When USA Today this week unveiled the Top 25 highest paid football coaches
at public universities, I immediately raced to find the Top 25
highest paid public university presidents, a list compiled by the Chronicle for
Higher Education in August.
Now, mind you: I didn’t expect those presidential salaries to approach the
levels of something as important as matriculating a leather-covered prolate
spheroid down an expensively manicured, slightly convex field.
Highest Public University Football Coach Salaries in 2023 (US$M)
1. |
Nick Saban |
University of Alabama |
$11.407 |
2. |
Dabo Swinney |
Clemson University |
$10.884 |
3. |
Kirby Smart |
University of Georgia |
$10.705 |
4. |
Ryan Day |
The Ohio State University |
$10.271 |
5. |
Mel Tucker |
Michigan State University |
$10.015 |
6. |
Brian Kelly |
Louisiana State University |
$9.975 |
7. |
Jimbo Fisher |
Texas A&M University |
$9.15 |
8. |
Mark Stoops |
University of Kentucky |
$9.013 |
9. |
Josh Huepel |
University of Tennessee |
$9 |
(Tie) |
Lane Kiffin |
University of Mississippi |
$9 |
11. |
James Franklin |
Pennsylvania State University |
$8.5 |
12. |
Jim Harbaugh |
University of Michigan |
$8.254 |
13. |
Luke Fickell |
University of Wisconsin |
$7.625 |
(Tie) |
Mike Gundy |
Oklahoma State University |
$7.625 |
15. |
Mike Norvell |
Florida State University |
$7.3 |
16. |
Billy Napier |
University of Florida |
$7.27 |
17. |
Brent Venables |
University of Oklahoma |
$7.1 |
18. |
Kirk Ferentz |
University of Iowa |
$7 |
19. |
Dan Lanning |
University of Oregon |
$6.624 |
20. |
Hugh Freeze |
Auburn University |
$6.5 |
(Tie) |
Bret Bielema |
University of Illinois |
$6.5 |
22. |
Sam Pittman |
University of Arkansas |
$6.357 |
23. |
Kyle Whittingham |
University of Utah |
$6.325 |
24. |
Shane Beamer |
University of South Carolina |
$6.125 |
25. |
Eliah Drinkwitz |
University of Missouri |
$6 |
(Tie) |
P.J. Fleck |
University of Minnesota |
$6 |
Source: USA Today, October 3, 2023
But I did wonder how much overlap or contrast there might be. If both the
chief administrator and the sports coach are making top dollar, might that
be indicative of broader regional prosperity? What does a high
concentration of well-paid coaches or well-paid institutional leaders say
about a given state?
Highest Total Pay for Chief Executives at Public Doctoral Universities and
Systems in 2022
1. |
Tedd L. Mitchell |
Texas Tech University system |
$2,509,687 |
2. |
Eric J. Barron* |
Pennsylvania State University |
$2,009,853 |
3. |
Joyce Ellen McConnell* |
Colorado State University at Fort Collins |
$1,968,350 |
4. |
Renu Khator |
University of Houston |
$1,663,391 |
5. |
Harlan M. Sands* |
Cleveland State University |
$1,434,422 |
6. |
Michael Ray Williams* |
University of North Texas System |
$1,381,655 |
7. |
Eli Capilouto |
University of Kentucky |
$1,378,407 |
8. |
Doug A. Girod |
University of Kansas |
$1,356,860 |
9. |
Jay C. Hartzell |
University of Texas at Austin |
$1,342,718 |
10. |
Neeli Bendapudi* |
Pennsylvania State University |
$1,254,063 |
11. |
Jay A. Perman |
University System of Maryland |
$1,237,509 |
12. |
Michael M. Crow |
Arizona State University |
$1,235,570 |
13. |
Ashish K. Vaidya* |
Northern Kentucky University |
$1,234,225 |
14. |
Kristina M. Johnson |
The Ohio State University |
$1,183,188 |
15. |
W. Kent Fuchs |
University of Florida |
$1,159,958 |
16. |
Richard D. McCullough |
Florida State University |
$1,147,486 |
17. |
James P. Clements |
Clemson University |
$1,132,415 |
18. |
Ali A. Houshmand |
Rowan University |
$1,113,639 |
19. |
Ted Carter |
University of Nebraska system office |
$1,050,013 |
20. |
Samuel L. Stanley Jr.* |
Michigan State University |
$1,035,380 |
21. |
Brooks A. Keel |
Augusta University |
$1,010,154 |
22. |
Margaret Katherine Banks |
Texas A&M University at College Station |
$987,432 |
23. |
James E. Ryan |
University of Virginia |
$986,437 |
24. |
James B. Milliken |
University of Texas system |
$983,218 |
25. |
Mitchell E. Daniels Jr.* |
Purdue University at West Lafayette |
$976,587 |
*served less than the full year
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, August 2023
One thing jumps out immediately: While only one coach in the state of Texas
— Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M — makes the Top 25 best-remunerated coaches
list, four of the Top 10 and six of the Top 25 university presidents can be
found in the Lone Star State. That’s the same state that routinely tops
Site Selection’s Governor’s Cups rankings for
most corporate facility investment projects in a given year, and performs
well in other rankings too.
