers has some catching up to do in the resume department, considering Boeheim won a national championship in 2003 and Babers’ best season ended in the Camping World Bowl.
Coach: Bronco Mendenhall
2020 Salary: $3.85 million
Year at school, record: Fifth, 25-27
Coaching resume: Mendenhall has a proven record of flipping programs, becoming the only other active coach besides Alabama’s Nick Saban to take two or more programs to a bowl game by the end of his second season after inheriting a team that had posted a losing record the previous year. Taking Virginia to the Orange Bowl, as Mendenhall did last season, has solidified his status with the Cavaliers despite posting an overall losing record.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $108.8 million
Fast fact: Mendenhall’s salary dwarfs those of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ($175,000) and University of Virginia President James Ryan ($772,500).
Coach: Justin Fuente
2020 Salary: $4.25 million
Year at school, record: Fifth season, 33-20
Coaching resume: Fuente has kept the Hokies humming since the retirement of Frank Beamer, taking them to a bowl game in each of his first four seasons. He resisted overtures from Baylor in January, after Virginia Tech closed the season with losses to Virginia in their rivalry game and Kentucky in the Belk Bowl.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $83.7 million
Fast fact: Fuente’s hefty salary can be partly explained by football’s role in the Hokies’ financial hierarchy; the football team cleared $18.1 million during the 2019 fiscal year compared with the men’s basketball team netting $2.1 million and the school’s other 20 sports combining to lose $17.4 million.
Coach: Dave Clawson
2019 Salary: $2.1 million
Year at school, record: Seventh, 36-40
Coaching resume: Clawson has guided the Demon Deacons to a school-record four consecutive bowl games, erasing the memory of successive 3-9 seasons to start his tenure.
2019 fiscal year athletic department revenue: $76.5 million
Fast fact: Clawson’s success prompted the school to give him an eight-year contract extension in April 2019; he’ll have to give a small portion of his conference-low salary back after agreeing to a 10% pay cut as part of cost-cutting measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources: 247 Sports, Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Raleigh News & Observer, Richmond (Va.) Times Dispatch, Sports Illustrated, Syracuse (N.Y.) Post Standard, United States Dept. of Education, University of Louisville, USA Today, Washington Business Journal, Winston-Salem Journal
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