The Price of Success

USA Today has compiled a database of Head Coach (and some assistant coaches) salaries. I'm not sure how reliable the data is . . . Paterno's salary doubled from $512,664 to $1,097,767 and Charlie Weis's salary is posted at an anemic $640,851. There are several schools with no data listed, including Boston College, BYU, Duke, Miami (FL), Northwestern, Stanford, Syracuse, Tulane and Vanderbilt.

The highest listed salary is Pete Carroll at USC: $4,386,652

The lowest is Charlie Weatherbee at La-Monroe: $160,000. That's probably more than he was making as principal of Archie's Riverdale High School!

But does paying higher salaries translate into more wins? Here's how things look in 2009--year to date--calculating the cost of each win based on these published salaries. As noted above, there is no data for some teams, and four teams have no wins, so the cost per win is essentially infinity or undefined--division by zero.


For BCS ranked teams, Houston is the best deal per win at $93,750 per win to date. Pitt is next and is actually a better deal than Boise State.

TEAM	wins	HC Salary	Cost per Win
La.-Monroe	5	$160,000	$32,000
Idaho	7	$258,187	$36,884
Kent St.	5	$190,000	$38,000
Central Mich.	7	$308,450	$44,064
La.-Lafayette	5	$226,000	$45,200
Troy	7	$320,899	$45,843
Middle Tenn.	6	$281,655	$46,943
Northern Ill.	6	$344,773	$57,462
Navy	7	$468,464	$66,923
Temple	7	$505,000	$72,143
Marshall	5	$367,795	$73,559
Bowling Green	4	$301,000	$75,250
Nevada	5	$377,505	$75,501
Ohio	6	$456,000	$76,000
Toledo	4	$360,000	$90,000
Houston	8	$750,000	$93,750
Western Mich.	4	$379,000	$94,750
Notre Dame	6	$640,851	$106,809
Arkansas St.	2	$220,162	$110,081
UNLV	4	$443,100	$110,775
UAB	4	$471,800	$117,950
Pittsburgh	8	$979,288	$122,411
Akron	2	$246,292	$123,146
Boise St.	9	$1,123,150	$124,794
New Mexico St.	3	$375,000	$125,000
West Virginia	7	$878,000	$125,429
Air Force	6	$776,500	$129,417
Army	3	$400,000	$133,333
Buffalo	3	$401,300	$133,767
Louisiana Tech	3	$405,000	$135,000
Clemson	6	$816,850	$136,142
Penn St.	8	$1,097,767	$137,221
North Texas	2	$279,963	$139,982
Southern Miss.	5	$736,102	$147,220
Wyoming	4	$601,730	$150,433
Utah	8	$1,207,500	$150,938
Cincinnati	9	$1,362,500	$151,389
Oregon St.	6	$950,000	$158,333
Fresno St.	6	$963,506	$160,584
UTEP	3	$488,666	$162,889
Indiana	4	$658,750	$164,688
San Diego St.	4	$676,800	$169,200
Utah St.	2	$352,400	$176,200
Iowa St.	5	$950,000	$190,000
Fla. Atlantic	2	$383,338	$191,669
Tulsa	4	$769,264	$192,316
Minnesota	5	$1,000,000	$200,000
TCU	9	$1,800,000	$200,000
FIU	2	$403,000	$201,500
Purdue	4	$825,000	$206,250
Arizona	6	$1,265,000	$210,833
Wisconsin	7	$1,481,506	$211,644
Oregon	7	$1,500,000	$214,286
Colorado St.	3	$700,000	$233,333
Baylor	4	$943,830	$235,958
SMU	5	$1,206,368	$241,274
Georgia Tech	9	$2,300,000	$255,556
Oklahoma St.	7	$1,800,000	$257,143
UCF	5	$1,312,625	$262,525
South Fla.	6	$1,600,000	$266,667
East Carolina	5	$1,382,863	$276,573
North Carolina	6	$1,702,000	$283,667
Auburn	7	$2,050,000	$292,857
Miami (OH)	1	$300,000	$300,000
Mississippi St.	4	$1,200,000	$300,000
North Carolina St.	4	$1,200,000	$300,000
Kansas St.	6	$1,850,000	$308,333
Nebraska	6	$1,852,000	$308,667
UCLA	4	$1,276,000	$319,000
Kentucky	5	$1,617,517	$323,503
Colorado	3	$1,000,570	$333,523
Iowa	9	$3,024,500	$336,056
South Carolina	6	$2,031,500	$338,583
Texas	9	$3,060,500	$340,056
Rutgers	6	$2,070,932	$345,155
Ball St.	1	$350,000	$350,000
Virginia Tech	6	$2,138,000	$356,333
Texas A&M	5	$1,801,651	$360,330
Michigan St.	5	$1,811,260	$362,252
Connecticut	4	$1,450,000	$362,500
Arizona St.	4	$1,502,643	$375,661
Hawaii	3	$1,138,504	$379,501
Tennessee	5	$2,000,000	$400,000
Louisville	3	$1,216,000	$405,333
Mississippi	6	$2,509,000	$418,167
Alabama	9	$3,900,000	$433,333
Florida	9	$4,000,000	$444,444
Texas Tech	6	$2,700,000	$450,000
San Jose St.	1	$457,820	$457,820
Kansas	5	$2,303,500	$460,700
Memphis	2	$925,000	$462,500
Ohio St.	8	$3,722,000	$465,250
California	6	$2,807,500	$467,917
Illinois	3	$1,505,000	$501,667
Michigan	5	$2,521,000	$504,200
Missouri	5	$2,525,000	$505,000
LSU	7	$3,751,000	$535,857
Wake Forest	4	$2,172,127	$543,032
Arkansas	5	$2,858,000	$571,600
Florida St.	4	$2,319,375	$579,844
Washington St.	1	$600,100	$600,100
Washington	3	$1,833,333	$611,111
Georgia	5	$3,096,576	$619,315
Southern California	7	$4,386,652	$626,665
Virginia	3	$2,072,339	$690,780
Oklahoma	5	$4,303,000	$860,600
Maryland	2	$1,877,095	$938,548
Boston College	6
BYU	7
Duke	5
Miami (FL)	7
Northwestern	6
Stanford	6
Syracuse	3
Tulane	3
Vanderbilt	2
Eastern Mich.	0	$300,000	#DIV/0!
New Mexico	0	$750,650	#DIV/0!
Rice	0	$476,842	#DIV/0!
Western Ky.	0	$259,808	#DIV/0!

