121810 NCAA College Football ::: FBS coaches' pay a study in contrasts [fb]

A report published online by USA Today shines a spotlight on the stark differences in pay scales of head football coaches in the major college ranks.

All of the coaches listed in the report are peers in that they head up programs in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, but the widely divergent compensation packages demonstrate that the FBS is essentially a motley collection of contrasting worlds when it comes to payroll budgets.

Alabama's Nick Saban and Mack Brown of Texas reside in the gated-mansion district, each earning more than $5 million per year directly from their universities or affiliated organizations. Outside income pushes Saban's annual remuneration to almost $6 million. In addition, Saban can collect up to $700,000 in yearly bonuses and Brown can pull in en extra $850,000 in incentives.

At the other end of the spectrum, in the row-house neighborhood, Kent State's Doug Martin is paid $190,000, Dave Clawson of Bowling Green receives $206,000 and Louisiana-Monroe's Todd Berry takes home $215,000. Martin and Berry are former East Carolina assistant coaches.

Not surprisingly, 52 of the 59 coaches at the $1 million mark or above are employed by schools that enjoy the financial windfalls associated with Bowl Championship Series automatic qualifier status. A number of private universities, several of which presumably pay their coaches in excess of $1 million, declined to disclose financial terms of their coaches' contracts.

June Jones of Southern Methodist, at more than $2.1 million, is easily the most affluent earner in the suburbs of Conference USA — and among all coaches in leagues without BCS AQ status. East Carolina's Ruffin McNeill is 5th among C-USA's 12 coaches at almost $800,000.

A link to a sortable database of known compensation information for the head coaches of all 120 FCS programs is directly below the following table of available earnings data for C-USA coaches.

CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL COACHES' COMPENSATION FOR 2010

    COACH, SCHOOL            DIRECT* OTHER*      TOTAL   BONUS*
1. June Jones, SMU        2,142,056     n/a 2,142,056      n/a
2. George O'Leary, UCF    1,325,754       0 1,325,754 600,000
3. Kevin Sumlin, Houston 1,000,000       0 1,000,000 500,000
4. Todd Graham, Tulsa       804,253     n/a    804,253      n/a
5. Ruffin McNeill, ECU      792,241   2,000    794,241 350,000
6. Larry Porter, Memphis    750,000       0    750,000 190,000
7. Larry Fedora, USM        685,000 19,500    704,500 165,000
8. Doc Holliday, Marshall   600,000 17,750    617,750   80,000
9. David Bailiff, Rice      487,340     n/a    487,340      n/a
10. Mike Price, UTEP         383,346 11,500    394,846 320,853
11. Neil Callaway, UAB       378,000   3,800    381,800 305,000
12. Bob Toledo, Tulane           n/a     n/a        n/a      n/a

*Note: "DIRECT" includes earnings paid or guaranteed by the
school or by organizations affiliated with the school; "OTHER"
includes outside income from sources not affiliated with the
school; "BONUS" includes incentive payments for the achievement
of defined benchmarks.

USA Today Database of 2010 FCS Head Coaches' Salaries