USA Today does excellent work publishing its comprehensive list of FBS head coaching salaries.
Unfortunately, the folks at USA Today publish their list just once a year and the coaching salary market never stops evolving. Any time we have a chance to provide updated salary numbers for the biggest of the big boys in the sport is a god send, and thankfully Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-Newshas provided that.
The Pac-12 enjoyed a financial explosion at the early part of this decade following the additions of Colorado and Utah and media rights agreements with ESPN and Fox. But the Pac-12 Networks, an entity wholly owned by the conference, which means the conference assumed 100 percent of the risk, hasn't taken off like its SEC and Big Ten counterparts, and therefore the Pac-12's coaches' salaries haven't risen like their SEC and Big Ten counterparts either.
Whereas nine of the SEC's 14 coaches will make at least $4 million this year -- including the entire SEC West -- none in the Pac-12 will, according to information obtained by Wilner.
The full rankings:
1. Chris Petersen, Washington: $3.6 million
2. Jim Mora, UCLA: $3.4 million
3. Mark Helfrich, Oregon: $3.3 million
Kyle Whittingham, Utah: $3.3 million
5. Rich Rodriguez, Arizona: $3.2 million
6. Todd Graham, Arizona State: $3.1 million
7. Mike Leach, Washington State: $2.75 million
8. Sonny Dykes, California: $2.65 million
David Shaw, Stanford: $2.65 million
10. Gary Andersen, Oregon State: $2.55 million
11. Mike MacIntyre, Colorado: $2 million
N/A Clay Helton, USC
It's worth noting that this only counts base salary. For instance, we know Shaw's total compensation topped $4 million in 2014 after bonuses and deferred compensation were factored in. And none of these guys are exactly in the poor house. They're getting paid beyond anything in their wildest dreams to coach football.
But, still, Dan Mullen gets a $4 million base salary every year at Mississippi State. Sure, he lives in Starkville and Jim Mora lives in Westwood, but when factoring in cost of living between the two locations, Mullen has a lot more dollars to stretch at the end of the day than Mora.