USA TODAY’s annual Coaches Compensation Report was released Wednesday with full head coach salaries, bonuses, and individual buyouts listed for the 2024 season.
Where does Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney rank?
Swinney ranks as the second-highest paid head coach in all of college football with $11,132,755 in total pay. Only Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart ranks higher than Swinney at $13,282,590. Swinney and Smart are the only active coaches to win national championships during the College Football Playoff era.
Swinney agreed to a 10-year, $115 million contract extension with Clemson in September 2022.
Breaking down the numbers, Swinney earns $11,008,575 in school pay with $175,000 in bonuses paid between 2023-24, and a maximum bonus base of $1.5 million. He has a buyout of $60 million, which ranks fifth among college football coaches.
Of coaches with the highest buyout figures, Smart has an astronomical $118 million buyout sum, followed by first-year Alabama Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer at $70 million. Florida State Seminoles coach Mike Norvell has a $63.7 million buyout, while LSU Tigers coach Brian Kelly is fourth with a $61.7 million buyout.
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Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian ($10,600,000) ranks one spot behind Swinney in total pay at No. 3, while USC’s Lincoln Riley ($10,043,418) and Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day ($10,021,250) round out the top five.
In the ACC, Norvell is the closest to Swinney in total pay at $10 million, good for sixth on the list of highest-paid coaches. Swinney and Norvell are the only ACC coaches in the top 10 nationally.
The next highest-paid coach in the ACC is Mario Cristobal at $7.78 million with the Miami Hurricanes — good for 16th overall.
Swinney’s Tigers (5-1 overall, 4-0 ACC) are ranked No. 9 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll and will take on the Virginia Cavaliers this Saturday at Clemson Memorial Stadium/Death Valley. Kickoff is set for noon ET. The game can be seen on ACC Network.
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