Money, money, and more money. They say money makes the world go round and if that saying is true, the world of college coaching is spinning at an all time high. This week it was announced by Ohio State, that the 2014 National Champions had signed head coach Urban Meyer to a new contract extension. So how much is a coach with a 38-3 record in three years and a national championship worth? In Meyer’s case, he’s worth an average of $6.5 million over the next six seasons. Meyer’s original contract was set to expire in 2017, with the extension; Ohio State has locked up its coach through the 2020 season.
With the extension, Meyer becomes the sixth head football coach to haul in over six million dollars per season. The other five coaches include Nick Saban, Mark Dantonio, Bob Stoops, Kevin Sumlin and Charlie Strong. It’s certainly a fine time to be a coach.
But football coaches are not the only ones cashing in. The highest paid coach in all of college athletics can be found coaching basketball at Kentucky. John Calipari will make over seven million dollars next season. Then, in the final three years of his deal which is set expire after the 2020-2021 season, the Wildcats will pay their head man a cool eight million per season. While Calipari’s salary is by far the highest, other universities in the SEC are starting to realize they will have to pay if they want to improve as a basketball league. That commitment was made clear over the last few weeks with new basketball coaches Ben Howland, of Mississippi State, Avery Johnson, of Alabama and Rick Barnes of Tennessee each set to make over two million per year.
The Crimson Tide inked Johnson, who has NBA experience, to a six year deal that will pay out nearly $18 million over the life of the contract. Barnes will make roughly the same amount in his first year at Tennessee as he did last season at Texas. In fact the SEC now pays at least 13 of the leagues 14 head coaches over one million dollars per year. Vanderbilt has not publicly disclosed Kevin Stallings salary.
It’s Not Just the Big Boys
While as expected, the highest paid coaches are mostly found coaching in the Power Five, smaller schools from the Group of Five are starting to pay up too. According to USA Today Sports, 72 head football coaches made over one million dollars during the 2014 season. Thirteen of the 72 coaches pulling in over a million dollars coached at G5 schools last season. Eight of the coaches were from the AAC, three from the Mountain West, one from the Sun Belt and Ken Niumatalolo of Navy. (USA Today did not have salaries figures for coaches from USC, Boston College, Wake Forest, BYU, Syracuse, Temple and Vanderbilt)
2014 Group of Five Coaches Earning Over $1 Million
University presidents and athletic directors at small schools are starting to come around to the fact, that in today’s world of college athletics you have to pay up to have a legitimate chance of consistently winning. In order to pay top tier coaches, fundraising has become even more important. Many AD’s are turning to athletic foundations as well as corporate sponsorships to raise more money. These outside sources of money have become particularly important, especially with many states having to cut funding from higher education due to budget issues.
What’s Next?
How high can coaching salaries rise? Critics of the NCAA and the college athletic system will point out that once again student-athletes are being left out in the cold while others make millions. This is certainly true, but will not slow down the arms race that has taken over college sports. Salaries will continue to rise as the next hot name hits the scene and several boosters get together and rake up a pile of cash to pay that coach. As long as there is belief that the coach can produce results, there will be people willing to pay.
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