College football has been a massive moneymaker in America for decades. But until recently, the main labor force creating that value—the players—were allowed only subsistence-level stipends. That has changed with the introduction of NIL deals for players. However, while players are starting to make the big bucks they deserve for the money they bring into their institutions, their coaches remain the biggest breadwinners.
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While college players can now make millions of dollars playing in the NCAA, they don’t make anything near what their professional counterparts do (which is fair enough). But the difference isn’t so large among the coaches. There are 12 coaches in the NFL making $10 million a year or more, and there are seven in the NCAA.
NCAA coaches will often sign on for much longer periods, and their contracts will often be structured so that their salary rises with each passing year of the deal. Based on their actual pay from 2024 (not their average annual salary from the entirety of their deal), here are the top 10 highest-paid coaches in college football today.
10. Lane Kiffin – Ole Miss: $9 million (through 2029)
Lane Kiffin took over the head coaching duties for the Rebels back in 2019, and the coach has an interesting deal with Ole Miss. A six-year contract signed in 2022 that is automatically extended by one year annually if the team meets certain conditions.
He earns a base salary of $9 million every year with the potential for more through bonuses like conference wins, Bowl game appearances, and College Football Playoff berths.
In five seasons with the Rebels, Kiffin has amassed a 44-18 record, which includes two CFP berths, one of which came in 2022, when Ole Miss finished the season ranked No. 9 in the nation, their highest finish under Kiffin. They won the 2021 Outback Bowl, the 2023 Peach Bowl, and the 2025 Gator Bowl to cap off last year’s 10-3 campaign.
*Missouri’s Eliah Drinkwitz and Tennessee’s Josh Heupel also make $9 million a year
9. Mark Stoops – Kentucky: $9.014 million (through 2031)
One of the longest-tenured head coaches in Division I football, Mark Stoops has been at Kentucky since 2013. He received a major pay rise in 2022, however, jumping from about $6.4 million a year to about $9 million a year on the new deal, which keeps him under contract through the summer of 2031.
Stoops has been a steady presence for Wildcats football over the last decade and a half, but he hasn’t exactly been raking in the accolades. This is Kentucky we’re talking about after all: this is a basketball school first and foremost.
In 12 seasons, he has amassed a 67-73 overall record that includes four straight Bowl game wins from 2018 to 2021. He was also named SEC Coach of the Year in 2018, when his team went 10-3 and finished ranked 12th in the nation.
8. Brian Kelly – LSU: $9.975 million (through 2032)
When LSU lured long-time Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly over to Louisiana in 2022, they handed him a massive 10-year, $95 million contract. LSU has seven more years of Kelly to go, at the end of which the head coach will be 70 years old.
Kelly has done a solid job in Baton Rouge since taking over. He’s gone 29-11 through his first three seasons, and he’s finished each of those campaigns with a win in a Bowl game. In 2022, they finished ranked 16th and won the Citrus Bowl, in 2023 they were No. 12 and won the ReliaQuest Bowl, and last year, they won the Texas Bowl over Baylor.
7. Kalen DeBoer – Alabama: $10 million (through 2031)
After 17 years under the watchful eye of Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer, previously the head coach at Washington and Fresno State, was tapped to succeed the iconic coach at Alabama in 2024. He signed an eight-year deal worth a total of $87 million. He was paid $10 million last year, and his salary will rise by $250k in each of the succeeding years of the pact, which ends in 2031.
DeBoer was 25-3 in two seasons with Washington, winning the Alamo Bowl in 2022 before losing the CFP Championship Game the next season. He was 9-4 with Alabama in 2024, losing the ReliaQuest Bowl to Michigan to cap an uneven first year in Tuscaloosa for DeBoer.
6. Mike Norvell – Florida State: $10 million (through 2031)
On the job at Florida State since 2020, Mike Norvell is also on a deal that has incremental raises after each season. However, he recently restructured his contract so as to inject a portion of his salary into a new revenue-sharing system with players.
Norvell has had a rollercoaster of a tenure in Tallahassee. He started off with two losing seasons before rocketing up to a 10-3 record and a win in the Cheez-It Bowl in 2022.
In 2023, they went 13-0 but were shafted by the CFP, which ranked them No. 5 and outside of the tournament (which was made up of just four teams then). They then lost the Orange Bowl 63-3 to Georgia before finishing 2-10 last year. It was their worst record since 1974 and the first time in NCAA history that a double-digit win team became a double-digit loss team the very next year.
5. Ryan Day – Ohio State: $10.021 million (New Deal)
Ryan Day is listed fifth based on his salary last year. But the 2025 National Champion head coach is already on a new deal that would see him jump to second on this list. This one keeps him in Columbus through the 2031 campaign and pays him a whopping $12.5 million per year on average. It pays to win, huh?
Day took over the Buckeyes in 2019 and has amassed an eye-popping 67-10 record over six seasons. He has never lost more than two games in a season. His program has been ranked in the top 5 in the nation five times. His Buckeyes lost the NCG in 2020, won the Rose Bowl in 2021, and won the NCG in 2024.
4. Lincoln Riley – USC: $10.043 million (through 2031)
To get Lincoln Riley out of Oklahoma—where he’d mentored three Heisman winners in Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and Caleb Williams—USC had to pay the coach $110 million over 10 years. His contract also includes a huge buyout clause, which is common among top NCAA coaching contracts.
Riley has gone 26-14 with USC since arriving in 2022. Unfortunately, he has won fewer games than the previous year in each of his three seasons in Southern California. They did win the 2023 Holiday Bowl and took home the Las Vegas Bowl after a disappointing 7-6 record last season.
3. Steve Sarkisian – Texas: $10.6 million (through 2031)
Steve Sarkisian got a new extension earlier this year to remain at Texas through the 2031 campaign. That adds one year onto his previous deal, but it also raised his salary from $10.6 million last year to $10.8 million next year, with Sarkisian earning $12.3 million by the end of the deal.
He has a 38-17 record with the Longhorns over his four years at the controls. He has won more games with each passing year he has been in Austin, too, culminating with last year’s 13-3 run that ended in the CFP semifinals with a loss to the eventual National Champion Buckeyes.
2. Dabo Swinney – Clemson: $11.133 million (through 2031)
One of the most reliable college coaches in the game, Dabo Swinney has been a fixture at Clemson since 2008, when he took over midseason for Tommy Bowden. Swinney signed a new 10-year, $115 million extension in 2022 that was the largest in NCAA coaching history at the time he signed it. He makes about $11.5 million per year on average on the deal.
Swinney is 180-47 overall as Clemson’s head coach. That includes a run from 2015 to 2019 where his Tigers reached the NCG four times, winning twice. After four years out of the spotlight, they returned to the CFP in 2024, going 10-4 overall and losing in the first round of the 12-team CFP tournament.
1. Kirby Smart – Georgia: $13.283 million (through 2033)
The highest-paid coach of them all—even after Day’s lucrative new deal—remains Georgia’s Kirby Smart. On the job since 2016, he signed a 10-year, $130 million extension prior to the 2024 campaign. The deal includes a $13 million base salary as well as the potential for $1.55 million in bonuses annually.
Smart has gone 105-19 in nine years in Athens as the leader of the Bulldogs. He’s won a Bowl Game following every season but two. One of those years that ended in a loss was last season, as they were defeated in the Sugar Bowl (aka the CFP quarterfinal) by Notre Dame.
He did lead Georgia to back-to-back National Championships in 2021 and 2022, however, finishing as the top-ranked program in the nation both times.
