Here is how the Big Ten football coaching salaries compare against each other in 2021.
It goes without saying that being a head coach in the Big Ten is a financially rewarding gig if you can get it. With the financial resources available to schools around the Big Ten, the coaches receive some big paydays even for a mediocre job. Every year, USA TODAY updates its database of coaching salaries so fans can see just how much many coaches around the country are being paid, which inevitably leads to debates over which coaches are overpaid and which deserve more?
And then there are the coaches who do not see their salary terms made public. Well, for the most part, that is. Not every school, including Penn State, has decided to make all of the financial details with their head football coach available for public consumption. But that won’t stop us from ranking the Big Ten’s coaching salaries based on what we do know.
So here is a ranking of Big Ten coaching salaries based solely on what the school is scheduled to pay their head coach in 2021. Note that these figures do not take into account any payment reductions as a result of restructuring during a pandemic.
A win could be a breath of fresh air for the struggling Badgers, as no matter how rough a season is trending, a win against Minnesota always seems to help turn the season’s struggles around.
A loss on Saturday, however, would make an extremely tough season even worse for a team that has seen three games canceled due to COVID-19 and is riding a three-game losing streak heading into the contest.
The state of Wisconsin saw Minnesota break out last season, finishing with an 11-2 record and a co-Big Ten West crown (which the Badgers obviously won thanks to their win against the Gophers). Everybody also saw the Gophers create championship rings for their season, which included “winning” the Big Ten West even though they finished second.
Well, in a year where it seems nothing can go right, the team will now have its third game cancelation of the season as, according to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jeff Potrykus, Saturday’s rivalry matchup between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers “is a no-go” due to COVID-19 cases within the Minnesota football program.
Making the conference championship would have been a longshot anyway after last weekend’s loss at Northwestern, but what many feared after the team’s Week 2 and Week 3 games were canceled has now come true with one of their opponents experience an outbreak and being unable to play.
Paul Chryst and his team will take the field next at home against the No. 12 Indiana Hoosiers in what will be their second-to-last regular-season game of the year.
Stay tuned to BadgersWire in the coming days for more information on the cancelation of Saturday’s game and what it means for the Wisconsin football program going forward.
As we’ve gone over, missing those two games put the Badgers on the brink of failing to play six regular-season games, something which would make them ineligible to play in the conference championship.
Well, the chain of events got worse last night as Minnesota writer Andy Greder reported that the Golden Gophers “will not practice Tuesday due to ‘presumptive COVID-19 positive tests Monday'” ahead of their game on Saturday against the Badgers.
NEWS: #Gophers football team will not practice Tuesday due to "presumptive COVID-19 positive tests Monday," school said. "The team's goal is to return to a regular practice schedule on Wednesday in preparation for Saturday’s game at Wisconsin."
After seeing what happened within the Wisconsin football program, this news puts Saturday’s battle for the Axe in serious doubt.
If the Badgers and Golden Gophers are indeed unable to play, the Badgers would then be ineligible for the conference championship game unless they’re able to find another Big Ten opponent who is without a game this week.
When Head Coach P.J. Fleck arrived in Minnesota a few years ago he brought with him his motto of “row the boat.” Everything…
When Head Coach P.J. Fleck arrived in Minnesota a few years ago he brought with him his motto of “row the boat.”
Everything seemed to be working in the beginning for Fleck and the Golden Gophers, as their 11-2 2019 season was the best the program has seen in a long time.
Yes, they included Big Ten West co-champions despite losing to the Badgers and not making the Big Ten Championship.
They understandably received comments on the “Big Ten West co-champions” part of the ring as, again, it was the Badgers that won the division.
The rings aside, Fleck’s team had Big Ten Championship aspirations entering this year. Now 1-3 through four games, it appears there is no longer a boat to row.
The season-opening 49-24 loss to then-No. 18 Michigan wasn’t the biggest disappointment.