Florida is where you’ll find two of the eight schools who have a football
coach and a chief executive in their respective Top 25s by pay:
- Clemson University
- Ohio State University
- Michigan State University
- Texas A&M University at College Station
- University of Kentucky
- Pennsylvania State University
- Florida State University
- University of Florida
But as hoops coaching legend Tex Winter and his fictional soccer protégé
Ted Lasso would tell you, it’s the triangle offense that works best. What
can we triangulate with these two lists? How about top universities by R&D
expenditure? Below are the latest available figures for all higher
education institutions (public and private). The nine schools that also
appear somewhere on one of the above two lists are in bold type.
Top 30 Institutions by FY 2021 R&D Expenditures in All Fields: FYs 2019–21
Institution |
Rank |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
% change 2020–21 |
All institutions |
- |
83,487 |
86,300 |
89,723 |
4.0 |
Leading 30 institutions |
- |
35,404 |
36,646 |
38,126 |
4.0 |
Johns Hopkins U.a |
1 |
2,917 |
3,110 |
3,181 |
2.3 |
U. California, San Francisco |
2 |
1,595 |
1,651 |
1,710 |
3.6 |
U. Michigan, Ann Arbor |
3 |
1,676 |
1,674 |
1,640 |
-2.0 |
U. Pennsylvania |
4 |
1,506 |
1,579 |
1,632 |
3.4 |
U. Washington, Seattle |
5 |
1,426 |
1,457 |
1,489 |
2.2 |
U. California, Los Angeles |
6 |
1,306 |
1,393 |
1,455 |
4.5 |
U. California, San Diego |
7 |
1,354 |
1,404 |
1,425 |
1.5 |
U. Wisconsin-Madison |
8 |
1,297 |
1,364 |
1,380 |
1.2 |
Stanford U. |
9 |
1,204 |
1,204 |
1,274 |
5.8 |
Harvard U. |
10 |
1,240 |
1,240 |
1,254 |
1.1 |
Duke U. |
11 |
1,227 |
1,197 |
1,238 |
3.4 |
Ohio State U. |
12 |
929 |
968 |
1,236 |
27.7 |
U. North Carolina, Chapel Hill |
13 |
1,154 |
1,160 |
1,206 |
4.0 |
Cornell U. |
14 |
1,145 |
1,190 |
1,184 |
-0.5 |
Yale U. |
15 |
1,072 |
1,094 |
1,165 |
6.5 |
Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science
Center |
16 |
952 |
1,131 |
1,148 |
1.5 |
U. Marylandb |
17 |
1,097 |
1,103 |
1,142 |
3.5 |
U. Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh |
18 |
1,081 |
1,106 |
1,135 |
2.6 |
Texas A&M U., College Station and Health Science
Center |
19 |
969 |
1,051 |
1,125 |
7.0 |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
20 |
960 |
1,049 |
1,114 |
6.2 |
Columbia U. in the City of New York |
21 |
1,004 |
1,033 |
1,099 |
6.4 |
U. Minnesota, Twin Cities |
22 |
1,013 |
1,042 |
1,073 |
3.0 |
New York U. |
23 |
935 |
947 |
1,064 |
12.4 |
Vanderbilt U. and Vanderbilt U. Medical Center |
24 |
777 |
947 |
1,019 |
23.5 |
Washington U., Saint Louis |
25 |
887 |
920 |
989 |
7.5 |
Pennsylvania State U., University Park and Hershey Medical
Center |
26 |
950 |
992 |
971 |
-2.1 |
U. Florida |
27 |
929 |
942 |
960 |
1.9 |
U. Southern California |
28 |
910 |
941 |
956 |
1.6 |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
29 |
1,009 |
988 |
949 |
-3.9 |
Northwestern U. |
30 |
857 |
875 |
913 |
4.3 |
Source: National Science Foundation National Center for Science
and Engineering Statistics
Do any schools appear in all three lists? Four institutions make the final
squad: The Ohio State University, Texas A&M University at College Station,
Pennsylvania State University and the University of Florida. Three of those
schools’ states were Top 10 in this year’s Governor’s Cup rankings, with
Florida and its 205 projects just outside the line. Among the Top 30 in
R&D, The Ohio State University showed the most dramatic increase in
spending from 2020 to 2021 at 27.7%.
The two Big Ten schools from Ohio and Pennsylvania are currently ranked No.
4 and No. 6 in the nation in football. They square off October 21st on the
gridiron. The research and talent from their institutions square off every
day with global competition. — Adam Bruns
The Agostini-DiMauro laboratories in the Physics Department at
The Ohio State University are named in part for physics
professor emeritus Pierre Agostini, who yesterday won the Nobel
Prize in Physics alongside two global colleagues.
Photo courtesy of The Ohio State University
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