Which college football program is getting the most bang for its buck?
RELATED: SEC head coach salaries
Sorted by the current AP Top 25, there’s a couple schools seeing immediate returns on their investment while others need to enforce a pay-cut.
2014 guaranteed money for head coaches (sorted by Week 6 Top 25)
1. Florida State: Jimbo Fisher — $3.5 million
2. Oregon: Mark Helfrich — $1.8 million
3. Alabama: Nick Saban — $6.9 million (CFB’s highest-paid)
4. Oklahoma: Bob Stoops — $5.2 million
5. Auburn: Gus Malzahn — $3.8 million
6. Texas A&M: Kevin Sumlin — $5 million
7. Baylor: Art Briles — Undisclosed.
8. UCLA: Jim Mora — $3.2 million
9. Notre Dame: Brian Kelly — Undisclosed.
10. Michigan State: Mark Dantonio — $3.2 million
11. Ole Miss: Hugh Freeze — $3 million
12. Mississippi State: Dan Mullen — $2.8 million
13. Georgia: Mark Richt — $5.4 million
14. Stanford: David Shaw — Undisclosed.
15. LSU: Les Miles — $4.3 million
16. USC: Steve Sarkisian — Undisclosed.
17. Wisconsin: Gary Andersen — $2.2 million
18. BYU: Bronco Mendenhall — Undisclosed.
19. Nebraska: Bo Pelini — $3.1 million
20. Ohio State: Urban Meyer — $4.5 million
21. Oklahoma State: Mike Gundy — $2.9 million
22. East Carolina: Ruffin McNeill — $1.2 million
23. Kansas State: Bill Snyder — $2.8 million
24. Missouri: Gary Pinkel — $3.1 million
25. TCU: Gary Patterson — Undisclosed.
*salary information collected by NewsDay.
Takeaways — East Carolina is getting Ruffin McNeill at a bargain price of $1.2 million, fifth-cheapest nationally in the FBS ranks. The Pirates are nationally-ranked for the first time in several years and have won two spotlight games already against Power 5 Conference programs … Oregon partially opening the checkbook post-Chip Kelly was a smart business plan since it doesn’t appear Mark Helfrich’s (3 losses in 17 games) going to get it done in Autzen … Coming off a BCS National Championship in Tallahassee, Jimbo Fisher’s well worth his annual salary of $3.5 million … Nick Saban’s nearly $7 million price tag guarantees College Football Playoff contention and often features an annual trip to Atlanta … Imagine where Mizzou would be without Gary Pinkel? $3.1 million seems cheap following an Eastern Division title in only the Tigers’ second season in the SEC.
