The Highest Paid College Football Coaches

Coaching college football seems like the most stressful job on the planet. College coaches are tasked with, essentially, raising 100-plus young men flying through their college years. Whether at press conferences or the College Football Playoff, your job is under scrutiny, which is why so few coaches find national championship-level success.
These elite leaders are certainly paid well to be NCAA college football coaches, though.

Annually, USA Today publishes a database listing the salaries of all 130 FBS head football coaches. Everything from a coach's maximum bonus to buyout numbers are available, but the most important number is a category titled "Total Pay."

The 25 highest-paid college football coaches of 2019 include some of the best to ever do it:

25. Paul Chryst, Wisconsin

24. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State

23. Will Muschamp, South Carolina

22. Ryan Day, Ohio State

21. David Shaw, Stanford

20. Chris Petersen, Washington

19. Mark Stoops, Kentucky

18. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

17. Gary Patterson, TCU

16. Charlie Strong, South Florida

15. Willie Taggart, Florida State

14. Scott Frost, Nebraska

13. Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State

12. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern

11. James Franklin, Penn State

10. Dan Mullen, Florida

9. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma

8. Jeff Brohm, Purdue

7. Tom Herman, Texas

6. Gus Malzahn, Auburn

5. Kirby Smart, Georgia

4. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M

3. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan

2. Nick Saban, Alabama

1. Dabo Swinney, Clemson

One name you didn't see on that list is LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron. He ranks 30th nationally making $4.0 million per year. LSU is battling for the No. 1 ranking in college football, but Coach O makes the same amount of money as Illinois' Lovie Smith and Virginia Tech's Justin Fuente.