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We’ve already documented that the SEC head coaches have gotten much younger.
In the process, several SEC schools also are paying less for their head coaches, despite the SEC distributing a huge record of $31.2 million per institution in 2015. (These numbers do not include Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason.)
Average SEC salary, 2016: $4.11 million
Average SEC salary, 2015: $4.28 million
That decrease comes mostly from the three schools that changed coaches. More on that shortly.
Butch Jones got a raise of $500,000 per year, after a 9-4 season at Tennessee. Some fans felt that was preposterous, but it puts his salary in line with the conference average next season.
Considering Georgia will pay Mark Richt a reported $4.1 million buyout, money saved on first-year head coach Kirby Smart’s salary is more like “money saved.”
However, two SEC schools should benefit from a lesser price tag, considering that Missouri coach Gary Pinkel retired and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier resigned.
Here is the split in salary for the three schools that made head coaching changes:
GEORGIA
2015 (Mark Richt): $4.12 million
2016 (Kirby Smart): $3.75 million
MISSOURI
2015 (Gary Pinkel): $3.77 million
2016 (Barry Odom): $2.35 million
SOUTH CAROLINA
2015 (Steve Spurrier): $4.03 million
2016 (Will Muschamp): $3.0 million
In other words, Missouri is spending $1.42 million less on its head football coach and South Carolina is spending $1.03 million less.
Of course, we don’t know what Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason makes, because the Commodores do not have to disclose that information publicly.
But among the other 13 institutions, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops was the lowest-paid head coach in 2015. This season, with a slight scheduled bump, he ranks fourth in the SEC East, just $100,000 behind Florida’s Jim McElwain and $250,000 behind Georgia’s Smart.
Everybody trails Alabama’s Nick Saban ($7.09 million) by a significant amount.
The SEC West now claims seven of the top eight coaching salaries in the conference, with Tennessee’s Jones barely breaking up the clean sweep despite his raise.
2016 SEC HEAD COACHING SALARIES
| COACH | TEAM | SALARY |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nick Saban | Alabama | $7.09 million |
| 2. Kevin Sumlin | Texas A&M | $5 million |
| 3. Hugh Freeze | Ole Miss | $4.7 million# |
| 4. Les Miles | LSU | $4.39 million |
| 5. Gus Malzahn | Auburn | $4.35 million |
| 6. Butch Jones | Tennessee | $4.13 million |
| 7. Bret Bielema | Arkansas | $4.06 million |
| 8. Dan Mullen | Mississippi State | $4 million^ |
| 9. Kirby Smart | Georgia | $3.75 million |
| 10. Jim McElwain | Florida | $3.51 million |
| 11. Mark Stoops | Kentucky | $3.5 million |
| 12. Will Muschamp | South Carolina | $3.0 million |
| 13. Barry Odom | Missouri | $2.35 million |
*Based on media reports detailing pay for 2016 as well as 2015 salary data according to the USA Today database.
^Dan Mullen’s contract, which he signed before the 2015 season, pays him an average of $4.275 million per year; he made $4 million in 2015, but media reports did not detail how much his salary would increase per year.
#Hugh Freeze’s contract will average $4.925 million per season for four years with a raise of $150,000 per season.
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
