FBS Coaches' Salaries Up 55% Since '06 While Schools Raise Tuition, Tighten Budgets

The average pay for football coaches at public FBS schools in ’11 is $1.47M, "up nearly 55%" from '06 when the average was $950,000, according to a study cited in a front-page piece by Brady, Upton & Berkowitz of USA TODAY. Among public institutions in the six BCS conferences, “the average salary rose from $1.35 million in 2006 to $2.15 million in 2011.” That is “a jump of about 59%.” Critics find it “troubling that this rapid rise for coaches comes at time when instructional spending at many schools has slowed or declined amid economic struggles and shrinking state education budgets.” This season, “at least 64 coaches are making more than $1 million,” and of those, “32 are being paid more than $2 million, nine are making more than $3 million, and three are making more than $4 million.” Univ. of Texas’ Mack Brown tops the list with a total salary "more than $5 million.” Average pay for FBS head coaches “rose 7.3% from 2010.” Average pay for those coaches “was flat the year before, the only time there was no increase since USA TODAY began these analyses in 2006.” It is “common for schools to say that coach pay is pooled largely from TV, media and marketing contracts.” But in ’10, “only about 20% of FBS athletic departments were able to pay all their bills without help from the university or state funds or student fees.” The study shows that “only 22 athletic departments are self-supporting.” The “majority get subsidies from the university, often through student fees.” Texas Tech Univ. professor Julian Spallholz said, “The students pay more tuition, the faculty pay by not having a pay increase, and the football coach gets half-million-dollar raise. And this goes on in a lot of other places, not just there.” He added, “I think it speaks for itself, doesn’t it? It says football is much more important on a lot of campuses than academics” (USA TODAY, 11/17). The following chart lists the FBS coaches at public institutions whose total salary reaches $2.5M.

RK	SCHOOL	COACH	TOTAL	SCHOOL	OTHER	MAX BONUS
1	Texas	Mack Brown	$5,193,500	$5,192,500	$1,000	$850,000
2	Alabama	Nick Saban	$4,833,333	$4,683,333	$150,000	$700,000
3	Oklahoma	Bob Stoops	$4,075,000	$4,075,000	$0	$819,500
4	LSU	Les Miles	$3,856,417	$3,751,000	$105,417	$700,000
5	Iowa	Kirk Ferentz	$3,785,000	$3,785,000	$0	$1,750,000
6	Arkansas	Bobby Petrino	$3,638,000	$3,635,000	$3,000	$650,000
7	Auburn	Gene Chizik	$3,500,000	$3,500,000	$0	$1,200,000
8	Michigan	Brady Hoke	$3,254,000	$3,254,000	$0	$500,000
9	Florida	Will Muschamp	$3,221,000	$3,221,000	$0	$450,000
10	Georgia	Mark Richt	$2,939,800	$2,811,400	$128,400	$525,000
11	South Carolina	Steve Spurrier	$2,828,000	$2,800,000	$28,000	$1,000,000
12	Oregon	Chip Kelly	$2,800,000	$2,800,000	N/A	$1,035,000
13	Nebraska	Bo Pelini	$2,775,000	$2,775,000	N/A	$1,000,000
14	Ole Miss	Houston Nutt	$2,771,750	$2,756,250	$15,500	$715,000
15	Florida State	Jimbo Fisher	$2,750,000	$2,750,000	$0	$725,000
16	Missouri	Gary Pinkel	$2,700,000	$2,700,000	$0	$850,000
17	Wisconsin	Bret Bielema	$2,598,186	$2,500,000	$98,186	$400,000
18	Mississippi State	Dan Mullen	$2,500,000	$2,500,000	$0	$650,000

MO MONEY, MO PROBLEMS? The USA Today report this morning on rising college football coaches’ salaries was discussed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning. CNBC’s Becky Quick said, “I’ll tell you why this happens and why the salaries are the way they are. With Penn State, with everything that’s happened with Paterno, people started talking about why they would cover this up. Penn State had brought in $78 million last year. It's money that funnels back into the school.” CNBC’s Joe Kernen said, “I don't think there's any collusion in the boards of colleges to try to enrich an individual.” He added if the football coach “brings in tens of millions of dollars which can then be used for scholarships or whatever at a school, then you pay him what he's worth." Kernen: "My overall point is you pay people what the market will pay them” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 11/16).