College Football’s Highest Paid Coaches Based on Results

When the University of Florida made Steve Spurrier the highest-paid coach in college football history—and the sport’s first million-dollar man—in 1996, a scandal surrounded the news.

A million dollars? College sports? It feels strange when revisited in this era. High level coaches are now joining this team with seven players.

Referring to USA Today’s coach salary database, which was updated as recently as October 2024, 92 FBS coaches earn at least $1 million per year. Sure, inflation from the last 30 years is a factor, but if all professional pay scales increased by the level of coaching salaries…

With that in mind, it’s not a bad idea to check training time in relation to their main bank accounts. Using USA Today’s findings, the following quartet excels in delivering results that fall short of their salary.

Notable left out is Penn State’s James Franklin. Franklin’s 1-10 all-time record against Ohio State is certainly a sore spot among Nittany Lions fans, as is the program’s inability to make a College Football Playoff appearance.

However, the Nittany Lions have consistently finished seasons ranked in the top ten. With Franklin’s $8.5 million salary ranking as the 13th-highest among coaches, Penn State’s results often meet or exceed its head coach’s pay.

Trent Dilfer, UAB

Starting with the 77th highest paid coach in sports may seem like an odd choice. However, UAB’s hiring of Trent Dilfer was an oddity in itself, and his short tenure almost eclipsed the remarkable career of his predecessor, Bill Clark.

Clark transformed the traditional barrel-dwelling system, which had been virtually closed at the beginning of his time, into a perennial crucible. Dilfer took over with four years of high school coaching at Tennessee-based Lipscomb Academy, and the Blazers began to struggle.

They went 4-8 last season and are 2-6 through eight games in 2024, with an average of 25.7 points per game. At $1.5 million a year, Dilfer is being paid more than his in-state teammate Rich Rodriguez, who won 14 games in less than two seasons at Jacksonville State.

Dilfer’s UAB team also suffered a humiliating loss this season at the hands of ULM, coached by Bryant Vincent, a former Clark assistant who went on to work for the Blazers. Vincent is paid $900,000 less per year than Dilfer.

Billy Napier, Florida

As the first program to ever pay its head coach $1 million, Florida clearly takes its investment in football seriously. Those in Gainesville responsible for making such decisions want immediate and consistent ROI. Just ask Jim McElwain and Dan Mullen, both of whom were fired within two years of reaching the SEC Championship Game.

So, with third-year Gators coach Billy Napier sporting a dismal 15-18 record during his tenure and aiming for a third consecutive .500 finish, it makes sense that Napier was on the hot seat. His $7.37 million annual contract, which ranks No. 21 in college football, is modest compared to the rest of the SEC—and perhaps reflects a large buyout paid for the program’s impatience.

Mullen’s buyout came with a $12 million cap hit, which Florida pays through 2027. McElwain’s buyout totaled $7.5 million, the same amount UF initially failed to pay Colorado State to hire him away from Fort Collins.

The biggest reason he’s coming back in 2025: Napier’s buyout cost $26.7 million.

Lincoln Riley, Southern California

In the nearly 15 years since the end of Pete Carroll’s reign at USC, the Trojans faithful have offered no explanations as to why the program has not been able to recapture its dominance of the 2000s.

The NCAA’s punishments after the Reggie Bush scandal—which would never violate today’s rules—were overly punitive. The Pac-12 Conference hosted USC. The investment in coaching salaries was not competitive with college football’s elite.

Well, it’s been a decade since Bush ended the sanctions. The Trojans are now members of the Big Ten, and at more than $10 million a year, Lincoln Riley is the fourth-highest paid coach in sports and the best in the Big Ten.

A promising start in 2022, when USC went 11-1 in the regular season, seemed to justify the big contract. Since then, however, USC has posted a combined 12-12 record, with a disappointing finish through 2022, an 8-5 record in 2023 that felt like a repeat of the Clay Helton years, and a 2 start -5 in 2024. The Trojans lost to three Big Ten teams with league records of .500 or worse (Washington, Michigan, and Maryland).

Mark Stoops, Kentucky

The inclusion of Stoops, who in 2022 became Kentucky’s all-time wins leader, is troubling.

Winning consistently at a strong basketball school is no easy task—just look at the track records of the Duke, Kansas, Conn., or Arizona football programs. Look, too, at Stoops’ Kentucky predecessors, many of whom have seen tremendous success during his tenure.

Bear Bryant and his successor, Blanton Collier, are the only other Wildcats coaches after World War II to have records over .500 at UK.

Stoops is also the ninth-highest paid coach in sports, making just over $9 million a year. Kentucky has finished ranked in the season-ending Top 25 just twice during Stoops’ tenure—the most recent, in 2021, saw its 10 wins removed.

Measured against the history of Kentucky football, Stoops is an undeniable success. However, compared to his $9 million salary, Stoops is one of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the game.