College Football coaching salaries 2017: Worth it, not worth it
With the 2017 college football coaching salaries out, who has been worth it and who might be a little overpaid?
With the never-ending battle for supremacy in college football getting more intense by the year, head coaching salaries around the nation have continued to rise.
One of the most interesting things to watch for every college football season is the annual list of salaries for head coaches, which was released earlier in the year via USA Today. With unproven first-year head coaches getting huge contracts coupled with ever-increasing buyouts, hiring or firing a coach is going to cost most programs a hefty sum.
Alabama’s Nick Saban leads all head coaches with an $11.1 million salary for 2017. The conference has a whopping 10 coaches making over $3 million dollars, as opposing programs continue to raise the stakes in the effort to catch up to Saban’s dynasty.
Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Penn State’s James Franklin all rank top 12 nationally in annual salary from the competitive Big Ten East ranks. After a well-deserved contract extension during the offseason, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ranks second behind Saban with an $8.5 million salary for 2017.
A few highly-paid coaches are well worth every penny for their respective programs, while others haven’t lived up to their lofty salaries.
Not worth it: Tom Herman
It’s nowhere near time to start worrying about Herman’s future with the Longhorns, but Texas may be questioning giving such a hefty salary to a relatively inexperienced head coach.
After helping Ohio State to a national championship in 2014 as the offensive coordinator under Meyer, Herman took the head coaching job at Houston. The Cougars were the class of the Group of Five in Herman’s first year with a 13-1 overall record, including an impressive win over Florida State in the Peach Bowl.
Herman continued to do major work on the recruiting trail, including bringing in superstar defensive tackle Ed Oliver, although the Cougars would slip to 9-3 in his second year. Looking to turn around a sliding program, Texas hired Herman prior to the 2017 season, giving him a salary just shy of $5.5 million for his first year.
The Longhorns entered the season ranked No. 23 and figured to be competitive even in somewhat of a rebuilding year, only to surrender 482 yards in a 51-41 loss to Maryland to open the season. A nice win over West Virginia in week 12 brought the Longhorns to 6-5 for the season, but a loss to struggling Texas Tech is not the way Herman wanted to end the regular season.
As great as the Herman hire looked, giving a coach with two years of experience, one of which resulted in a somewhat disappointing 9-3 campaign, the eighth highest salary isn’t paying off right now. While Herman has a ton of time to right the ship, the pressure will be mounting in Austin if things don’t improve by the end of next year.