AUBURN — Bruce Pearl has made Auburn basketball into a consistent postseason threat over his 10-season tenure on the Plains, and he's paid handsomely for it.

Pearl, who's total pay sits at $5,716,652, is in the top five nationally, according to the NCAA Basketball Coaches Salary Database produced by USA TODAY. The database collects numbers for all coaches at public schools; there are some blindspots, as the salaries for coaches who work at private institutions aren't subject to any open records laws and can thus be withheld from the public.

The only coaches above Pearl in the database are Kansas' Bill Self ($9,625,642), Kentucky's John Calipari ($8,539,961) and Michigan State's Tom Izzo ($6,196,169). Tennessee's Rick Barnes sits closely behind Pearl at $5,700,000. Calipari, Pearl and Barnes are the only three SEC coaches making over $5 million.

Pearl and Auburn agreed on an eight-year contract extension in January 2022: "Auburn will be our family’s forever home," Pearl said in a school release at the time. The Tigers have gone 211-118 under Pearl, including a trip to the Final Four in 2019.

FULL LIST: NCAA Basketball Coaches Salary Database produced by USA TODAY

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Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Bruce Pearl salary: How much does Auburn basketball coach get paid?