Here's how the BCS teams compare:

Cost Rank	Team	Wins	HC Salary	Cost per Win
88	Florida	9	$4,000,000	$444,444
87	Alabama	9	$3,900,000	$433,333
75	Texas	9	$3,060,500	$340,056
49	TCU	9	$1,800,000	$200,000
38	Cincinnati	9	$1,362,500	$151,389
25	Boise St.	9	$1,123,150	$124,794
58	Georgia Tech	9	$2,300,000	$255,556
98	LSU	7	$3,751,000	$535,857
105	Southern California	7	$4,386,652	$626,665
73	Iowa	9	$3,024,500	$336,056
93	Ohio St.	8	$3,722,000	$465,250
23	Pittsburgh	8	$979,288	$122,411
54	Oregon	7	$1,500,000	$214,286
N/A	Miami (FL)	7
17	Houston	8	$750,000	$93,750
37	Utah	8	$1,207,500	$150,938
52	Arizona	6	$1,265,000	$210,833
33	Penn St.	8	$1,097,767	$137,221
59	Oklahoma St.	7	$1,800,000	$257,143
53	Wisconsin	7	$1,481,506	$211,644
78	Virginia Tech	6	$2,138,000	$356,333
N/A	BYU	7
39	Oregon St.	6	$950,000	$158,333
61	South Fla.	6	$1,600,000	$266,667
27	West Virginia	7	$878,000	$125,429
	AVERAGE		$2,090,320	$270,365

The average cost of a BCS win is $270,365! (To date--these numbers will go down as the win total increases.)