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According to information compiled by CoachingSearch.com, Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall is the second-highest paid new coach in 2016 among those whose contract information is known. Georgia’s Kirby Smart, at $3.75 million, is the top-paid new head coach. This information doesn’t include any bonuses, incentives, and so forth.
Here’s the full information, which doesn’t have information on private universities, although it’s been reported that Miami’s Mark Richt is making over $4 million this year. The ACC’s other new head coach, Syracuse’s Dino Babers, also didn’t have publicly available salary information.
| School | 2016 Coach | Contract Length (Years) | 2016 Salary | Previous HC Salary |
| Georgia | Kirby Smart | 6 | $3.75 million | $4.1 million |
| Virginia | Bronco Mendenhall | 5 | $3.25 million | $3.1 million |
| Virginia Tech | Justin Fuente | 6 | $3.2 million | $2.7 million |
| South Carolina | Will Muschamp | 5 | $3 million | $4 million |
| Maryland | D.J. Durkin | 5 | $2.4 million | $2.1 million |
| Missouri | Barry Odom | 5 | $2.35 million | $3.7 million |
| Iowa State | Matt Campbell | 6 | $2 million | $2.2 million |
| Rutgers | Chris Ash | 5 | $2 million | $1.2 million |
| Memphis | Mike Norvell | 5 | $1.8 million | $1.4 million |
| UCF | Scott Frost | 5 | $1.7 million | $1.8 million |
| Minnesota | Tracy Claeys | 3 | $1.4 million | $2.5 million |
| Illinois | Bill Cubit | 2 | $1.2 million | $1.6 million* |
| East Carolina | Scottie Montgomery | 5 | $1 million | $1.4 million |
| North Texas | Seth Littrell | 5 | $822,800 | $720,000 |
| Texas State | Everett Withers | 5 | $650,000 | $427,000 |
| Toledo | Jason Candle | 5 | $650,000 | $495,000 |
| UTSA | Frank Wilson | 5 | $650,000 | $425,000 |
| Georgia Southern | Tyson Summers | 4 | $500,000 | $500,000 |
| Southern Miss | Jay Hopson | 4 | $500,000 | $700,000 |
| Ball State | Mike Neu | 6 | $425,000 | $517,000 |
| Bowling Green | Mike Jinks | 5 | $410,000 | $413,000 |
| Hawaii | Nick Rolovich | 4 | $400,000 | $637,000 |
| Louisiana-Monroe | Matt Viator | Not public | Not public | $360,000 |
| BYU | Kalana Sitake | Private | Private | Private |
| Miami (FL) | Mark Richt | Private | Private | $2.5 million |
| Syracuse | Dino Babers | Private | Private | $1.2 million |
| Tulate | Willie Fritz | Private | Private | $926,000 |
| USC | Clay Helton | Private | Private | Private |
From the information available to us, Virginia’s Mendenhall, at $3.25 million, is one of just nine coaches to make more than the school’s previous head coach — Mike London used to make $3.1 million at Virginia. Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente is one of those nine; he will make $3.2 million compared to predecessor Frank Beamer’s $2.7 million. Fuente ranks third on the salary list, but has a six year contract compared to Mendenhall’s five.
Mendenhall continues to make more than his Hokie counterpart, which shouldn’t come as too great a surprise considering Virginia’s athletic revenue is reported to be $91.3 million per year (29th in the country) compared to Virginia Tech’s $80.2 million (40th).
Is Virginia leading the way by showing its willingness to pay for a coach to lead the program back to national prominence? Or should the Hoos have scaled back pay until there’s a proven product on the field?