USA TODAY Study Finds 25 FBS Coaches Making $2M Or More

Report Says 85% Of FBS University Presidents Feel Coaches Like Stoops' Salaries "Excessive"

There are at least 25 college football coaches making $2M or more this season, "slightly more than double the number two years ago," according to Wieberg, Upton, Perez & Berkowitz of USA TODAY as part of a study of college football coaches' salaries. Higher education is "in crisis, staggered by a depressed economy that has shrunk state appropriations, endowments and overall institutional budgets," but most sports programs continue to spend, "starting with football coaches salaries." The average pay for a head coach in the FBS is "up 28%" in the past two years and "up 46% in three years," to $1.36M. But despite the "higher salaries, athletics overall has not escaped the paring knife." USA Today and NCAA studies indicated that only 25 of the 120 programs in FBS "made more than they spent" in '07-08, though critics of those studies said that they "might undercount some expenses, particularly capital spending." Meanwhile, the Division I-A Athletic Directors Association said that a "third of the schools responding to a survey this year had cut athletics staff in the last five years." Salaries "take the single biggest bite out of athletics operating budgets" in the FBS, and the USA Today study follows a Knight Commission report released last month that indicated that 85% of FBS university presidents "felt football and basketball coaches' compensation 'was excessive.'" But Univ. of Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin said, "I really think you have to spend money to make money." Kiffin added when Univ. of Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who is making $3.9M this year, was hired, "Every article was, 'I can't believe how much we paid Nick Saban at Alabama.' Well, guess what? Nobody writes about it anymore because they win." The following lists the FBS college football coaches who are making $2M or more this season in total salary among schools who responded to the study (USA TODAY, 11/10).

SCHOOL	COACH	SALARY	OTHER INCOME	TOTAL SALARY	MAX BONUS
USC	Pete Carroll	$4,386,652	N/A	$4,386,652	N/A
Oklahoma	Bob Stoops	$1,350,000	$2,953,000	$4,303,000	$819,500
Florida	Urban Meyer	$250,000	$3,750,000	$4,000,000	N/A
Alabama	Nick Saban	$225,000	$3,675,000	$3,900,000	$700,000
LSU	Les Miles	$300,000	$3,451,000	$3,751,000	$650,000
Ohio State	Jim Tressel	$1,065,000	$2,657,000	$3,722,000	$450,000
Georgia	Mark Richt	$809,340	$2,287,236	$3,096,576	$475,000
Texas	Mack Brown	$1,540,000	$1,520,500	$3,060,500	$850,000
Iowa	Kirk Ferentz	$3,020,000	$4,500	$3,024,500	$1,000,000
Arkansas	Bobby Petrino	$1,900,000	$958,000	$2,858,000	$550,000
California	Jeff Tedford	$1,225,000	$1,582,500	$2,807,500	$265,000
Texas Tech	Mike Leach	$1,100,000	$1,600,000	$2,700,000	$650,000
Missouri	Gary Pinkel	$575,000	$1,950,000	$2,525,000	$850,000
Michigan	Rich Rodriguez	$859,000	$1,662,000	$2,521,000	$300,000
Ole Miss	Houston Nutt	$200,000	$2,309,000	$2,509,000	$715,000
Florida State	Bobby Bowden	$565,875	$1,753,500	$2,319,375	$727,793
Kansas	Mark Mangino	$529,900	$1,773,600	$2,303,500	$675,000
Georgia Tech	Paul Johnson	$325,000	$1,975,000	$2,300,000	$1,025,000
Wake Forest	Jim Grobe	$333,000	$1,839,127	$2,172,127	$343,000
Virginia Tech	Frank Beamer	$272,328	$1,865,672	$2,138,000	$407,500
Virginia	Al Groh	$291,700	$1,780,639	$2,072,339	$940,000
Rutgers	Greg Schiano	$1,715,000	$355,932	$2,070,932	$530,000
Auburn	Gene Chizik	$500,000	$1,550,000	$2,050,000	$1,300,000
South Carolina	Steve Spurrier	$507,500	$1,524,000	$2,031,500	$900,000
Tennessee	Lane Kiffin	$350,000	$1,650,000	$2,000,000	$540,000