Final Four coaches fail to crack top-10 list of highest paid
This year’s Final Four coaches have one thing in common: None is among the 10 highest-paid coaches in the NCAA tournament.
USA Today released its annual list of men’s college basketball coaches’ salaries among NCAA tournament teams Wednesday, and while the Bluegrass State duo of Rick Pitino and John Calipari tops all tournament coaches in total pay, Oregon’s Dana Altman is the highest-paid tournament coach whose team is still standing this season.
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Altman’s total pay of $2.651 million comes in at No. 11 nationally among tournament teams, leading all Final Four coaches.
Second among remaining coaches? Frank Martin, who took in $2.45 million from South Carolina this season, No. 18 overall.
North Carolina’s Roy Williams ($2,088,577) comes in at No. 24, while Gonzaga’s Mark Few ($1,629,083) is not far behind him at No. 30.
While Williams, a two-time national champion, may seem underpaid compared to his peers, it is worth noting that the Tar Heels boss, according to the report, “also has personal contracts with Nike and Learfield Sports for clothing/apparel and multi-media obligations, respectively, as well as permission from the school to receive pay for operating a camp and making speaking appearances.”
Pitino’s income of $7,769,200 was tops nationally, with rival Calipari being the only other coach to crack the $7 million barrier, at $7,435,376.
The only non-Power-5 coach cracking the top-10 is Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, whose $3,035,500 ranks No. 8 nationally. Few, at No. 30, is the next-closest tournament coach from a school outside the Power-5 or Big East.
Coaches you can expect to move up this list come next year — assuming they make the Big Dance — include No. 34 Will Wade ($1,400,000), No. 39 Archie Miller ($1,160,390), No. 41 Brad Underwood ($1 million) and No. 45 Kevin Keatts ($521,000), as each of those coaches took Power-5 jobs after this season.
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Matt Fortuna is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
