Cash Money: Jeff Brohm is the 31st Highest Paid FBS Coach

It is salary dump day, the day that USA Today publishes the annual salaries of FBS coaches across the country. Once again, the top coach is Nick Saban, who is getting $11,132,000 to win a national championship at Alabama even though he continues to be afraid of Purdue.

But what about our own Jeff Brohm? Well, in year one he is already closing in on the top 25 at $3,333,333. He can also earn a maximum of $1.2 million in bonuses this season, and he has a $900,000 interest free loan as part of the buyout Purdue paid Western Kentucky to hire him. That is forgiven at a rate of $150,000 each year he coaches at Purdue. If he makes it six years it is entirely gone.

For some perspective, he is making slightly less than P.J. Fleck at Minnesota, who is 29th at $3,500,000 this year. His salary is currently 7th out of the 14 teams in the Big Ten, with first year coach Tom Allen at Indiana bringing up the rear at $1,830,000 (and Allen can make $1,441,668 in bonuses). Of the longer tenured coaches Brohm only makes more than Pat Fitzgerald, who is at $3,305,818. The other six below him have been at their respective schools three years or less.

Jim Harbaugh at Michigan continues to lead the Big Ten at $7,004,000 this season to finish third in the Big Ten East. He is just ahead of Ohio State’s Urban Meyer at $6,431,240. that means Michigan and Ohio State are vastly out spending the rest of the conference, as the gap between Meyer in second and Penn State’s James Franklin in third ($4,600,000) is bigger than the salary of Tom Allen.

In terms of buyouts Brohm currently has the 12th largest in the country at $15,844,445, so he is not going anywhere for a while. Dabo Swinney would be owed $40,000,000 if Clemson fired him, and Jimbo Fisher at Florida State would be owed $39,312,500. In the Big Ten Kirk Ferentz ($22,537,500), James Franklin ($21,858,333), Meyer ($21,345,100), Harbaugh ($20,555,556) and... Lovie Smith ($16,500,000) have higher buyouts than Brohm.

In basketball your highest paid coach is was Rick Pitino at $7,769,200. Matt Painter is 16th nationally at $2,453,795. the only coaches paid more than Painter that have also not made a Final Four are Scott Drew at Baylor (9th, $2,818,811), Buzz Williams at Virginia Tech (10th, $2,655,000), Steve Alford at UCLA (12th, $2,644,000), Sean Miller at Arizona (13th, $2,610,000) and Mark Turgeon at Maryland (14th, $2,577,054). Painter is 4th in the Big Ten behind Tom Izzo, John Beilein, and Turgeon.