Latest coaching salaries from USA Today.

[Muahahaha]

This article is from the Nov. 16, 2006 edition. Iowa's coach is the highest in the nation.

http://usatoday.com/sports/college/f...es-cover_x.htm

[ulukinatme]

While Iowa's coach has the highest base salary among NCAA coaches listed, it seems he comes in 2nd in total earnings behind Bob Stoops of Oklahoma. Pete Carroll and Mack Brown are right behind Ferentz though.
The article also mentioned that about 11 coaches are unaccounted for when it comes to total salary, the only one listed was Charlie Weis. Coach Tressel is tightly fit in among the listed coaches at a nice #7 spot overall, with a majority of his total pay coming from other income.

[sandgk]

I know Ferentz gets a nod each and every time that the NFL comes knocking for new coaching talent, but isn't he just a wee bit over-paid?

[ulukinatme]

Thats a good case, Iowa has been highly touted going into the last two seasons I've seen, and they've lost games they should have won. Losing to Indiana and Northwestern this year, and Iowa State, Northwestern, and an average Michigan team the year before. They're not eeking any upsets out either.

[OSU Rob]

well about ferentz you gotta think about it this way- it's a lot harder recruiting kids to iowa than it is for osu, usc, oklahoma... b/c we have more tradition/past success. thus, it makes sense that they have to pay him more to stay around and work to make up that difference than to simply bolt for a better opportunity, although he certainly could in the future

[sandgk]

And Purdue, Minnesota et al are easier gigs than Iowa?

Probably we are seeing an inflation of perceived value in Ferentz's contract, precisely because the NFL calling card is used as explicit or silent leverage in his negotiations. But, hey, if Iowa wants to pay him that highly, that is their business. I just do not believe they are really getting value for money.

[DaddyBigBucks]

The Nation's McPaper did an update-story on college coaches' salaries last December. I remember that someone here posted a link to the story, but I don't remember who or where. So, with apologies to the person who posted it first, here it is: LINK.

What I thought was interesting was the graphic that showed that the Big 10 ties far more of a coach's bonus money to academics than any other conference. I have broken the 'fly-over' data from that graphic into a separate table.

The table below, sorted by average salary (according to USA Today anyway) gives a representation of how important football is to each conference as a whole. IMHO, it is a fair representation.

It's not rocket science. Those who care more about something tend to be better at it.

________________Average________Avg. Bonuses For:
Conference______Salary_________Wins______Academics
SEC___________$1,941,612______$478,571____$35,357
Big_12________$1,631,022______$463,432____$25,455
Big_Ten_______$1,504,181______$312,922____$63,889
ACC___________$1,417,450______$419,101____$47,697
Pac-10________$1,311,968______$460,938____$43,438
Big_East______$1,184,851______$312,570____$38,333
C-USA___________$649,552______$257,646____$15,729
MWC_____________$645,632______$114,879_____$7,857
WAC_____________$546,508_______$94,460_____$4,375
Sun_Belt________$255,069_______$39,875_____$4,167
MAC_____________$225,225______$121,671____$13,560