How much did your favorite SEC school pay its coach per football win in 2015?

Using coaching salary data from USA Today, CBS Sports took a simplistic but insightful look at that question for each of the power conferences as well as the American Athletic Conference.

CBS only used regular-season wins, and also credited the original head coach with wins for the entire season (i.e. Steve Spurrier at South Carolina is attached to a 3-9 record despite resigning well before the season ended).

Here is the SEC-specific data, followed by a few thoughts.

PRICE PER WIN FOR SEC COACHES IN 2015

COACH DOLLAR PER ’15 WIN RECORD
1. Jim McElwain, Florida $398,336 10-3
2. Butch Jones, Tennessee $454,125 8-4
3. Mark Richt, Georgia $458,222 9-3
4. Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss $478,889 9-3
5. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State $500,000 8-4
6. Les Miles, LSU $548,590 8-3
7. Bret Bielema, Arkansas $565,809 7-5
8. Nick Saban, Alabama $590,623 12-1
9. Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M $625,000 8-4
10. Mark Stoops, Kentucky $652,720 5-7
11. Gus Malzahn, Auburn $684,083 6-6
12. Gary Pinkel, Missouri $753,778 5-7
13. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina $1.34 million 3-9
  • Jim McElwain may be the “cheapest” per win in the SEC. But that doesn’t take into account the money that the team still is paying Will Muschamp. Florida paid McElwain and Muschamp a combined $5.8 million in 2015, which equates to $580,000 per win and would move the Gators from first to eighth in the SEC.
  • And that still doesn’t account for the enormous buyout of McElwain’s Colorado State contract, which Florida negotiated. The Gators still paid a hefty sum and also had to promise the Rams a future game — in 2018, it turns out. Florida is paying CSU $2 million for that game in addition to $3 million in annual installments of $500,000. That increases the team’s cost per win even further.
  • This data does not account for which wins are more valuable. For example, Nick Saban beating Auburn in the Iron Bowl and winning the SEC Championship Game is far more valuable than, say, Georgia’s win against Georgia in overtime. But they count the same in this metric.
  • Tennessee fans, if you’re looking for yet another reason that Butch Jones’ new contract worth $4.1 million per season is palatable, consider that his $454,125 per win ranked ahead of 34 power conference coaches in 2015, and that’s despite the fact that the SEC is an expensive league and that the Vols could’ve and should’ve won a few additional games. If Team 120 contends for an SEC title next year, $4.1 million is going to be a bargain price for Jones.
  • Alabama’s Saban costs more per win than 11 of the Pac-12 coaches and nine of the ACC coaches. Yet, if the Tide wins two more games, his price per win will decline to $506,248 — on the cusp of the top 5 in the SEC despite being the highest-paid coach by far.
  • Les Miles’ number should be 9 wins, but the season opener against McNeese State got canceled due to inclement weather. So the more realistic number for Miles is $487,636 per win in 2015.
  • The two coaches who cost the most per victory in 2015, Gary Pinkel and Steve Spurrier, retired and resigned, respectively.
  • The third coaching change took place at Georgia. Mark Richt, in contrast to Pinkel and Spurrier, actually was one of the biggest coaching bargains in the SEC, based on cost per victory. The Bulldogs paid Richt little more than $450,000 per win, which was less than the cost of coaches like Les Miles and Nick Saban.