It pays to be a college football coach, even if you don’t occupy the big chair at a school.
USA Today has released their annual database of assistant coach salaries and revealed that LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda takes home the biggest paycheck at a whopping $1.8 million in 2017, just edging out Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables for the top spot.
When factoring in offensive coordinator Matt Canada‘s $1.505 million salary, LSU is home to two of the four highest paid assistants in the country. Not surprisingly, the SEC in general leads the way in terms of assistant pay and has nine coaches making over $1 million for the season. In contrast, the Big 12 and Pac-12 have only one seven-figure assistant and the Big Ten manages to have three -- all at Michigan. Private schools such as USC, Stanford and Vanderbilt did not release salary figures.
Perhaps most interesting is that just three schools who had a $1 million coordinator made a New Year’s Six bowl game and only one of them won their conference (Clemson). Interestingly, four coordinators making seven-figures were also on a staff where the head coach was fired this season.
You can view the full list here and do a deep dive on all the numbers from around the country.