USA TODAY Sports released a full list of college football’s head coaches’ salaries yesterday and where Wisconsin HC Paul Chryst lands on the list may be a surprise to many.
At the top are some names that you would expect: Alabama’s Nick Saban, LSU’s Ed Orgeron, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher.
You then must scroll down all the way to No. 28 to find Chryst. Yes, all the way down at No. 28 for a coach that many consider being one of the best and most consistent in the nation.
One of those people is FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt, who went on The Herd yesterday and raved about the culture that Chryst and the Badger program have developed:
PREACH @joelklatt PREACH!!! #OnWisconsin@BadgerFootball @CoachKhalif @TJIngels @BarstoolBadgers pic.twitter.com/Dsnn9VwbaR
— Charlie (@CharlieFreyre) October 14, 2020
The total annual number for the Badger Head Coach is $4,250,000, $4,850,000 less than Saban.
Other Big Ten coaches above Chryst are Harbaugh at No. 4, Ohio State’s Ryan Day at No. 12, Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald at No. 13, Michigan State’s Mel Tucker at No. 14, Nebraska’s Scott Frost at No. 17, Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz at No. 19 and Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck at No. 24.
Some of the numbers are affected by a pandemic-related salary reduction, Chryst’s being $318,750.
For more on the salaries check out USA TODAY’s 5 biggest findings from the coaches compensation database and which coaches whose contracts are too big to buy out.