Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley was making average money as an offensive coordinator when he arrived in 2015.
Things, though, have changed dramatically.
Riley would go on to be display he was one of the best offensive minds in college football in his two seasons as the offensive coordinator under Bob Stoops. He’d get the head coaching job in 2017 and has received raises every year since.
The Sooners’ head ball coach received another raise and extension this offseason, moving his annual salary through 2025 to $7.535 million. For 2020, Riley is making $6,202,726 after a pay reduction due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That number puts Riley as the eighth highest paid head coach in college football, according to data obtained by USA TODAY Sports a week ago.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson ($6,130,937) is the second highest paid head coach after Riley in the Big 12 and is followed by Texas head coach Tom Herman ($5,827,917). Alabama’s Nick Saban ($9,300,000), LSU’s Ed Orgeron ($8,918,500) and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney ($8,319,775) round out the top-three highest paid coaches in college football.
A year from now, Oklahoma’s head coach is set to make $8.05 million that includes a stay bonus after this year. That would move Riley to the fourth-highest paid coach in college football based off of the 2020 data.
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