The money ain't bad, either.
The University of Kentucky continues to set the bar high for coaching salaries, giving John Calipari an eight-year deal reportedly worth an average $4,500,000 annually. He'll make more in 10 minutes of game time than the average Kentucky resident makes in a year.
And Coach Cal isn't even the highest-paid coach in the Bluegrass State. That honor goes to Louisville's Rick Pitino, who reportedly pulls over $7.5 million dollars annually.
To illustrate how salaries have grown: in 2002, according to a report in Sports Illustrated, there were relatively few basketball coaches making "CEO money." SI's list at the time put just three coaches over the $1 million mark in salary, with Kentucky's Tubby Smith the highest-paid at $2.4 million a year.
Here's a look at some of the top reported salaries in Division I men's college basketball. Bear in mind, this is not a straight applies-to-apples comparison... some schools include apparel deals with sneaker companies as part of the reported compensation package (Florida is one), others do not. Public Universities -- most of the schools on this list -- have to be more forthcoming about the salaries they are paying, while private institutions like Duke and Syracuse can play things a bit closer to the vest.
Coach | Team | Average Salary (Millions) | Source |
Rick Pitino | Louisville | 7.5 | USA Today |
John Calipari | Kentucky | 4.5 | Associated Press |
Mike Krzyzewski | Duke | 4.1 | USA Today |
Billy Donovan | Florida | 3.5 | Orlandosentinel.com |
Bill Self | Kansas | 3 | ESPN.com |
Thad Matta | Ohio State | 2.5 | Diverseeducation.com |
Jim Calhoun | Connecticut | 2.3 | Associated Press |
Rick Barnes | Texas | 2.4 | Yahoo! Sports |
Roy Williams | North Carolina | 2.11 | ESPN.com |
Sean Miller | Arizona | 2.3 | USA Today |
Tom Izzo | Michigan State | 1.735 | MSUSpartans.cstv.com |
Ben Howland | UCLA | 1.5 | LATimes.com |
Tom Crean | Indiana | 1.48 | Insidethehall.com |
Mark Turgeon | Maryland | 2.5 | Dallas Morning News |
Jim Boeheim | Syracuse | 1.00 plus | Syracuse.com |