Illustrating the obvious: SEC coaching salaries skyrocketing

To borrow from Notorious B.I.G., more money, more problems.

Wait, let’s try that one again: more money, more … money.

Just nine seasons ago, Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville was the highest-paid SEC coach at about $2.2 million dollars. Now, the average SEC coach makes about $3.5 million per year. In 2014, at least 13 of the school’s coaches made $2.7 million or more.

(We’re estimating here because as a private institution, Vanderbilt does not release salary data, although USA Today has reported that James Franklin made $1.8 million in 2013.)

To check out a year-by-year look at what every SEC school paid their head coach every season in the last nine years (except Vanderbilt and, weirdly, the year 2008), check out this spreadsheet here.

If you’re more interested in a visual illustration, we’ve provided two charts below. Notice that in 2006, the SEC didn’t even pay its head coaches a combined $20 million, whereas in 2014, excluding Derek Mason’s salary, the other 13 teams shelled out $48.8 million to head coaches.

*Note: All head coaching salary data courtesy of USA Today’s national database. Figures have been rounded to the nearest $100,000.