Highest-Paid College Basketball Coaches: Salaries in Context

During this year's national championship, 14.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the UConn Huskies take on the San Diego State Aztecs.^[5] For the fifth time in March Madness history, UConn brought home the trophy.

Individual players and programs rose to new heights this season. But what about the coaches who helped to get them there? And how much are they getting paid for it?

Each year, USA Today Sports requests compensation forms for the men's and women's head basketball coaches in the "Power Five" conferences.^{Note Reference [1]} The publication also requests forms from coaches whose programs have appeared in at least three of the past five NCAA Tournaments.

The most recently reported data shows that the top five highest-earners in men's college basketball earn above $5 million a year.^{Note Reference [1]}

Find out just how much the top five highest-paid coaches in men's college basketball earn and how other salaries at the university level compare.

The Five Highest-Paid College Basketball Coaches

High Revenue, High Reward

The highest-paid coaches in college basketball help bring in millions of dollars each year for their programs. Collectively, the top five highest-earning coaches accounted for just under $100 million in revenue in 2021 ($99.14 million).^{Note Reference [6]}

According to the U.S. Department of Education's Equity in Athletic Data Analysis (EADA), team revenue is a combination of contributions from alumni, sports camps, state and government support, ticket sales, and signage and other sponsorships among other revenue streams.^{Note Reference [6]}

Even after factoring in team expenses like equipment, fundraising efforts, gameday operations, and recruitment efforts, there is still plenty of room to pay out the coaches for their contributions in a big way.^{Note Reference [6]}

Michigan State's team gained the highest revenue ($26.27 million) of the five programs with the highest-paid coaches, but Coach Izzo takes on the largest gap between his salary and team revenue compared to the other high-earning coaches.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [6]}

What About Women's Programs?

Viewership for the women's college basketball national championship game hit an all-time high of 9.9 million viewers when LSU faced off against Iowa at the start of the month. In this year's tournament, the first and second rounds played at the University of Iowa sold out in just 53 minutes.^{[7], [8]}

Since 2021, the NCAA has made progress in addressing gender equity gaps between the men's and women's basketball postseason tournaments.

However, women's college basketball head coaches still make substantially less than the men's college basketball head coaches do, and women's teams are bringing in less revenue.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2], Note Reference [6]}

Even the highest-paid women's basketball coach — Geno Auriemma from UConn — makes $2.9 million per year, about $5.63 million less than Coach Cal, the highest-paid men's basketball coach.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}

The five highest-paid women's basketball coaches in the NCAA make an average of $3.91 million less than the five highest-paid men's basketball coaches.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}

But these men's programs are also bringing in more revenue on average than the women's teams: $19.83 million on average compared to $5.86 million.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [2]}

How Many Professors' Salaries Would It Take to Break Even With a Head Coach?

Even though they are not directly bringing in as much revenue to the school as the head men's basketball coaches, university presidents and professors are foundational to a student-athlete's college experience and long-term success off the court.

At any one of the five institutions with the highest-earning men's basketball coaches, the men's basketball coach makes an average of seven times more than the university president and 44 times more than the average professor.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [3], Note Reference [4], Note Reference [6]}

In the 2022-2023 contract season, Kentucky's Coach Cal earned $8.53 million, more than 10 times President Eli Capilouto's $830,635 salary in 2021.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [3]}

At Michigan, Coach Izzo makes about five times what President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. earns.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [3]}

And how do faculty salaries measure up? The average full professor's salary during the 2022-2023 academic year was around $149,630.

The average professor at the University of Kentucky is bringing home about 1.5% of Calipari's yearly salary, earning roughly $128,400 per year.^{Note Reference [1], Note Reference [4]}