TechSideline.com: Beamer 15th Highest-Paid Coach, News and Notes, 8/6/01

Figures printed by the USA Today in last Friday's edition reveal that Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer, with a salary of $1.025 million, is the 15th highest-paid football coach in the NCAA.

The figures were contained in a cover story titled Top Dollar, Top Coaches in the print edition. The on-line version of the article can be viewed by clicking the link.

Beamer is one of 22 NCAA head football coaches who make at least $1 million per year. Of the 22 coaches, two of them (Oregon's Mike Bellotti and Oregon State's Dennis Erickson) make it to the million-dollar club with incentives, but the others do it on salary alone.

Beamer earns an additional $100,000 if the Hokies make it to a non-BCS bowl, and $200,000 if the bowl game is a BCS bowl.

Of the 22 coaches (listed in the table below), 17 are from the USA Today's preseason Top 25 poll, and all 22 are from schools in the six BCS conferences: the ACC, the Big East, the Big Ten, the Big 12, the PAC 10, and the SEC. Beamer is the only Big East coach on the million-dollar list. 5 each are from the SEC and Big 12, 4 each are from the Big Ten and PAC 10, and 3 are from the ACC.

The 22 coaches have all reached the million-dollar level since November 1995, when Florida State's Bobby Bowden was the first to crack it. According to the USA Today article, Division 1-A head coaches averaged $466,000 in income last year.

The article addresses the issue of soaring head coaches' salaries in both football and basketball, and examines their impact on non-revenue sports, facilities, and throughout athletic departments in general.

Million-Dollar NCAA Football Coaches (as of 8/3/2001) - figures from the USA Today
$2.1 million	Steve Spurrier	Florida
$2 million	Bob Stoops	Oklahoma
$1.5 million	Bobby Bowden	Florida State
$1.45 million	Mack Brown	Texas
$1.3 million	Barry Alvarez	Wisconsin
$1.3 million	Phillip Fulmer	Tennessee
$1.3 million	Glen Mason	Minnesota
$1.25 million	Tommy Tuberville	Auburn
$1.2 million	Nick Saban	LSU
$1.2 million	Pete Carroll	USC
$1.2 million	Rick Neuheisel	Washington
$1.1-1.4 million	Tommy Bowden	Clemson
$1.1 million	Dennis Franchione	Alabama
$1.1 million	George O'Leary	Georgia Tech
$1.025 million	Frank Beamer	Virginia Tech
$1.012 million	Lloyd Carr	Michigan
$1+ million	Joe Paterno	Penn State
$1 million	Mike Bellotti*	Oregon
$1 million	Bill Snyder	Kansas State
$1 million	Dennis Erickson*	Oregon State
$1 million	Frank Solich	Nebraska
$1 million	R.C. Slocum	Texas A&M
Erickson and Bellotti reach $1 million with incentives. * South Carolina's Lou Holtz earns $1.049 million. $235,000 of that comes from a long-standing arrangement with an outside speakers bureau and is not part of the university package.

The initial USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll came out on Friday, and the Hokies are ranked #9. Tech was the only top ten team that didn't receive at least one #1 vote.

Florida is #1, followed by Miami, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Florida State. Virginia Tech and Miami are the only two Big East teams in the Top 25. Pittsburgh received 42 points, good enough for a #33 ranking. West Virginia was ranked #53 with 3 points, and Syracuse got 1 point.

TSL has links to the AP and Coaches' polls on the home page (right-hand border) and on the Football Page (left-hand border).