Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh Is NCAA’s Highest-Paid Football Coach With $9M Contract

USA Today released its annual survey of college football coaches’ salaries on Wednesday, and Alabama’s Nick Saban is no longer at the top.

Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh Is NCAA’s Highest-Paid Football Coach With $9M Contract

Michigan Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh is earning a whopping $9 million in 2016, overtaking Saban at $6.9 million.

Last year, the Alabama coach headed the list at $7,087,481.

Harbaugh’s big salary includes two $2 million interest-free loans– coming in the form of annual life-insurance premium payments– one of which he received June 3 and the other he will be paid if he is still coaching Michigan on Dec. 6.

Rounding out the top five are Ohio State’s Urban Meyer at $6 million, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops at $5.5 million and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher at $5.25 million.

The SEC had the highest median coach salary at $4,172,500, followed by the Big 12 ($3,540,788), the Pac-12 ($3,102,960), the Big Ten ($2,753,100) and the ACC ($2,562,485).

Charlie Strong, whose job security is in question at Texas, comes in at sixth with $5.2 million, followed by three SEC coaches — Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin at $5 million, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn at $4.725 million and Mississippi’s Hugh Freeze at $4.7 million. Penn State’s James Franklin ranks 10th with $4.5 million.

New Mexico State’s Doug Martin is listed as the lowest-paid coach at $376,044. However, nine colleges– Baylor, BYU, Tulane, SMU, USC, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Miami and Syracuse– did not submit contract information to USA Today.

USA Today’s survey also reveals how much it would cost to fire a coach.

For instance, if Florida State wanted to sever ties with Fisher, it would cost the school $33,125,000. On the opposite end of the spectrum is San Diego State, who can part ways with coach Rocky Long for the bargain price of $349,334.

Of course, much of this relates to the number of years remaining on the contract (among other things).

Furthermore, Thirty-six FBS coaches are earning at least $3 million this year, up from just nine in 2011. USA Today also reported that at least seven FBS coaches– not all contracts are public — would be owed at least $20 million guaranteed if they were fired after the regular season. Fisher would have the highest buyout at $33 million, and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz would be owed more than $25 million.

Of the 53 publicly available contracts for Power 5 coaches, 33 include buyouts of at least $8 million.

Here’s a look at the Top 25 highest-paid coaches in college football: