2023 NCAA football head coach salaries methodology
METHODOLOGY
To determine the total pay packages of Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches for their current contract years, USA TODAY Sports requested all forms of compensation and pay reduction for the coach at all 133 schools.
About 20 of the schools or athletics departments are private or are public schools covered under state law exempting them from releasing full compensation data on coaches. Schools that provided contract documents were given the opportunity to review their figures.
Any pay the university guaranteed (even if paid by shoe/apparel company or another source) is listed as scheduled or actual “School Pay.” Anything not guaranteed by the university is included in “Total Pay.”
A not available (—) in the chart denotes amounts from schools that are private, did not release the information, or are amounts that cannot otherwise be determined.
A $0 means the coach doesn’t, or did not, get compensation from that source.
EXPLANATIONS OF COMPENSATION CATEGORIES
SCHOOL PAY: Base salary; income from contract provisions other than base salary that were to have been paid, or guaranteed, by the university or affiliated organizations, such as a foundation.
Examples include payments in consideration for: shoe and apparel use; television, radio or other media appearances; personal appearances.
Except as noted, these amounts are based on the coach’s annual pay rate for a full, standard-length contract year; except as noted, they do not reflect amounts earned for a partial year worked immediately after hiring or a partial year worked at an annual pay rate other than the current amount.
It also includes deferred payments earned annually, conditional or otherwise; contractual expense accounts (if unaudited), housing allowances, personal travel allowances paid in cash or on an up-front basis by schools; signing and other one-time bonuses earned in the current contract year.
It does not include amounts that may have been earned as annual incentive bonuses in other years, the value of standard university benefits such as health care or the value of potentially taxable items such as cars; country club memberships; game tickets for the regular season, postseason and other sports; the value of stadium suites, travel upgrades or spouse/family travel and game tickets.
TOTAL PAY: Sum of Actual School Pay and athletically related compensation received from non-university sources. (An NCAA rule requires athletics department employees to annually disclose athletically related income from non-university sources if that total is more than $600.)
BONUSES PAID: Amount coach was paid from May 15, 2022 through May 14, 2023 for meeting personal or team-performance goals. Does not include longevity and/or retention payments. Includes payments due to head coaches, regardless of whether they distributed portions to other staff.
Because schools were informed that the intent is to report amounts paid for goals achieved during the 2022-23 football season and school year, some schools provided information about applicable payments that were made after May 14, 2023. Amounts presented only for head coaches who are at the same public school that employed them as the head coach last season.
BUYOUT OWED AS OF DEC. 1, 2023: Amount school would owe coach if it fired him without cause on Dec. 1, 2023.
Many of these amounts are expressly subject to coach’s duty to make good-faith efforts to find another job, with income from that employment offsetting the amount owed. If mitigation and offset are not addressed in contract, coach still may have obligation to make efforts in that regard. The amount listed may be owed to coach over an extended period of time, rather than as a lump sum at termination. Amounts do not take into account per-day pro-rating for a partial contract year. Does not include longevity and/or retention payments.
NOTES
PITTSBURGH, TEMPLE AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS: The pay information listed came from federal tax returns or the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law report. Documents provide compensation for 2021 calendar year based on all income paid by the school or support organizations, including benefits, perks and performance bonuses.
AIR FORCE AND ARMY: The academies’ athletics departments operate as private, non-profit organizations, and both declined requests for coaches’ contracts.
AMOUNTS IN ADDITION TO COACHES’ TOTAL PAY
Includes payments made by schools and/or their affiliated organizations on behalf of newly hired coaches who owed buyout amounts to their previous employer for terminating contracts so they could accept employment elsewhere; also includes portions of new and existing buyout-related loans from schools scheduled to be forgiven during the coach’s current contract year.
ALABAMA: If Nick Saban remains head coach as of the date of the completion of the team’s final regular season game, the university has agreed to pay $100,000 to Saban’s family charity, the Nick’s Kids Foundation, or another charitable organization that Saban may designate after conferring with the university.
AUBURN: Paid $2.5 million to Liberty in connection with buyout that Hugh Freeze owed. Auburn also agreed to cover any tax liability, including any associated penalties and interest, associated with the payment, whether in the coming tax year or in any tax year thereafter, whether through a return or audit process.
CINCINNATI: Paid $3.5 million to Louisville in connection with buyout that Scott Satterfield owed. Cincinnati also agreed to cover any potential tax liability or other expenses that Satterfield may face in connection with this payment.
COLORADO: Paid Deion Sanders $300,000 to enable him to pay the buyout he owed to Jackson State, which he did. Colorado also paid Sanders $233,333 to enable him to pay the taxes due on that amount.
LOUISIANA STATE: Brian Kelly also is getting the value of a $780,000, interest-free mortgage loan the Tiger Athletic Foundation has provided in connection with Kelly’s purchase of a residence in the Baton Rouge area. Foundation is entitled to repayment of original loan amount, plus 20% of the increased value of the home at sale.
LOUISVILLE: Paid $1 million to Purdue in connection with buyout that Jeff Brohm owed.
PURDUE: Paid $20,000 to Illinois in connection with buyout that Ryan Walters owed. Purdue also agreed to cover any taxes, penalties or legal/professional costs that may be associated with this payment.
WISCONSIN: Paid $3.5 million to Cincinnati in connection with buyout that Luke Fickell owed.