Nick Saban again nation’s highest paid college football coach

Nick Saban speaks to the media as Alabama prepares for Mississippi State
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Nick Saban is No. 1 for a second straight year.

Alabama’s football coach again topped the rankings as the highest-paid nationally when USA Today released its annual rankings Thursday. Saban’s $9.75 million salary topped the list followed by LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Stanford’s David Shaw and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney.

Saban and Shaw were the only in the top five who didn’t have a pandemic-related pay cut as Swinney’s $1.25 million reduction led the nation by a large margin.

The SEC had five of the top eight salaries and seven of the top 21 with Dan Mullen, Jimbo Fisher and Kirby Smart also checking in on the top 10.

Auburn’s Brian Harsin is No. 19 making $5 million a year after his predecessor, Gus Malzahn, was No. 7 last year at $6.9 million.

Saban topped the 2020 ranking making $9.3 million with the same top three. Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh took a pay cut the dropped him from No. 4 to No. 32 at $4.03 million.

Of the 122 coaches whose salaries were surveyed, Terry Bowden at UL Monroe had the lowest. The former Auburn coach is making $430,000 this year.

Top 10 salaries for head coaches

Source: USA Today

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