How Much Do College Football Coaches Make? (A Lot.)

USA Today has released its annual roundup of FBS coaches' salaries, and the numbers are once again eye-popping. Alabama's Nick Saban tops the list with more than $5.5 million not counting bonuses—and he wants a raise.

The numbers are striking no matter how you look at them:

Seventeen coaches are making more than $3 million this year; 70, a majority, more than $1 million.

Eight of the 20 highest paid coaches work in the SEC, with five each from the Big Ten and Big 12.)

The lowest-paid in each of the three power conferences (James Franklin, Jerry Kill, Paul Rhoads) each make more than the highest-paid coaches in the Sun Belt, Conference USA, MAC.

The lowest-paid coach on the chart (not counting seven schools for which numbers were unavailable) is Louisiana-Monroe's Todd Barry, earning a comparatively lunchpail figure of $288,268.

It's pointless to make any argument that these guys aren't worth it, because they're worth exactly as much as someone is willing to give them. The moral of the story is that you should absolutely raise your kid to be a coach. Go check out the list, and bring back any fascinating findings.

[ USA Today]