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USA Today coaches salary database: How much every B1G head coach is scheduled to make in 2020

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Which B1G head coaches are making the most money? Which are making the least?

Those questions come up every season, and each year, USA Today provides a database listing the salaries for every head coach in college football. So, this year we dive into what each of the 14 B1G head coaches are scheduled to make during the 2020 season.

This year provides a little different perspective on the situation. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most coaches across the league, and the country, have taken some sort of voluntary or mandatory pay cut to offset the losses for athletic departments. So, this year’s database was divided into two sections: Scheduled school pay and actual school pay.

First is a look at the scheduled pay, followed by the actual school pay, as well as where the salary ranks among all head football coaches at the FBS level:

Scheduled school pay

  • Jim Harbaugh, Michigan — $8.054 million
  • James Franklin, Penn State — 6.700 million
  • Ryan Day, Ohio State — $5.748 million
  •  Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern — $5.218 million
  • Mel Tucker, Michigan State — $5.057 million
  • Scott Frost, Nebraska — $5.000 million
  • Kirk Ferentz, Iowa — $4.900 million
  • Jeff Brohm, Purdue — $4.800 million
  • P.J. Fleck, Minnesota — $4.600 million
  • Paul Chryst, Wisconsin — $4.250 million
  • Greg Schiano, Rutgers — $4.030 million
  • Lovie Smith, Illinois — $4.000 million
  • Tom Allen, Indiana — $3.770 million
  • Mike Locksley, Maryland — $2.605 million

Actual school pay (after pandemic reduction)

  • No. 4: Jim Harbaugh, Michigan — $7.785 million
  • No. 12: Ryan Day, Ohio State — $5.646 million
  • No. 14: Mel Tucker, Michigan State — $4.957 million
  • No. 17: Scott Frost, Nebraska –$4.833 million
  • No. 19: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa — $4.670 million
  • No. 24: P.J. Fleck, Minnesota — $4.281 million
  • No. 28: Paul Chryst, Wisconsin — $3.931 million
  • No. 32: Lovie Smith, Illinois — $3.800 million
  • No. 33: Tom Allen, Indiana –$3.770 million
  • No. 35: Greg Schiano, Rutgers — $3.763 million
  • No. 58: Mike Locksley, Maryland — $2.474 million

Not listed: James Franklin, Penn State; Jeff Brohm, Purdue; Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB