The most overpaid coaches in college football? The list starts with Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher
The compensation that college football coaches have received over the past two decades is just another byproduct of a school’s willingness to pay anything for a championship and keep up with the marketplace. That thinking has led to the climate where schools can switch gears and bring in a proven winner or promising candidate if their current coach is struggling.
The same can be said for coaches. After a successful season just the threat of a coach leaving for another school can boost salaries - for the incumbent coach and potential candidates at other schools.
The coaches on this list are the most overpaid in college football, based on the results that don't exactly match what they are taking home.
Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M
Total compensation: $9,000,000
Fisher parlayed a national championship in 2013 and a fast-crumbling situation at Florida State into a 10-year, $75 million contract when he was hired at Texas A&M in 2018. After a 2020 pandemic affected season that saw the Aggies go 9-1 and nearly make the College Football Playoff, the school decided to give Fisher a new, fully guaranteed 10-year deal worth $95 million, with $100,000 pay raises every season. For that kind of loot, you would think Fisher has won two or three titles at A&M. Fisher’s record in College Station is a measly 37-17, with three bowl wins, zero conference titles and zero playoff appearances.
James Franklin | Penn State
Total compensation: $8,500,000
If potential was the standard on which companies based their employees' worth in terms of dollars, Franklin would top this list every year. In his ninth season at Penn State, he is already on his fourth contract. Franklin has won about two-thirds of his games with the school, but for a total compensation of $8.5 million, the Nittany Lions should be dominating the competition. Penn State has won one Big Ten title during his tenure and that was six seasons ago, but it upped the dough when Franklin’s name was attached to the Southern California opening, despite the team being on its way to a 7-6 campaign in 2021.
David Shaw | Stanford
Total compensation: $6,592,230
Shaw has kept Stanford relevant for the better part of his tenure, which began in 2011. When he had success with the likes of Andrew Luck, Christian McCaffrey and Bryce Love, Stanford was more than happy to float more money and bonuses Shaw’s way. He was paid almost $9 million in 2019. The Cardinal have been an abject mess since, with his teams routinely getting dominated on the line of scrimmage, an area where Stanford made opponents pay. Shaw, a four-time Pac-12 coach of the year, not only has to worry about his job security beyond this year, but if he is brought back in 2023, the administration needs to justify the salary in comparison to the tepid results. It's important to remember that because Stanford is a private school, Shaw's most recently available compensation information is from federal tax records covering pay for 2020 calendar year, including $434,515 reported as deferred in prior years, bonuses paid in 2020 and the value of benefits and perquisites.
Pat Fitzgerald | Northwestern
Total compensation: $5,372,318
Fitzgerald has worked absolute miracles at the school, winning 10 games three times in his 17 seasons. If that buys him more time to produce more subpar seasons, so be it. But for Fitzgerald, who is the second-longest tenured coach in the conference, if making nearly $6 million and winning the Big Ten West every couple of years is the ceiling, he and the powers that be need to say it. Because at that salary, there is no reason why the Wildcats can’t dominate the division. But the question remains, is anyone else better equipped to coach this team? Not likely. It's important to remember that because Northwestern is a private school, Fitzgerald's most recently available compensation information is from federal tax records covering pay for the 2020 calendar year, including bonuses paid and value of benefits and perquisites.
Seth Littrell | North Texas
Total compensation: $1,897,500
Although making nearly $2 million is nothing to sneeze at outside the world of college football, North Texas’ play on the field lately doesn’t even justify Littrell making that. Hovering around .500 with a losing record in each of the last three years would be pink-slip time for most coaches. Plus, Littrell has lost all five of his bowl games. He came into 2022 with the oldest starting quarterback in the nation with a chance to make some noise in Conference USA. Should the Mean Green fail to show significant progress, the buyout would be $1.575 million if he is relieved of his duties on Dec. 1.
Follow Scooby Axson on Twitter @ScoobAxson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimbo Fisher tops list of 5 most overpaid college football coaches
