Top 5 highest-paid college football HCs in 2025 ft. Ryan Day

The Ohio State Buckeyes conquered college football two weeks ago when they won the national championship under coach Ryan Day. On Thursday, Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork pulled the trigger on a contract extension for the national championship-winning coach.

Day's new contract was added to his existing three-year contract and will run until 2031. The contract is worth $82.5 million and is worth $12.5 million annually. Where does it rank him among the highest earners in college football?

Five highest-earning college football coaches ft. Ryan Day

#5. Kalen DeBoer

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is the fifth-highest earner in college football, with an annual salary starting at $10 million when he replaced the legendary Nick Saban last year. That figure is set to rise to $10.25 million in DeBoer's second year in Tuscaloosa.

DeBoer signed an eight-year contract that runs until 2031 and will be worth $11.75 million in his last year. The task of being Saban's replacement has included the highest of highs, including a thrilling win against the Georgia Bulldogs and disappointing losses to the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Oklahoma Sooners, leading to a 9-4 record in his first season as Alabama coach.

#4. Steve Sarkisian

Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian earns $10.6 million annually, and he was rewarded with a six-year contract extension in 2024 after leading the Longhorns to the college football playoff semifinals. The deal will run until the 2030 season and increase by $100,000 yearly.

Sarkisian repeated the trick this season when the Longhorns were beaten by eventual national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the Cotton Bowl. In the Longhorns' first season in the Southeastern Conference after their conference expansion and realignment move, they reached the SEC championship game, narrowly losing to Georgia.

#3. Dabo Swinney

Clemson Tigers coach Dabo Swinney is the third-highest earner in college football, with an annual salary of $11.2 million. The Tigers coach signed a 10-year, $115 million contract extension in 2022, running until the 2031 season.

Swinney has nine conference and two national championships to his name and was perhaps retired coach Saban's biggest competitor in college football before Georgia's Kirby Smart arrived on the scene.

Although the Tigers fell off the national picture in the past few years, Swinney led Clemson back to the college football playoff via an epic ACC championship game win.

#2. Ryan Day

Ohio State coach Ryan Day is the second highest earner among college football coaches with his $12.5 million annual salary. The Buckeyes coach has had to overcome adversity and was on the verge after losing the rivalry game to the Michigan Wolverines in November.

The Buckeyes' dominant run to the national championship game has banished any ill will that fans bore Day, and his massive contract was supported by athletic director Ross Bjork, who stood by Day's biggest move in his Ohio State career.

Despite the losses to Michigan, Day has an incredible 70-10 record in his five-year tenure as coach of Ohio State.

#1. Kirby Smart

Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart is the highest-earning coach in college football with his $13.2 million annual salary. After Saban unexpectedly retired in January, Smart was tabbed as the dominant force in college football.

Smart has two national championships under his belt and was rewarded with a 10-year, $130 million contract extension last May, which is by far the biggest contract in college football.

While he won the SEC championship game against the Longhorns, his Bulldogs team looked vulnerable last season and lost in the Sugar Bowl to coach Marcus Freeman's Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

The only three active coaches in college football to have ever won the national championship, Swinney, Day and Smart, all occupy the first three spots of the highest-paid coaches.