Mark Stoops among college football's top 10 highest-paid coaches

The University of Kentucky might be known to the common fan as a “basketball school”, but football reigns supreme.

According to a new report published on Tuesday by USA TODAY Sports, Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops ranks as the eighth-highest-paid college football coach in the country with an annual salary of $9,013,600 — fourth-most among Southeastern Conference coaches behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban ($11,407,00), Georgia’s Kirby Smart ($10,705,600), and LSU’s Brian Kelly ($9,975,00).

USA TODAY’s report does include the salary for Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley, who is set to make $10 million this season.

Stoops is now the state of Kentucky’s highest-paid public employee, surpassing men’s basketball head coach John Calipari who had held that title since arriving in Lexington ahead of the 2009-10 season. Calipari, the highest-paid coach in college hoops, will make $8.5 million this year (although that number ticks up to $9 million starting with the 2025-26 season). There are 10 college football coaches who will make more than Calipari this year.

Highest paid public school coach salaries in 2023 via @USAToday in millions

1 Nick Saban, Bama $11.407
2 Dabo Swinney, Clemson $10.884
3 Kirby Smart, Georgia $10.705
4 Ryan Day, Ohio St $10.271
5 Mel Tucker, Mich St $10.015
6 Brian Kelly, LSU $9.975
7 Jimbo Fisher, A&M $9.150
8…

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) October 3, 2023

Stoops signed a massive contract extension in November 2022 with the Wildcats that will keep him as the head coach through the 2030 season. He went from making $6.35 million in 2022 to hitting the $9 million mark in 2023 with his updated deal — a 33 percent raise. Additionally, Stoops’ buyout rose from $1.75 million to $4.5 million but will decrease by $500,000 with every year he stays at UK throughout the duration of the new contract.

He also has the benefit of built-in bonuses. If Kentucky makes the College Football Playoff under Stoops, he receives a $500,000 bonus. That number jumps to $650,000 if UK makes the national title game and then to $800,000 if the ‘Cats win the whole thing. Stoops will receive $100,00 for every season Kentucky participates in a bowl game, or $150,000 if the team reaches eight wins in a season.

Since taking the Kentucky job ahead of the 2013 season, Stoops has established himself as the program’s all-time winningest coach. He surpassed the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant in all-time wins at UK last season and currently sits on an overall record of 71-59 with the Wildcats. Since 2018, Kentucky has posted a record of 45-23 (22-22 SEC) with bowl appearances in all five seasons, including two wins at the Citrus Bowl (2018, 2021).

In USA TODAY’s findings, they revealed that college football coaches make nearly double the average salary of their men’s basketball counterparts. Football coaches make $6.2 million on average this year (a 14.3 percent increase from 2022) while men’s basketball coaches will make $3.35 million on average this year.

“Football’s the front door,” Rick Smith, the president of the coaching division at Priority Sports, told USA TODAY. “There’s a few outlier schools where basketball has had a better record or program, per se − but at the end of the day, if the football program gets good, it’ll blow (basketball) away.”

With an expanding playoff format and conference realignment, the money is going to continue shifting heavily toward football. Times are changing, and UK is keeping up with them.