There is a lot of money in college basketball, and not all of it flows from agents to players in under-the-table transactions.
For an indication of just how much cash top-tier schools have to throw around, look no further than USA Today’s annual list of highest paid coaches in the sport, which was published Wednesday. Here’s the top 10:
- Mike Krzyzewski, Duke — $8,982,325
- John Calipari, Kentucky — $7,994,147
- Chris Holtmann, Ohio State — $7,149,849
- Bill Self, Kansas — $4,954,877
- Tom Izzo, Michigan State — $4,359,979
- Sean Miller, Arizona — $4,054,853
- Bob Huggins, West Virginia — $3,760,000
- Larry Krystkowiak, Utah — $3,390,000
- John Beilein, Michigan — $3,370,000
- Archie Miller, Indiana — $3,200,000
Those are some hefty figures — especially for the top three coaches. In fact, the $7 million-plus that Coach K, Calipari and Holtmann make is more than most NBA coaches, including reigning NBA champion Steve Kerr, will earn this season. If Coach K made his current salary in the NBA, it would rank third in the league, behind only Gregg Popovich and Doc Rivers (among coaches whose salaries are publicly known).
Of course, it makes sense why Coach K, Calipari and others made such massive amounts of money. Basketball brings in tens of millions of dollars, maintains schools’ reputations and drives admissions. At a place like Duke or Kentucky, the basketball coach is the single most important person on campus, and it’s not close.
These numbers raise an important question, however: If Coach K is the most important person on the Duke campus, who is the second-most important? The answer, given the prominence of the basketball program, is pretty clearly star freshman Marvin Bagley, the player on whom the Blue Devils title hopes rest. And as for how much Bagley will earn (at least over the table) this season? We all know that to be zero dollars and zero cents.
