Jimmy Boyd in 
This article takes a look at how much each head coach in college makes on a yearly basis. We don’t just cover the guys at the top of the list. We go looking for the salaries on all 130 FBS teams.
Unfortunately, the private schools don’t have to make this information public. Unless it shows up on a tax document or the number gets leaked, we won’t know the exact numbers. I was able to find some credible sources for some of the private coaches, but not all of them.
All those I wasn’t able to find anything for, were thrown to the bottom of the list without a salary. They are not included in the conference averages.
Some contracts include incentives and bonuses beyond a base salary. If that compensation was not performance-based (e.g. coach receives a bonus for making a bowl game), we have included it in their compensation for the season. This gets us closest to the number the school is actually paying their coach. I’d also note that some of these numbers are the average compensation per year as only the total contract was disclosed.
NCAA College Football Head Coach Salary Breakdown
Dabo Swinney is now the highest-paid coach in the country. He’ll earn around the same on average as Saban over the next several years of their contracts, but he received additional pay this year due to a contract extension that included some additional incentives.
It’s hard to argue against Swinney and Saban being the highest-paid coaches. Clemson and Alabama have dominated the college football scene over the last decade. Since 2009, either Alabama or Clemson have won the NCAA Championship game in all but two seasons, and they’ve matched up against each other three times. Swinney is 2-1 in those head-to-head matchups against Saban, so it isn’t shocking to see Clemson reward him with the biggest contract in college football history.
Ranking College Football Head Coaching Salaries for the 2023 Season
| Coach | School | Conference | Est. 2023 Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Saban | Alabama | SEC | $10,950,000 |
| Dabo Swinney | Clemson | ACC | $10,500,000 |
| Kirby Smart | Georgia | SEC | $10,250,000 |
| Brian Kelly | LSU | SEC | $9,800,000 |
| Mel Tucker | Michigan St. | Big Ten | $9,500,000 |
| Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M | SEC | $9,000,000 |
| Ryan Day | Ohio State | Big Ten | $8,800,000 |
| James Franklin | Penn State | Big Ten | $8,500,000 |
| Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | Big Ten | $8,100,000 |
| Mike Gundy | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | $7,500,000 |
| Billy Napier | Florida | SEC | $7,250,000 |
| Lane Kiffin | Ole Miss | SEC | $7,250,000 |
| Kirk Ferentz | Iowa | Big Ten | $7,000,000 |
| Brent Venables | Oklahoma | Big 12 | $7,000,000 |
| Mike Stoops | Kentucky | SEC | $6,750,000 |
| Sam Pittman | Arkansas | SEC | $6,000,000 |
| Kyle Whittingham | Utah | Pac-12 | $6,000,000 |
| Pat Narduzzi | Pitt | ACC | $5,650,000 |
| Chip Kelly | UCLA | Pac-12 | $5,600,000 |
| Steve Sarkisian | Texas | Big 12 | $5,400,000 |
| Paul Chryst | Wisconsin | Big Ten | $5,250,000 |
| Bryan Harsin | Auburn | SEC | $5,100,000 |
| Jeff Brohm | Purdue | Big Ten | $5,100,000 |
| Luke Fickell | Cincinnati | AAC | $5,050,000 |
| Mack Brown | North Carolina | ACC | $5,000,000 |
| Josh Huepel | Tennessee | SEC | $5,000,000 |
| Dave Doeren | NC State | ACC | $5,000,000 |
| PJ Fleck | Minnesota | Big Ten | $5,000,000 |
| Dan Lanning | Oregon | Pac-12 | $4,700,000 |
| Mike Norvell | Florida State | ACC | $4,500,000 |
| Tony Elliott | Virginia | ACC | $4,450,000 |
| Tom Allen | Indiana | Big Ten | $4,300,000 |
| Bret Bielema | Illinois | Big Ten | $4,300,000 |
| Dana Holgorsen | Houston | AAC | $4,200,000 |
| Justin Wilcox | Cal | Pac-12 | $4,200,000 |
| Matt Campbell | Iowa State | Big 12 | $4,000,000 |
| Neal Brown | West Virginia | Big 12 | $4,000,000 |
| Mike Locksley | Maryland | Big Ten | $4,000,000 |
| Greg Schiano | Rutgers | Big Ten | $4,000,000 |
Does knowing how much each coach make help you with your college football betting at all? Probably not, but there have been plenty of guys who wanted to keep the boosters happy so put an emphasis on covering the spread. Keeping boosters happy and earning a higher salary are probably related.