The good folks at USA Today pushed out the annual database full of salary information on college football's head coaches this morning.
In previous years, Nick Saban had been the name at the top of the list as the most highly compensated coach in the country, but this year a new name tops the list. Michigan's Jim Harbaugh's salary is listed at just over $9 million annually - with $4 million of that coming in the form of life insurance payments - edging out Saban who comes in at just under $7 million.
The rest of the top ten highest paid coaches in college football are Ohio State's Urban Meyer, Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher, Texas' Charlie Strong, Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin, Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Ole Miss' Hugh Freeze and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz.
New this year is the ability to click on a head coach and see his salary history. Take Hugh Freeze for example.
One interesting chart USA Today included in their research includes coaches earning over $1 million annually:
In total, 72 of the 119 FBS head coaches included in the research make over $1 million a year, 36 guys make $3 million or more annually, 7 guys eclipse the $5 million a year mark, and just three guys belong to the elite $6 million mark payday.
The honor for the highest paid coach outside of the Power Five belongs to Houston's Tom Herman at $3 million annually (35th overall), followed by Tommy Tubberville of Cincinnati at $2.2 million (52nd overall).
The bottom rung of head coaching salaries belong to New Mexico State's Doug Martin ($376k annually), ULM's Matt Viator ($390k annually), Hawaii's Nick Rolovich ($400k annually), and Buffalo's Lance Leipold ($405k annually). The lowest paid Power Five coach? David Beaty at Claeys at #84 making just over $801k a year.
Information was not included for the following programs; Baylor, BYU, Tulane, SMU, USC, Tulsa, Pitt, Miami (FL), and Syracuse.
Head over to USA Today to see the full list of head coaches salaries.