THE highest-paid coaches in college football have been revealed – with the top earner on a nine-figure contract.
Southern California’s Lincoln Riley, Ohio State’s Ryan Day and the University of Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian are all on USA Today‘s list of the most compensated.
Kirby Smart is the highest-earning coach in college football[/caption]
Dabo Swinney is the second-highest earner[/caption]
But Georgia’s Kirby Smart tops the list with a huge $13.3m yearly salary.
Smart reportedly signed a 10-year deal worth $130m back in May.
But sports reporters Mark Giannotto and Steve Berkowitz are among the growing number of people to have criticised his earnings.
Last month, they wrote: “But the optics — and rationale — have been complicated by a rash of traffic-related incidents of varying significance involving Georgia football players that continued into this season; recent graduation rates that are among the worst in the country; and the underlying question of what responsibility lies with a man who’s likely now the highest-paid public employee in the country.”
Smart pockets over $2m more than second-highest earner Dabo Swinney of Clemson University.
The two are the highest-paid coaches on record since USA Today’s database was formed in 2006.
Before this year, Nick Saban was the highest-paid coach in NCAA history with an $11.4m annual salary having won more titles than anyone else.
But his retirement sparked a huge change in the college football climate.
College football’s most compensated coaches
1 – Kirby Smart: $13,282,580
2 – Dabo Swinney: $11,282,580
3 – Steve Sarkisian: $10,600,000
4 – Lincoln Riley: $10,043,418
5 – Ryan Day: $10,021,250
6 – Mike Norvell: $10,000,000
6 – Kalen DeBoer: $10,000,000
7 – Brian Kelly: $9,975,000
8 – Mark Stoops: $9,975,000
9 – Josh Heupel: $9,000,000
9 – Eliah Drinkwitz: $9,000,000
9 – Lane Kiffin: $9,000,000
Many of the game’s top ten earners were handed a pay rise ahead of the 2024 season.
Sarkisian is now being paid 47 per cent more than he was last year.
And Alabama’s newly-appointed Kalen DeBoer was handed a $10m salary to become the joint-fifth higest-paid coach in college football alongside Florida State’s Mike Norvell.
Brian Kelly, Mark Stroops, Josh Heupel, Eliah Drinkwitz and Lane Kiffin complete the top 10.
Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian has earned a 47 per cent pay rise from last year[/caption]
Lincoln Riley is also among the top five earners[/caption]
