Bob Stoops Leads Highest Paid College Football Coaches
College football is one of America’s most celebrated sports. Millions of dollars are spent by fans on tickets, tailgating, sportswear and concessions. That doesn’t even begin to take into consideration the money spent by colleges on recruiting players, paying coaches, putting uniforms on the team and paying for players scholarships. The college football industry is driven by fans, tradition and money. Winning games means more money, more students wanting to go to the school and more fans.
One expense that highly winning football schools pay close attention to is the football coach’s salary. Schools with more winning programs pay their coaches a lot more than those with mediocre programs. If a coach wins a national championship or consistently goes to the more prominent bowl games, he’s pretty much able to write his own ticket.
No matter what, the coaches with the highest salaries have worked to get the best results from their players and for their schools. As of 2009, the highest paid college football coaches, with their yearly salaries, are:
- Bob Stoops – University of Oklahoma $4,303,000
- Urban Meyer – University of Florida $4,000,000
- Nick Saban – University of Alabama $3,900,000
- Les Miles – Louisiana State University $3,751,000
- Jim Tressel – Ohio State University $3,722,000
- Mark Richt – University of Georgia $3,096,576
- Mack Brown – University of Texas $3,060,500
- Kirk Ferentz – University of Iowa $3,024,500
- Bobby Petrino – University of Arkansas $2,858,000
- Jeff Tedford – University of California $2,807,500
With these high salaries come the high pressures of a highly paid college football coach. Fans are quick to weigh in on if they think a coach is worth the money, and as soon as the team starts losing, there is talk of being replaced. Of course these coaches are where they are because they know how to win year after year.
Multimillion dollar salaries don’t come without their share of stress and sacrifices. The highest paid college football coaches spend most of their time either traveling for recruiting purposes, at practice preparing for games, on the road at away games and handling press conferences related to team news.
Often times their families hardly see or get to spend time with them, especially during season. But when they are successful, their price tag continues to go up. It takes a lot of skill to be the best in this field. The top ten are paid handsomely because they have continued to get results for the schools they represent.
Salaries taken from BleacherReport.com