The 45-44 overtime loss to Maryland and 35-7 blowout loss to Iowa since then, however, have taken Minnesota out of Big Ten West contention and have their season heading in the wrong direction.
It wasn’t pretty last night against Iowa, with the Gophers’ only touchdown coming at the end of the fourth quarter and Iowa dominating them on all sides of the football.
It also is fun to note that after penalties last night, Fleck himself has more penalty yards than the Wisconsin Badgers have this entire season (yes, I know they’ve only played one game).
The Gopher program could still be headed in the right direction. This year at least, sitting at 1-3 through four games, there is no longer a boat to row in Minnesota.
ESPN’s College Gameday will be headed north next weekend as the Big Ten opens up their 2020 football season.
So far this season it’s been a lot of time in the south for ESPN’s College Gameday crew.
This season has so far seen ESPN’s Saturday show take the road to:
Wake Forest (vs. No. 1 Clemson)
Louisville (vs. Miami)
Miami (vs. Florida State)
Georgia (vs. Auburn)
Clemson (vs. Miami)
Alabama (vs. Georgia)
This week will be the furthest north the show has gone this year as it welcomes back the Big Ten with the biggest game on the conference schedule for the weekend.
ROW THE BOAT … TO MINNESOTA 🛶
See you next week for our first Big Ten showdown of the season: Michigan vs. Minnesota 👀 pic.twitter.com/2bzNOd0Oge
Minnesota vs. Michigan for the Little Brown Jug is the game that will be featured up in Minneapolis.
Just a heads up – if you’re not a fan of college football coaches that love to hear themselves talk then it might be a good week to stay away from ESPN and College Gameday.
During his national radio show this morning the famed radio host dropped news that the Big Ten has 12 teams that want to cancel the season and two that want to play.
What a weekend and what a busy day as we catch up around the world of college football.
We’ll start today with news from the Big Ten that has just been broken by Dan Patrick.
During his national radio show this morning the famed radio host dropped news that the Big Ten has 12 teams that want to cancel the season and two that want to play.
The two that want in are Iowa and Nebraska.
That leaves the other 12 in the conference: Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin as the detractors.
Just did @dpshow and Dan dropped this info, from his sources: the Big Ten vote is 12-2 to postpone. Nebraska and Iowa want to play.
Who knows if the cancellation will be made official today or if it will happen later this week, but it certainly feel like it’s a matter of time and that time is drawing near.
Yes, that’s a real headline. Yesterday the Minnesota Golden Gopher football program released their 2019 Outback Bowl rings and included…
Yes, that’s a real headline.
Yesterday the Minnesota Golden Gopher football program released their 2019 Outback Bowl rings and included in the design is a commemoration of their Big Ten West victory last season–a co-victory which was actually a defeat as the Badgers defeated the Golden Gophers late in the season and won the division.
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) July 22, 2020
Also included: ranking No. 10 in the end-of-season poll and hosting College Gameday for the first time.
In case the message above wasn’t clear: Minnesota and Wisconsin had the same conference record last season so they were (technically) co-champions of the Big Ten West. As Badger fans know, though, the tiebreaker is the head-to-head matchup which was won 38-17 by Jack Coan and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Championship rings are fun and are a great commemoration of success, I’ll give them that. They did win the Outback Bowl against Auburn, host College Gameday and finish the season 11-2, this all is true. But it’s hard to look at the Big Ten West champion part of the ring and not immediately go to the fact that it was the Badgers–not the Golden Gophers–that faced off with Ohio State in the conference championship last season.
The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away. Yes, there are still question marks…
The scheduled kickoff for the Wisconsin Badgers’ 2020 football season is now only 47 days away.
Yes, there are still question marks about what the schedule will look like and if September 4 is a realistic date to start the season. But from what we know now, the Badgers and the rest of the conference will play a conference-only schedule and (hopefully) a conference championship and bowl season.
A lot about the season and each team’s chances changed when the Big Ten altered their schedule, so I went through the top teams in the conference earlier this week and analyzed how their stock was affected by the change. Long story short, the elimination of out-of-conference games has a profound affect on the season outlook of many of the conference’s leading programs.
