College football’s top 25 highest-paid coaches for 2020 season

22. David Shaw – Stanford

• 2020 Salary- $4.6 million

This one looks a lot worse this season than it did in seasons past, but David Shaw was one of the better coaches in the country for a while. After taking over for Jim Harbaugh in 2011, Shaw led Stanford to five double-digit win seasons and three Pac 12 Titles. Unfortunately, he hasn’t hit double-digit wins since 2016, and last season the floor fell out with a 4-8 season.

Shaw has the Cardinal staring another rough season unless they can buck expectations. They have the third-worst odds to win the Pac 12, with only Oregon State and Colorado trailing them. That’s not a great situation to be in, especially being one of the highest-paid coaches in the NCAA.

Shaw usually makes even more than this, with incentives adding to his compensation. According to this post from the Stanford Daily back in 2017, he actually made $5.68 million that year. All head coaches have interesting perks added to their contracts. Some have incentives to win certain games or big raises for winning a championship. Others get a company car or other stranger additions. Either way, Shaw is getting paid well to be at Stanford.

How much longer will Stanford, a college that’s more into academics over athletics, be willing to pay big money for a coach if he doesn’t have results on the field? Stanford is a private university, so it doesn’t face the same scrutiny as a public college, but those investors into the college want to be more than a laughing stock in the Pac 12. The school paid for long-term results, so it will be interesting to see how they deal with another rough year if it happens.