Dan Lanning became the latest head coach to join the $10 million or greater annual salary club when Oregon gave him a huge raise Thursday. Lanning was the 14th highest-paid coach last season but now jumps into the top 10 following a highly successful 2024 season that included a perfect regular season record and Big Ten championship.
Where does Lanning now rank amongst college football’s highest-paid coaches? Here are the top 10 based on a mix of reports, publicly available contracts and USA Today’s very helpful coaching salary database.
T-10) $9 million club
There are multiple coaches who make right at the $9 million annual number, including Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz and the most recent member, Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, fresh off a national championship runner-up season.
9) Brian Kelly, LSU — $9.9 million
LSU AD Scott Woodward wanted a big fish to replace Ed Orgeron and spent big to hire Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly. Entering a critical Year 4, Kelly has a 29-11 record and a SEC West divisional title in three seasons in Baton Rouge.
8) Bill Belichick, North Carolina — $10 million
North Carolina pulled off a stunner when it hired legendary NFL coach Bill Belichick to come to the college ranks. Belichick, who has never coached college…
..