Today we’re going a little more into the weeds and making three bold claims and one guarantee about what is to come during the altered season.
First, the three bold claims:
No. 1: The Indiana Hoosiers will finish the season No. 3 in the Big Ten East and with a better record than Michigan
Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) looks to pass during the first quarter against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium. Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
I never thought I would ever type those words out, but when you look at each team’s schedule and different preseason situations it makes a lot of sense.
First, Indiana has only four challenging games on their schedule: at Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Ohio State and at Michigan.
Michigan, on the other hand, has five: vs Wisconsin, vs Penn State, at Minnesota, vs Indiana and at Ohio State.
What’s the difference between those schedules? Most of Indiana’s tough games are on the road in what will likely be empty stadiums and most of Michigan’s will be at home in front of an empty stadium.
So the playing field is leveled a bit to start.
Second, and the biggest reason the Hoosiers are trending upward while Michigan is going the opposite direction, is Indiana welcomes back Michael Penix Jr. after an 8-5 2019 season while Michigan needs to groom Dylan McCaffrey to take over the starting job after going 9-4 last season.
Having talent and experience return at the quarterback position is pivotal this year as the preseason is already different and shortened in addition to the fact that out-of-conference “cupcake” games that are usually important to preparing a quarterback for conference play are no longer on the schedule.
I’m buying Indiana’s stock with Penix Jr. under center, a veteran offensive line and an improving defense and selling Michigan’s with a new quarterback and a gauntlet of a schedule.
Next…one of the Badgers’ division rivals who will be taking a step backwards this season
Kirk Ciarrocca leaves PJ Fleck, creating uncertainty in Minnesota
The Wisconsin Badgers woke up on the feast of Stephen and noticed that the Minnesota Golden Gophers — who will try to spend the 2020s bumping the Badgers off their perch atop the Big Ten West — don’t have an offensive coordinator for the time being. Kirk Ciarrocca, who has been with P.J. Fleck at Western Michigan and Minnesota, left the Gophers to join James Franklin at Penn State.
Coaching moves aren’t guaranteed to succeed or fail, but on the surface of things, the fact that Fleck will have to change coordinators after several years with a trusted lieutenant seems suboptimal for the Gophers. More than the loss of continuity on his staff, though, Fleck has to deal with the reality that Ciarrocca generally developed wide receivers:
Biggest thing that jumps out to me looking at Kirk Ciarrocca's offenses from a numbers perspective is WR production.
Penn State has had one 1000-yd season from a WR in Franklin's tenure.
In same time frame as an OC, Ciarrocca has produced seven such seasons.
The Badgers saw Ciarrocca’s offense before Ciarrocca went to Minnesota. Wisconsin played — and contained — Ciarrocca’s offense in the 2017 Cotton Bowl when P.J. Fleck was at Western Michigan. Watching Ciarrocca stay in the Big Ten Conference is not a good thing for Wisconsin. Watching Ciarrocca leave the Big Ten West, however, is definitely a good thing for the Badgers. Minnesota needs every ounce of leverage it can get in its burgeoning battle with the Badgers for Big Ten West supremacy. Maybe Fleck will somehow find a coordinator on par with Ciarrocca. Yet, given how successful Fleck has been the past several years with Ciarrocca by his side, this surely isn’t what Fleck had in mind for his offseason. It is not what he planned or hoped for.
Could Fleck successfully adjust? If he is the caliber of coach many people think he is, he will… but we don’t know just how good Fleck is. We are only beginning to get a fuller measure of him, and given how thoroughly he got schooled by Jim Leonhard and Paul Chryst a month ago, anything which disrupts Minnesota’s momentum is a genuine threat to a sustained Fleck ascendance in Minneapolis. Stay tuned for Minnesota’s hire of a replacement for Kirk Ciarrocca. The Big Ten coaching carousel season just became a lot more interesting.
